Earthquakes

[Pierrot le Fou]

A major earthquake occurred at 14:57:18 (UTC) on Sunday, September 5, 2004. The magnitude 7.1 event has been located in NEAR THE SOUTH COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN. (This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.)

Seven people injured in the Kyoto area. Felt in much of southwestern Japan and as far north as Tokyo. A tsunami was observed with wave heights of approximately 1 meter at Wakayama. A tsunami was also observed at Owase. Recorded (5L JMA) in Wakayama and Mie; (4 JMA) in Aichi, Fukui, Gifu, Hyogo, Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, Shiga and Tottori; (3 JMA) in Chiba, Hiroshima, Ishikawa, Kanagawa, Nagano, Okayama, Shimane, Shizuoka, Tokyo and Yamanashi; (2 JMA) in Gumma, Ibaraki, Niigata, Saitama, Tochigi and Yamaguchi; (1 JMA) in Miyagi Prefectures. Recorded (3 JMA) in Kagawa, Kochi and Tokushima; (2 JMA) in Ehime Prefectures, Shikoku. Recorded (1 JMA) in Fukuoka, Kumamoto, Miyazaki, Oita and Saga Prefectures, Kyushu. Also recorded (3 JMA) on Hachijo-jima, Kozu-shima, Miyake-jima, Nii-jima and O-shima; (2 JMA) on Dogo, Mikura-jima and in the Dozen islands; (1 JMA) on Sadago-shima.

And a second...

A major earthquake occurred at 10:07:09 (UTC) on Sunday, September 5, 2004. The magnitude 7.0 event has been located NEAR THE S. COAST OF WESTERN HONSHU, JAPAN. The hypocentral depth was poorly constrained. (This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.)

At least four people injured in the Kyoto area. Felt in much of southwestern Japan and as far northeast as Tokyo. A local tsunami was generated with wave heights (peak-to-trough) of about 51 cm in Wakayama Prefecture. Recorded (5L JMA) in Mie, Nara and Wakayama; (4 JMA) in Aichi, Gifu, Hyogo, Kyoto, Osaka and Shiga; (3 JMA) in Chiba, Fukui, Hiroshima, Kanagawa, Nagano, Okayama, Shimane, Shizuoka, Tokyo, Tottori and Yamanashi; (2 JMA) in Gumma, Ishikawa, Saitama, Tochigi, Toyama and Yamaguchi (1 JMA) in Ibaraki, Miyagi and Niigata Prefectures. Recorded (3 JMA) in Kagawa, Kochi and Tokushima; (2 JMA) in Ehime Prefectures, Shikoku. Recorded (1 JMA) in Kagoshima, Kumamoto, Miyazaki and Oita Prefectures, Kyushu. Also recorded (3 JMA) on Kozu-shima, Nii-jima and O-shima; (2 JMA) on Hachijo-jima, Mikura-jima and Miyake-jima; (1 JMA) on Dogo and the Dozen islands.

Source: United States Geological Survey

I cannot express to you how immensely petrifying it is to be in an earthquake, even one that's only around 4 or 5 on the richter scale. It's scary as all Hell. 45 seconds of pure unbridled terror.

But, uh, yeah.

Basically, the first one hit as I was thinking about bed, I nearly crapped myself, and decided to go get loaded so I could sleep that night. As I'm about ready to leave the bar at around midnight, the second one hits, and I am even more petrified, have another few drinks, and then go home only to lie restlessly petrified that everything is going to start shaking again.

See, 10 years ago there was a HUGE earthquake south-west of here that was definitely big news around the world, and since then they've been saying that the next big one will be where these two were from, and all the news was saying to expect a third earthquake possibly, and those two earthquakes were independent quakes apparently, rather than aftershocks, and I am still petrified.

So I am trying to teach my elementary school kids with a straight face on two hours of sleep, hungover, and petrified that the school is going to start shaking at any moment.

Now for the question: what's the word for totally rational fear of earthquakes?

[{KOW}Spazed]

Wow, 2 earthquakes in one night. Glad to hear you made it through relatively ok.

I would say the word is "Holy-****-what-was-that!"

[Steel_Avatar]

It must have been Godzilla

[TurdFergusen]

I'm still waiting for an earthquake to hit Vancouver, but Japan, Turkey, and San Francisco keep budging in line.

[DurfBarian]

Those weren't 4s or 5s; they were 4s or 5s on the Japanese intensity scale. Pretty big, though . . . I felt them both clear up in Tokyo.

Just go with the flow, man. Next time one hits grab a surfboard and head for the beach.

Seriously, though, sticking a backpack near your door/bed with stuff in it is a good idea:
* 4 liters of water (or more)
* some long-lasting food (Calorie Mate, that kind of thing)
* radio
* extra clothes/plastic tarp
* passport
* fire

It's also a good idea to keep a pair of slippers near your bed, so that when the big one hits you aren't stuck trying to walk to your quake kit barefoot over a bunch of broken glass.

EDIT: Turd, I'll shake ya if you need shaking

[Canadia142]

A couple years ago we got hit by, I think, a 5.4er and that was pretty scary cause it was in the middle of the night.

Well acually I slept through all of it except for about 4 seconds so it wasn't all that scary. we lost pretty much all our glass and ceramic plates and cups and lots of other ****. That wasn't very good

[Pierrot le Fou]

When the ground is shaking for 45 seconds, crap is shaking all over the place, you do not say 'what was that' or anything of the sort. It's not like this momentary thing. Oy...

And Durf, my apartment is filled to the brim as is. I really dunno where I can put all those things, but after this, I think I'll find room even if it means throwing out my refridgerator or something.

Scariest, thing, ever...

And the Japanese scale isn't the same as the American one?

[Anakha1]

The only thing to fear is fear itself...

and when the goddamn earth ****ing shakes under you.

Do not piss off mother nature.

[DurfBarian]

The "magnitude" they talk about is the Richter scale, more or less. The numbers that show up on the map are "intensity," which marks how much shaking you felt in those various locations, not how much energy was involved in the quake at its epicenter. It was a 1 or 2 up in Tokyo.

4 is pretty damn alarming. Stuff starts falling over around there. The Kobe quake in 1994 was a 7 or so in the destroyed areas.

EDIT: http://www.hp1039.jishin.go.jp/eqchreng/at2-2.htm

I think last night's quakes were 4 in Kyoto/Osaka and 5-low in the harder-hit coastal areas.

[{KOW}Spazed]

Well a tornado lasts a hell of a lot longer than an earthquake and when you wake up in the middle of the night and stuff is flying in the air and it sounds like a train is moving through your backyard. So yeah it doesn't have to be a split second thing to say "WTF!"