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Disaster In Japan – Live Blog

March 11, 2011 in Live-Blogging In The Name Of








What I’m seeing and hearing coming out of Japan is Michael Bay-esque in proportions. Indeed – imagine if Michael Bay and Roland Emmerich got together and decided to destroy part of Japan – that’s what I’m seeing. The quake was 8.9 in magnitude, and was the most powerful to ever hit. Currently – 44 dead. Everybody’s trying to get home and the seismic wave is still traveling The Pacific as I type.











As it moves across the land, gas pipes begin to fracture.









Those are cars and people carriers being tossed about like toys.









Wreckage piles up underneath a bridge.







A boat is caught in a whirlpool.

We will continue to closely monitor tsunamis around Japan and the Pacific going forward and we are asking all our citizens in the affected region to listen to their state and local officials.



Tweets are coming in about the tsunami hitting Hawaii.

Video feed from The Washington Post.


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  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/weegees_bored/ Weegee\’s Bored

    CNN is waiting for the tsunami to hit Hawaii any minute. The coast has been evacuated. Even the Coast Guard brass moved inshore, which is awesome.

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/chillbearlatrigue/ Chillbear Latrigue

    Weegee\’s Bored wrote:

    CNN is waiting for the tsunami to hit Hawaii any minute. The coast has been evacuated. Even the Coast Guard brass moved inshore, which is awesome.

    I tell all of the people who work for me that they won’t do anyone any good if they add themselves to the casualties list. I think the Coast Guard has no choice but to get out of the way.

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/azirel-fallen/ Azirel Fallen

    I can only speak for Misawa Air Base, in Amoroi Prefecture but All personnel there have been accounted for & evacuation orders have been implemented.

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/weegees_bored/ Weegee\’s Bored

    There’s an iPad app for NPR that lets you get the feeds from NPR stations from around the country. I had one of the Honolulu stations on before. They were waiting for the wave.

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/monkeyrash/ monkeyrash

    I cannot imagine not being able to get home from work or contact my family at a time when you most need to, as is happening in Japan. Gah. Horrible.

    And the news just said they’ve found another 200-300 bodies.

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/chillbearlatrigue/ Chillbear Latrigue

    How well prepared is Hawaii for this type of thing? I’m not even sure how to ask that question, but are their buildings constructed to withstand this type of thing?

    They just said that the first waves are hitting the islands, but there could be larger ones.

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/chillbearlatrigue/ Chillbear Latrigue

    Azirel Fallen wrote:

    I can only speak for Misawa Air Base, in Amoroi Prefecture but All personnel there have been accounted for & evacuation orders have been implemented.

    That is good inside info. Where is that exactly?

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/azirel-fallen/ Azirel Fallen

    @ Chillbear Latrigue:

    A little way north of Sendai where the epicenter of the quake was. The major issue is that they had just had a 7.2 yesterday in almost the exact same spot. My understanding is that the Military is also evacuating Okinawa base due to the Tsunami threat.

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/dieterthemasseur/ DieterTheMasseur

    My friend Brett just posted on FB from Tokyo:

    After the first one there were many people in the street, many of them smoking cigarettes. After the second one, about fifteen minutes later, there was Everyone in the street, and nearly Everyone smoking. Amazing. A day with no fear of c…ancer. And for the next five hours there were no cell phones, no trains, and not a chance of hailing a cab, everyone walking home, or to nursery to gather their kids, and many at great distance. Tokyo transformed. And not a crack, not one window busted. Even now, every five or ten minutes, a gentle shake comes through the ground, a flash back to the glimpse we were treated to, guests, living on the back of a serious fucking rock with plans of her own. I feel very dodged-a-bullet tonight, and very lucky to have dodged it with people I love, among modern structural engineers. Okagesamade!

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/pinekatz/ Pinekatz

    @ Chillbear Latrigue:

    They are Hawaii. Everyone on the Pacific Rim is earthquake ready. Not E-proof. But ready.

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/azirel-fallen/ Azirel Fallen

    Dieter – They build for quakes there. We used to play an online game & quakes were so frequent while we were there that we could tell them that we were having a quake & keep playing. This particular quake is really bad since the Base closest to Sendai (Misawa) has lost electricity. We didn’t even lose that in the 7.6 we had in July of 08.

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/pinekatz/ Pinekatz

    @ DieterTheMasseur: Good to know. The Big One and Japan didn’t fall down. Seriously. I’m in California and this is really good news.

  • http://wordsmoker.com misslinda

    What a mess. I’ve got a friend who can’t track down his parents in Tokyo and everyone I know in San Fran is freaking out (but not enough that they get the heck off of Facebook and run, so that’s a good sign, right?). Plus I’ve got a reply brief that has to be filed with the 2nd Circuit today and a draft has been marinating on the partner’s desk for about three days now but has he read it? No. So since this is all about me, I’d like a do-over please, or at least a nice soothing cup of tea.

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/mama-penguino-2-2-2/ Mama Penguino

    So awful – I cannot imagine the panic, worrying about my kid, the end of days-type hysteria. Despite this, all I can think about is how I really really really need to avoid discussing this with my FIL, a WWII vet who fought on Guadalcanal. He’s still pissed.

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/weegees_bored/ Weegee\’s Bored

    @ Mama Penguino:

    My father never forgave them either, and was profoundly embarrassed over having a German last name.

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/weegees_bored/ Weegee\’s Bored

    As of 11am Eastern, CNN.com has a live streaming webcam pointed at the beach at Seal Beach, south of LA. Follow the menus.

  • http://wordsmoker.com misslinda

    @ Weegee\’s Bored:
    Thanks Weeg. It’s showing me a livestream of a man playing with a dog on the beach so now I’m yelling at my computer screen.

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/bjonston/ BJonston

    Fuck.

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/muskegharpy/ muskegharpy

    I live in a tsunami zone in Alaska. The helpful police auto dialer called me at 4 am to say something. I swore at the phone and went back to bed. My heart goes out to everyone in Japan who has to deal with the direct impacts of the earthquake. I am, however a bit pissed at the news hyping the tsunami potential. My mom and aunt called this morning because they heard about an 8-foot wave about to hit the west coast.

    Alaska and Hawaii are pretty tsunami-ready and my community regularly goes through tsunami drills. The waves already started hitting Alaska and they were less than 5 feet so far.

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/weegees_bored/ Weegee\’s Bored

    @ misslinda:

    Member of the cast of Jackass?

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/weegees_bored/ Weegee\’s Bored

    Oh cool, now there’s also a guy on a bike.hh

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/weegees_bored/ Weegee\’s Bored

    @ Weegee\’s Bored: the camera is panning to follow the dude with the dog. Hmmm.

  • http://wordsmoker.com misslinda

    @ Weegee\’s Bored:
    So you think it’s a famous man, or a famous dog? Perhaps I should stop yelling at them and start batting my eyelashes. Ugh. Now I’m worried about animals. The San Fran Zoo is right on the water, and so is the one in Waikiki.

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/weegees_bored/ Weegee\’s Bored

    The surf is getting rougher, so the guy went in up to his knees.

    Now there’s another guy. They’re talking. Maybe making funeral arrangements.

    I wonder what the CNN crew shooting the video thinks of this.

  • http://wordsmoker.com misslinda

    Ha ha, it was a girl! And a dude just showed up, so this livestream might get a little sexxxy!

  • http://wordsmoker.com misslinda

    But do you see those waves!!! They’re huge! Yet these people are standing in the water. They are idiots. The dog is clearly the brains of the operation.

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/weegees_bored/ Weegee\’s Bored

    Chad Myers on CNN, who seems pretty knowledgeable, notes that the tsunami is an hour overdue in CA. It’s hitting South America harder. So maybe these people on the beach knew something we didn’t.hh

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/weegees_bored/ Weegee\’s Bored

    @ Weegee\’s Bored: the people on the beach are leaving. They must have been following CNN on their iPhones and learned that their lives are no longer in danger. Time to go home.

  • http://wordsmoker.com misslinda

    @ Weegee\’s Bored:
    Crap crap crap!!! I seriously just booked a trip to the Galapagos this week! If anything fucks with the sea turtles I’m gonna be pissed!

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/dieterthemasseur/ DieterTheMasseur

    misslinda wrote:

    The dog is clearly the brains of the operation.

    This is so often the case.

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/weegees_bored/ Weegee\’s Bored

    In the meantime, I now must drive El Kid someplace that happens to be in the area where the National Weather Whatever has been putting out flood warnings for the past 24 hours. This happens in NE NJ, where there’s a stream literally every three blocks.

  • http://wordsmoker.com misslinda

    In Googling around for info on whether Mama Nature just ruined my vacation, I was sent to a Facebook page called “Twilight Fans Ecuador” where I found this Tweet:

    RT @TwilightFB: Due to the tsunami advisory, filming of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn has been delayed. All cast and crew were evacuated.

    Oh thank gawd!!!

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/fuldis-closure-2-2/ fuldis closure

    @misslinda: Yes, and one of the Twilight actresses just tweeted her goodbyes:

    “They’re evacuating us 4 a tsumnani [sic] warning. If this … is my last my tweet. I love you. The end. Hugz.”

    And, “If this is the moment. Then I’ve lived a good life. And I’m thankful 4 everything I’ve been given.”

    Oh man.

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/weegees_bored/ Weegee\’s Bored

    @ fuldis closure:

    They’re all a bunch of tweets.

  • http://wordsmoker.com misslinda

    According to MSN, natural selection has claimed one victim:

    “The Coast Guard was searching for a man in the Pacific Ocean near the Klamath River in Del Norte County in Northern California. The man was swept out to sea by a wave after he and two friends reportedly traveled to the shoreline to take photos of the incoming tsunami waves, Lt. Todd Vorenkamp said. His friends made it back to shore.”

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/weegees_bored/ Weegee\’s Bored

    I bet he tweeted 9-1-1

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/mama-penguino-2-2-2/ Mama Penguino

    @ Weegee\’s Bored: A friend of mine in law school told me once that his family was out for dinner and the restaurant was offering a Japanese dessert. When it came with a little Japanese flag on a toothpick stuck in it, his father (obvs another WWII vet) went postal and starting screaming and had to leave the restaurant. At least my FIL has made only one snide remark about my Honda in 20 years. He asked me if the motor ran via hamsters on a treadmill, which isn’t so bad. Having never been in these old guys’ shoes, I’ll reserve judgment. I wonder if the Chinese are quietly celebrating?

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/weegees_bored/ Weegee\’s Bored

    Mama Penguino wrote:

    @ Weegee\’s Bored: A friend of mine in law school told me once that his family was out for dinner and the restaurant was offering a Japanese dessert. When it came with a little Japanese flag on a toothpick stuck in it, his father (obvs another WWII vet) went postal and starting screaming and had to leave the restaurant. At least my FIL has made only one snide remark about my Honda in 20 years. He asked me if the motor ran via hamsters on a treadmill, which isn’t so bad. Having never been in these old guys’ shoes, I’ll reserve judgment. I wonder if the Chinese are quietly celebrating?

    That hamsters joke dates back to when “made in Japan” was a common saying adoring everything from cheap merch to bad relationships.

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/weegees_bored/ Weegee\’s Bored

    Somewhere in the country, in the depths of the night, an editor was deciding if he should go with the words “when the wave from Japan reached Pearl Harbor, …”

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/geodejane/ GeodeJane

    The poor bastards.
    These days, watching live news is like watching a snuff film.

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/militantrubberducky/ MilitantRubberDucky

    It’s not just people affected by this tragedy:

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3TM9GL2iLI&feature=player_embedded