7.9 and 8.8 Earthquakes in Japan

oh god

http://i.imgur.com/tcVQD.jpg

It's really hard to read that charitably, even if he is trying to say that we're lucky it's not an economic catastrophe, he's still juxtaposing "human" and "economic" as two values, which is crass, even for a financial adviser.

x-post

Yeah, its kind of hard to recover from saying you are grateful for the human toll being worse.

He allegedly apologized:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011/03/cnbc-kudlow-japan-earthquake-human-toll-worse-than-economic-toll-apologize.html

The ground level video I just posted is so insane... the height of the wave even from that far back is just so intense.

We tend to lose perspective with these big disasters because of movies, aerial far-away pictures, abstract numbers (10.000 victims? 100.000 victims? 7th largest earthquake ever? Richter scale 7 8 9 ?), all have a dehumanising effect - it's easy to be all "wow! look at how amazing (volcanic eruption/tsunami/mudslide/etc) looks!" but pictures like the one gbx just posted are - while I can understand the Japanese government wanting to keep them from its people during this period - very, very necessary.

The ground level video I just posted is so insane... the height of the wave even from that far back is just so intense.

― Wacky Way Lounge (Evan), Monday, March 14, 2011 2:53 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

well its the wave hitting a seawall, my understanding is with tsunamis theres no break it just kind of rushes in, like w/out the seawall itd look like a wave on the beach after breaking except the water just keeps coming getting deeper and deeper, so theres a height as far as how deep the water gets but no wave face particularly

^^^right.

i think the popular conception of a tsunami (and basically mine up until recently) was that they're fast-approaching walls of water with like 30ft waves that topple buildings and shit. but the reality is scarier imo, in that it's just water that keeps coming and coming

then again, this happened, so

The severity of this cataclysmic event is incredible. This is like Katrina + BP + radiation.

OK, just to compound the freak-out, what does one or more uncontrolled releases of radiation and/or meltdowns in Japan portend for the rest of the world?

Kudlow apologized via his Twitter account later Friday.

glad he could spare 140 characters

christ, they just showed some footage from minami-sanriku on channel 4 news with ppl running for their lives. too real :(

then again, this happened, so

― ullr saves (gbx), Monday, March 14, 2011 3:11 PM (10 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah thats a diff type of tsunami tho, mega tsunami caused not my an earthquake but by part of a mountain falling into the ocean

dude i know i read the article

yeah but i didnt even have to read because i already knew all abt it NOOB

just that the "terrifying wall of water" def of a tsunami is a real thing

xp i did too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jlaiJRwU6Q

the second half of this has some good disaster paranoia fodder for anyone living on the east coast of n america

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jlaiJRwU6Q

oh yeah i'd heard about that

yikes!

i think the popular conception of a tsunami (and basically mine up until recently) was that they're fast-approaching walls of water with like 30ft waves that topple buildings and shit. but the reality is scarier imo, in that it's just water that keeps coming and coming

― ullr saves (gbx), Monday, March 14, 2011 3:10 PM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark

Yeah! I was just saying this yesterday.

There is no way I'm watching that video.

The water clearly towers above the buildings in the foreground, though.

times article abt seawalls is k sad http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/14/world/asia/14seawalls.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/15/world/asia/15nuclear.html?_r=1&hp

this has probably been posted before, but holy shit

A baby girl was found in Ishinomaki yesterday, a coastal town northeast of Sendai smashed by the tsunami.

Members of the Japanese Self Defence Force marvelled at the four-month-old's survival, wrapping her in a pink jacket and transporting her to safety.

wow

xxp that video is just terrifying. Just the relentlessness of it all.

Anyway I finally heard that my family are ok (or they are all alive, at least) so thank fuck for that, and now I can get back to focusing all of my worrying on impending nuclear disaster etc.

sick, that's good news

awes

glad to hear it oppet

oh wow oppet, that is great

couldn't see sendai footage w/o thinking of you tbh

yay oppet that is wonderful news

that's fantastic news, oppet.

So glad for you oppet!

Thanks guys, feeling pretty good atm.

http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_li0vnjLRLg1qh25w2o1_500.jpg

good to hear, oppet

Great news oppet, our best wishes to them

Very good to hear indeed.

awesome!

Really great to get some good news at last.

That photo of the cat is breaking my heart.

2142: A Twitter campaign has been set up to persuade Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yukio Edano, to go to bed. Mr Edano has been dutifully covering the nuclear crisis at all hours of the day and night, but many TV viewers feel the strain is beginning to tell. The hashtag #edano_nero - which mean "Edano, go to bed" - has been trending on Twitter

xp MaresNest, indeed, indeed...

You know, of all the stupid "escapist" disaster movies I've ever seen, I don't think I've seen one that featured an entire unmoored town more or less swept away down a river.

someone call Michael Bay

Actually, I wonder if FX crews and CGI guys actually study disasters to try to be accurate? Like, in five years will there be a guy plopped in front of a bank on monitors, morbidly replaying this horrific stuff again and again to try to recreate it for a forgettable summer blockbuster?

ilx isn't that bad surely

oh my days

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/03/japan-earthquake-rescue-recovery-and-reaction/100024/

In the days since the earthquake, Japan has experienced an additional 403 aftershocks -- 32 of them with a magnitude greater than 6.0.

wow. i have no idea what's "common" in similar circumstances but this sounds like a lot