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A strong earthquake hit western Japan and surrounding areas Sunday evening, with weather officials issuing tsunami warnings to Mie and Wakayama prefectures.
The earthquake hit shortly after 7 p.m., and its intensity was lower-5 on the 7-point Japanese scale in Shimokitayama, Nara Prefecture and Shingu, Wakayama Prefectures, on the Kii Peninsula, Meteorological Agency officials said.
They warned Mie and Wakayama prefecture residents of tsunami up to 50 centimeters high.
The tremor's magnitude is estimated to be 6.8 on the Richter scale.
The center of the earthquake was some 10 kilometers deep and located off the Kii Peninsula in the Pacific Ocean.
The quake registered 4 on the Japanese scale in other parts of Nara and Wakayama, Shiga, Gifu, and Osaka prefectures. (Mainichi and wire reports, Japan, Sept. 5, 2004)
Mulboyne wrote:Just watching NHK. Tsunami warnings for virtually the whole Pacific side... Coastal areas there are recommended for evacuation.
aquamarine wrote:For what it's worth, we just shook twice in about 15 minutes out here in Yokohama (Tama Plaza). That was quite fun, sitting here wondering why the hell the neighbors are running into the wall (which is what I'm leaning against) before I realized that I was feeling REAL dizzy. Go figure.
The highest concentration of fatalities occurred in the collapse of the Cypress structure on the Nimitz Highway (Interstate 880), where a double-decker portion of the freeway collapsed, crushing the cars on the lower deck. One 50-foot section of the Bay Bridge also collapsed, causing one car to fall to the deck below and the only casualty on the bridge. The bridge was closed for repairs for a month and one day, reopening on November 18. While the bridge was closed, ridership on BART soared.
Because this quake occurred during the evening rush hour, there could have been a large number of cars on the freeways at the time, which on the Cypress structure could have endangered many hundreds of commuters. Very fortunately, and in an unusual convergence of events, the two local major league baseball teams (the Oakland Athletics and the San Francisco Giants) were about to start their third game of the World Series. Many people had left work early or were participating in early after-work group viewings and parties. As a consequence, the usually crowded highways were experiencing exceptionally light traffic at the time.
Extensive damage also occurred in San Francisco's Marina District, where many expensive homes built on filled ground collapsed. Fires raged in some sections of the city as water mains broke. San Francisco's fireboat (the Phoenix) was used to pump salt water from San Francisco Bay through hoses dragged through streets by citizen volunteers. Power was cut to most of San Francisco and was not fully restored for several days.
Deaths in Santa Cruz occurred when brick storefronts and sidewalls in the historic downtown (what was then called the Pacific Garden Mall) tumbled down on people exiting the buildings.
The quake also caused an estimated $6 billion in property damage, the most costly natural disaster in U.S. history at the time. It was the largest earthquake to occur on the San Andreas Fault since the great San Francisco earthquake in April 1906. Private donations poured in to aid relief efforts and on October 26, President Bush signed a $3.45 billion earthquake relief package for California.
I used to think earthquakes were fun -- until the Oct. 7, 1989 Loma Prieta quake here in SF, which was 7.1 on the Richter scale and caused 63 deaths and 3.757 injuries.
As the Candlestick Park throng awaited introduction of the lineups, an earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale rocked the Bay Area. The Candlestick press box swayed, the ballpark shook and electric power stopped. Amazingly, fans, players and the media remained generally calm and even exhibited some lightheartedness. But when reports of death and destruction around the area became known -- many fans had portable radios and television sets at the park -- the mood turned somber.
japslapper wrote:
Day off do you think?
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