Earthquake, tsunami, nuclear reactors, volcano

Our spring puddle

My deepest condolences to all those near and far affected by this huge quake. I have been quite curious about the new information, and have done some research. Forgive me if this bores, but I process information by writing it out! I wrote a post today about Pain Assessment and Symptom Management to better understand it for my hospice clients!
I shall post some photos of my afternoon walk, for those who prefer the visual! I look around at our property and wonder what would shift in an earthquake.

At least the moss is green

 Many are terribly shocked with the loss of life (in the tens of thousands), and the devastation in the international news. The photos and videos are terrifying. I hope that the scientists will better understand it all with the added visual data.

Firstly, I learned that the Richter scale has been replaced by the moment magnitude scale (MMS). Who knew?
The MMS is now the scale used to estimate magnitudes for all modern large earthquakes by the United States Geological Survey. They have a fabulous link, and you can see the earthquakes for your area by clicking on their map.

Bog melts

Either way, the scales are logarithmic, and each step of the scale increases by ten fold. Pretty scary stuff. I saw on CNN that the earthquake in Japan was upped to a  9.0. Scientists are baffled, because Japan sits on an irregular fault line that should not have been able to generate such a huge earthquake.
UPDATE: 5.8 earthquake, near the east coast of Honshu, Japan. Mar 14 10:02am at epicenter …http://j.mp/hQG4Nr

The LA Times has collected video footage on one post. Their before and after satellite shots are stark and cause us to pause for thought. You can scroll left or right and see what has now disappeared.


Japan earthquake: CCTV video of tsunami wave hitting airport, from RussiaToday. The fires are what surprised me most. Scary footage: Tsunami waves raging, buildings burn after 8.9 Japan earthquake, fromRussiaToday.

Watching from the forest

Earthquake Moved Japan’s Coast 8 Feet, Shifted Earth’s Axis
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).
Some waves reached six miles inland.
Next, the nuclear reactors...Deutche Welle has information about the Nuclear Reactors. It is all frightening.

Japanese Scramble to Avert Meltdowns as Nuclear Crisis Deepens After Quake.

What a massive job. And now, Volcano in southern Japan erupts.

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The Shinmoedake volcano on Japan's Kyushu island, after lying dormant for a couple of weeks, and being silent for two years.