Earthquake

[imomus]

Anybody in Japan with eyewitness reports of the strong earthquake that just happened there? BBC TV just had a very shaky video clip showing both the Tokyo tower and the Mori Roppongi Hills building shuddering for what looked like a rather long time.

Comments

[imomus.livejournal.com]

This just in from Jean Snow (http://jeansnow.net):

'Seems like it was major, but I was walking outside, and didn't feel it. Got a call from my wife, and she was scared (she was studying at Todai). I felt two more after that. When I got home, I turned on the TV to find every channel covering it (and they're still doing it now). Seems like there were 3 earthquakes of magnitude 6, but I'm not sure where they were centered. They're saying that everyone should be careful.

'I actually felt a bigger one about a month ago. That one really scared me, and things were moving in the apartment.'

I missed that one last month because I was in Hong Kong that week. I was almost miffed to miss it because, although I've spent a year out of the last three years in Japan (if you add up all the three month visits) I've never experienced more than minor tremors. Not that I want anything major to happen, of course. But it seems like a gap in my experience. What does it feel like? Is it, as Bjork said when she was in the LA quake, 'a primal force of nature' that you can almost 'ride'? Or is it just like being in a train on rattly points, or weathering turbulence on a plane?

Shakin' in yer snowshoes

[(Anonymous)]

The quake which hit San Francisco in 1989 felt vaguely like strong turbulence, but yes, more primal. You don't expect for what feels like the entire earth to experience turbulence. Quite exciting, actually. Makes me wish the earth shook constantly. There's not nearly enough motion on land. Maybe then we'd live in large spheres, and migrate like those antarctic weather balls.