Tag Archives: Tsunami

Pain lingers five years later as tsunami-hit Japan town rises from ruins

RIKUZENTAKATA, Japan (Reuters) – Time has done little to help Japanese volunteer fireman Eiki Kumagai with memories of March 11, 2011, when he clung to some steps as a huge black tsunami surged through his town, washing away people he knew as they cried for help.

“We were recovering bodies,” the 48-year-old recalls. “This is a small town, we knew them all. Women, children, old people. There were so many, we had two layers.”

Five years after Rikuzentakata lost 7 percent of its population and its entire downtown to the 49-foot wave touched off by a magnitude 9 earthquake, a huge construction project has raised its center from future waves.

But while the physical landscape has been changed for the better, emotionally many people in the town of 20,000 remain frozen in grief and psychologists say it may take several generations to ease the trauma fully.

“The year of the tsunami, I was angry at the wave,” said Kazuo Sato, a former oyster fisherman who can still barely look at the sea. He lost 100 friends and relatives.

“What’s left is regret, and that’s getting worse. We could have saved so many more people.”

The town center has been transformed with 5 million cubic tonnes of earth scraped from a nearby mountain and shaped by a fleet of backhoes into mounds up to 46 feet high.

Cranes loom over a towering seawall and new roads snake over the hills.

Home building will finally start this summer, offering hope for 1,400 households still in barracks-like temporary housing.

Officials, including Mayor Futoshi Toba, deplore regulations that delayed construction and worry that with the passing of time, attention will be diverted from a recovery only 60 percent complete. National funds for rebuilding will dip with the new fiscal year from April.

Many also worry that construction for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo will hamper the rebuilding of the town.

“If construction overlaps, there won’t be enough workers and wages will rise, making houses more expensive,” said Toba, who watched helplessly from the city hall roof as the town was destroyed. His wife, with whom he had spoken moments before the quake, was killed.

“Why did the government want the Olympics in 2020? I think they could easily have hosted them four years later.”

SPRING SNOW

Some residents say the new embankments are uncomfortable reminders of how much their lives have changed.

“I think probably a lot of people have complicated feelings,” said city official Tsuyoshi Yamada. “But their feelings of wanting to live in a safe place are stronger.”

Long-suppressed feelings of anguish are emerging as life slips back into routines, but a stigma against mental illness in Japan makes many people reluctant to seek help.

“They keep their feelings shut tight in their chests out of a sense that others have suffered even more,” said psychologist Kiyoka Yukimoto. “For this city to really recover, they need mental health services.”

Volunteer firemen, who took to the streets telling people to flee as the water loomed, have particularly painful memories. One man began weeping as he recalled 51 colleagues who lost their lives.

“A couple of guys went down to check on an elderly man, even though I said we had no more time. None of them came back,” Kumagai said.

Toba, whose duties kept him from searching for his wife or seeing his children after the quake, said feelings were complex.

“It always snows around 3/11, even though it should be spring. But the weather reminds us of that day and everybody remembers those who died,” he said.

“At the same time, it is five years, so we shouldn’t just talk about gloomy things. We need to look forward and build a place where children can talk about their dreams.”

(Reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Linda Sieg, Robert Birsel)

Massive Quake Shakes Chile’s Capital

At least 8 people are dead and a million people have been displaced because of a massive magnitude 8.3 earthquake in Chile.

Violent aftershocks continue to shake the ground around Santiago and surrounding towns.  Residents were preparing for the possibility of a second strong quake although the tsunami warnings have ended for the region.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) says the quake struck around 6:45 p.m., 29 miles west of the capital in a small city of Illapel.  The USGS reported the quake was the strongest to hit the region in 100 years.

Aftershocks of 6.3 and 6.4 have been recorded by the USGS.  A tsunami watch was issued for both California and Hawaii because of the quakes, although they were later retracted.  Residents are still being warned to watch for high waves and significant rip tides.

Chile is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world because of two major plates connecting just off the coastline.  The strongest recorded quake in world history took place in the nation in 1960, magnitude 9.5.

The Chile Earthquake’s First Tsunami Waves Strike

A TIDE GAUGE off the shore of Coquimbo, a Chilean seaside city less than 100 miles from the epicenter of tonight’s 8.3 moment magnitude earthquake, has logged wave heights in excess of 14 feet. This comes about 90 minutes after the quake struck at 7:54pm local time.

NOAA’s Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has predicted wave heights exceeding 36 feet along the Chilean coast, and smaller events elsewhere in the Pacific. Outside of Chile, French Polynesia, a group of over 100 islands in the middle of the south Pacific, is in the most danger. There, NOAA warns of tsunami waves from three to nine feet.

Source: Wired – The Chile Earthquake’s First Tsunami Waves Strike

Tsunami alert as Chile hit by powerful earthquake

A powerful earthquake has hit central Chile, causing buildings to sway in the capital Santiago, officials say.

The 8.3-magnitude tremor was centred off the coast, about 144 miles (232km) north-west of the capital.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center warned that “widespread hazardous tsunami waves are possible”.

One person was killed by a falling wall, and evacuation was ordered in coastal areas. Tsunami sirens were heard in the port of Valparaiso.

Chilean officials say the earthquake has produced waves of up to 4.5 metres (15 feet) along the coast in the region of Coquimbo.

Source: BBC News – Tsunami alert as Chile hit by powerful earthquake

Kick ‘em Jenny Putting Ships at Risk

An underwater volcano off the Granada coast is causing a threat to the shipping industry for the island.

Kick ‘em Jenny is off the country’s northern coast.  The threat level of the volcano currently sits at yellow after spending the weekend at the higher orange level.  The yellow threat level means that an eruption of the underwater volcano is possible and that ships should avoid the area of the volcano by a minimum of 1.5 kilometers.

The volcano, despite being 600 feet below the ocean surface, is a threat because a burst of gasses from the volcano could instantly sink a ship in the waters above.  The process, called “degassing”, would make ships suddenly lose their buoyancy and sink.

Plus, hot rocks can shoot out of the water like missiles and endanger other ships in the region.  It could also cause a tsunami depending on the strength of the eruption.

The volcano has erupted a dozen times since being discovered in 1939.  The last major eruption was in 2001.  The volcano is blamed for Grenada’s worst maritime disaster when 60 people died after a ship went right into the ocean over the volcano.

The volcano has been causing hundreds of small earthquakes over the last few weeks.  At one point on Thursday, over 150 quakes were recorded in four-hour period around the volcano.

Earthquake Strikes Off Papua New Guinea

A powerful earthquake struck Papua New Guinea on Tuesday morning generating a small tsunami near the epicenter.

Officials with the Geophysical Observatory in Port Moresby said that the tsunami was 3 feet high and struck in the harbor of Rabaul.  The tsunami caused no flooding and it did not pass the level of the high tide.

The magnitude 7.5 quake struck around 1:45 a.m. local time.

The quake happened along the tectonic plate under Australia and its overriding Pacific plates.  The quake has been preceded by a series of quakes along the fault line that started with a magnitude 7.5 quake on March 29, 2015.

Local officials say there was no widespread damage because of the quake but power lines were brought down in the area of Rabaul.  In Kokopo, buildings were reported with cracks in the walls and other structural damage but there were no reports of injuries.

The quake site is along the Pacific Ring of Fire.

Small Tsunami Generated After Pacific Earthquake

A huge earthquake off the coast of Papua New Guinea generated a small tsunami.

The magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck around 30 miles southeast of Kokopo at a depth of 40 miles. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center warned of a potential 3 foot high tsunami but the highest reported wave was 1.5 feet in the harbor of Rabaul.

Rabaul residents say there was no major damage and most of the water flooded parking lots near the beach or seaside. Store owners say that items were knocked off shelves but there was no structural damage.

Residents say the tremor lasted about five minutes and was so intense that residents fled into the streets from fear of building collapse.

Miraculously, officials say there were no reports or deaths or injuries from the massive quake.

Papua New Guinea lies on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”. Volcanic and earthquake activity is common in the region.

Japanese Quake Causes Small Tsunami

A major earthquake struck off the coast of Japan early Tuesday causing a small tsunami.

The 6.9 magnitude quake struck around 6 a.m. local time, 6.2 miles deep and 52 miles east-northeast of Miyako, Japan.

The quake did not initially cause a tsunami warning from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center and an advisory from the Japan Meteorological Agency was quickly cancelled.  However, residents of Iwate Prefecture reported a tsunami of about three feet in height.

No significant damage was reported as a result of the small tsunami.

Iwate Prefecture is a rural area with a total population around 1.3 million.  A nuclear power plant in the region reportedly had no damage.   Local train lines have suspended operations until the tracks can be examined for damage.

The location of the quake was on the Pacific Ring of Fire.

6.0 Magnitude Earthquake Shakes Philippines

The capital of the Philippines was rocked Saturday by a 6.0 earthquake that struck in the early hours of the morning.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said the quake was centered 27 miles southwest of San Antonio, Zambales at 3:31 a.m.

A reporter for the Philippine Daily Inquirer said the quake was so strong it shook him and his son out of bed.

“The bed shook, the speaker fell and dogs barked,” Dennis Eroa wrote.  “That was the first time I experienced that kind of quake here in Olongapo.”

Officials reported only minor structural damage throughout the region.

Seismologists say that the residents of the area were lucky that the quake struck so far underneath the sea bed that a tsunami was not created and damage on land would be minimal.

Scientists Believe Underwater Volcanoes May Cause Tsunamis

A group of scientists are conducting a study under the sea in an attempt to better understand the nature of tsunamis.

Robert Ballard, the man who found the Titanic in 1985, is leading a deep-sea team examining the Kick’em Jenny volcano.  The volcano is considered “active and dangerous” sitting about 6,000 feet below the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Grenada.

The volcano has been releasing hot and cold gasses since a 2003 event.  Scientists say that based on the volcano’s pattern during the last century another eruption is likely to happen within the next 40 years with a significant tsunami.

The reason the volcano is being studied for tsunamis is that the one side of the volcano collapsed during the last eruption and the sliding of the earth caused a tsunami.  The scientists believe that by tracking the results of any upcoming eruption by the undersea volcano, they will be able to detect movement of the land and thus predict size and strength of the tsunami.

The information could then be used to extrapolate tsunami chances and strength with other major underwater eruptions and create an advanced warning system.

Submarine volcanoes are also considered dangerous because they can suddenly erupt from underwater near shorelines and cause massive death and devastation from lava or the release of toxic gas.