Message #2817

[akfools]

Quake Moved Japan Coast 8 Feet; Shifted Earth’s Axis

Via: CNN: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/12/japan.earthquake.tsunami.earth/index.html?hpt=T1

The powerful earthquake that unleashed a devastating tsunami Friday appears to have moved the main island of Japan by 8 feet (2.4 meters) and shifted the Earth on its axis.

“At this point, we know that one GPS station moved (8 feet), and we have seen a map from GSI (Geospatial Information Authority) in Japan showing the pattern of shift over a large area is consistent with about that much shift of the land mass,” said Kenneth Hudnut, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

Reports from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Italy estimated the 8.9-magnitude quake shifted the planet on its axis by nearly 4 inches (10 centimeters).



Video of Ground Cracking Open, Water Being Pushed Up, Chiba Cityhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6K6JcAB9T0&feature=player_embedded


BBC: Huge Whirlpool Created After Japan Quake
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12709856


LA Times: Hundreds of Bodies Found in Sendai
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-japan-quake-20110311,0,1950058.story


Telegraph: Millions Stranded in Tokyo
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8375957/Christchurch-earthquake-10-deadliest-tremors-in-20th-Century.html

Millions of people in greater Tokyo are stranded far from home after Japan’s biggest earthquake on record shut down the capital’s massive subway system.

Sirens wailed through Tokyo, television helicopters flew overhead and people rushed to the city’s ubiquitous 24-hour convenience stores, quickly emptying shelves of bento boxes, sandwiches and instant noodle cups.

Countless workers, who had fled violently swaying office blocks, found themselves stuck far from their families, and unable to speak to them because the overloaded mobile phone system could not carry most calls.

“I have no idea how I’ll get home,” said an 18 year-old woman waiting outside Ginza subway station.

She described how ceramics shattered around her in a department store when the huge quake hit mid-afternoon.

The government used loudspeaker alerts and television broadcasts to urge people to stay near their workplaces rather than risk long walks home, as highways leading out of the city centre were choked and hotels quickly booked out.