NationStates Jolt Archive


Tokyo to be devasted within 50 years, and counting

Colodia
30-08-2004, 23:48
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/08/30/japan.earthquake.ap/index.html

Is it just me, or does Japan seem like the LAST place a Japanophile would want to live and the FIRST place normal people want Japanohphiles to live? [/insensitive]

Is it just me, or am I glad theres more than 3,000 miles of water seperating me from Tokyo? Is it just me or did that make no sense?
Irondin
30-08-2004, 23:49
Japan gets hit by a big quake ever 100 years and they always rebuild I dont think this will be difrent
New Foxxinnia
30-08-2004, 23:51
This earthquake better happen within my lifetime.
Letila
30-08-2004, 23:57
Must hoard anime!
New Foxxinnia
30-08-2004, 23:59
Must hoard anime!
:eek:
7,000!
Kerubia
30-08-2004, 23:59
Oh no they're making ANOTHER Godzilla movie?

oh wait, phew, it's just an earthquake.
Superpower07
31-08-2004, 00:01
Must hoard anime!

LOL - *starts importing Gundam DVDs*
Pyta
31-08-2004, 00:01
quick! Send all the Yiffies and Vores on a boat over there, then torpedo to boat
Irondin
31-08-2004, 00:02
quick! Send all the Yiffies and Vores on a boat over there, then torpedo to boat

???
New Foxxinnia
31-08-2004, 00:02
quick! Send all the Yiffies and Vores on a boat over there, then torpedo to boatVores?
Haven't hear that before.
The Class A Cows
31-08-2004, 00:51
What kind of fault is causing this? And, if its a suduction boundary, are those major quakes caused by elastic tension suddenly being released? Otherwise the quakes would likely be too deep to do too much damage. Also, im not sure what the soil composition of Japan is, if its mostly volcanic rock there wouldnt be too many sedimentary formations to prolong the tremors. Anyway, a modern city built to Seattle-level code should withstand much of the damage of a 7.2, unless its rather shallow and thus affects a smaller area anyway.
Purly Euclid
31-08-2004, 01:03
Tokyo was devastated by an earthquake in the twenties. More recently, Kobe was hit by an earthquake, and that did a fair amount of damage. I don't know if Tokyo would suffer severe damage from another earthquake, but it'd certainly damage quite a few buildings, kill thousands, and may cause tsunamis in the region.
Sydenia
31-08-2004, 01:06
Vores?
Haven't hear that before.

I think it is loosely based on carnivore, though perhaps it has some other root; but it is one furry eating another. Think cannibalism.
Letila
31-08-2004, 01:24
I think it is loosely based on carnivore, though perhaps it has some other root; but it is one furry eating another. Think cannibalism.

Man, those furries are even weirder than I thought.
New Foxxinnia
31-08-2004, 02:02
Man, those furries are even weirder than I thought.That's like the extreme version of furries I would suppose.
Tuesday Heights
31-08-2004, 02:07
Japan gets hit by a big quake ever 100 years and they always rebuild I dont think this will be difrent

Nowadays, with technology, it's much easier to rebuild and countries are more than willing to give away their money to help with those costs.
Trotterstan
31-08-2004, 02:20
I might start taking bets.

$5 says LA falls into the sea before Tokyo......

Any takers.
The Class A Cows
31-08-2004, 02:24
Tokyo was devastated by an earthquake in the twenties. More recently, Kobe was hit by an earthquake, and that did a fair amount of damage. I don't know if Tokyo would suffer severe damage from another earthquake, but it'd certainly damage quite a few buildings, kill thousands, and may cause tsunamis in the region.

Seattle had a 6.8 quake a few years ago. The only casualty was a single women who was indirectly killed by an ensuing heart attack. Property damage was massive though.
Hiroshiko
31-08-2004, 02:32
Hmm.... very interesting, I guess we gotta wait n' see.
The Island of Rose
31-08-2004, 02:33
I just hope the Sony Building goes to the ground... and Nintendo lives!

Long Live Nintendo!

*trills tounge*
New Anthrus
31-08-2004, 02:59
Seattle had a 6.8 quake a few years ago. The only casualty was a single women who was indirectly killed by an ensuing heart attack. Property damage was massive though.
I remember that a bit. Bill Gates was speaking at some venue, and after the earthquake, he kept on speaking. Still, a 6.8 earthquake isn't as bad as some of the ones that can happen.
Besides, Tokyo is far more dense than Seattle. Even if they have good construction codes, it won't prevent massive loss of life. They practically live on top of one another. It only takes a falling neon sign, or a broken window, to do some damage. And Tokyo is extremely crowded.
Tomzilla
31-08-2004, 03:06
Oh no they're making ANOTHER Godzilla movie?

THEY ARE MAKING THE LAST GODZILLA MOVIE THIS YEAR.
Crabcake Baba Ganoush
31-08-2004, 03:16
Those so called experts are always saying that somebody is overdue for some sort of devastating phenomenon. And it’s usually during some kind of a celebration where the leader of the city/town/whatever keeps trying to go ahead with the celebration. They’ll usually scoff the expert and threaten him/her with pink slips. Sometimes even losing his/her job. Then while the celebration is in full swing the disaster strikes. All Tokyo has to do is avoid having any major celebration and they should be fine.
Nehek-Nehek
31-08-2004, 03:21
Seattle had a 6.8 quake a few years ago. The only casualty was a single women who was indirectly killed by an ensuing heart attack. Property damage was massive though.

My cousin and his wife live in Washington state, in a small town near Seattle. After the quake we were surprised we couldn't see the town on the map. Then we noticed that the dot representing the quakes' epicenter covered it. Made us a bit nervous, but they were ok.
New Anthrus
31-08-2004, 03:49
I might start taking bets.

$5 says LA falls into the sea before Tokyo......

Any takers.
San Fransico is more likely to do that than LA. I haven't traveled there in my life, but as San Fransico gets more rain and lots of fog, the soil is much soggier. Still, the possibility is as remote as the sun shrinking to the size of a dime, and tap dancing on my bedside table.
The Class A Cows
31-08-2004, 03:51
San Fransico is more likely to do that than LA. I haven't traveled there in my life, but as San Fransico gets more rain and lots of fog, the soil is much soggier. Still, the possibility is as remote as the sun shrinking to the size of a dime, and tap dancing on my bedside table.

Also, California is on a diffrent type of plate boundary, mostly transform. This leads to frequent, powerful earthquakes of varying depths.
Sooty Babia
31-08-2004, 04:01
One of my friends and I kept cancelling plans to go cycling due to weather reports.

those three sundays were the most beautiful, ideal sundays all summer...

I don't like following weather or predictions :)
Trotterstan
31-08-2004, 04:10
San Fransico is more likely to do that than LA. I haven't traveled there in my life, but as San Fransico gets more rain and lots of fog, the soil is much soggier. Still, the possibility is as remote as the sun shrinking to the size of a dime, and tap dancing on my bedside table.
with this sort of insider knowledge you could make a fortune of dumb schmucks like me. Shall we say $20 then.....
Arenestho
31-08-2004, 05:06
The Japanese are resiliant people, they'll survive a big earthquake.
Spookistan and Jakalah
31-08-2004, 05:26
What kind of fault is causing this? And, if its a suduction boundary, are those major quakes caused by elastic tension suddenly being released? Otherwise the quakes would likely be too deep to do too much damage. Also, im not sure what the soil composition of Japan is, if its mostly volcanic rock there wouldnt be too many sedimentary formations to prolong the tremors. Anyway, a modern city built to Seattle-level code should withstand much of the damage of a 7.2, unless its rather shallow and thus affects a smaller area anyway.

I think this commission probably took all that stuff into account. I mean, you might know your stuff, or do this for a living, but I'm pretty sure that they know a thing or two about it too.
Daistallia 2104
31-08-2004, 05:49
This is all old news. Sixty Seconds That Will Change the World: The Coming Tokyo Earthquake (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0283060794/qid=1093923743/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-9018984-1226302?v=glance&s=books#product-details)
by Peter Hadfield

Japan gets hit by a big quake ever 100 years and they always rebuild I dont think this will be difrent

Big tremblors are a whole, whole, whole lot more common here than every 100 years.
I suspect you are thinking of Tokyo. The various fault lines in the Kanto area produce a major earthquake roughly every 70 years.

What kind of fault is causing this? And, if its a suduction boundary, are those major quakes caused by elastic tension suddenly being released? Otherwise the quakes would likely be too deep to do too much damage. Also, im not sure what the soil composition of Japan is, if its mostly volcanic rock there wouldnt be too many sedimentary formations to prolong the tremors. Anyway, a modern city built to Seattle-level code should withstand much of the damage of a 7.2, unless its rather shallow and thus affects a smaller area anyway.

The subduction of the Pacific Plate and Philippine Plate under the Eurasian Plate not only causes the volcanoes Japan, but also makes it one of the most earthquake-prone regions of the world. There are numerous faults running across Japan associated with the subduction zones causing many major and innumerable minor earthquakes. source (http://www.seinan-gu.ac.jp/~djohnson/natural/quakes.html)

A significant part of Tokyo is built on reclaimed land, an is subject to liquification.

Tokyo was devastated by an earthquake in the twenties. More recently, Kobe was hit by an earthquake, and that did a fair amount of damage. I don't know if Tokyo would suffer severe damage from another earthquake, but it'd certainly damage quite a few buildings, kill thousands, and may cause tsunamis in the region.

Those were:
the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 - over 140,000 dead.
the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995 - about 6000 dead. I can tell you tales about that day!

I remember that a bit. Bill Gates was speaking at some venue, and after the earthquake, he kept on speaking. Still, a 6.8 earthquake isn't as bad as some of the ones that can happen.
Besides, Tokyo is far more dense than Seattle. Even if they have good construction codes, it won't prevent massive loss of life. They practically live on top of one another. It only takes a falling neon sign, or a broken window, to do some damage. And Tokyo is extremely crowded.

Japan does have some strict construction codes. However there is also a long tradition of corruption in the construction industry. After the Great Hanshin earthquake, there was a scandal over the collapse of one of the Shinkansen ("bullet train") lines due to bad construction - supporting columns
not built to spec and so on. That's not to mention older buildings that weren't built under code.

The real danger from the next great Kanto earthquake is economic. So much of Japan's industry, population, government, etc. is located in the greater Tokyo area that the next big earthquake will be very damaging.

Lot's of info on the results of the Hanshin earthquake (http://geoinfo.usc.edu/gees/Reports/Report3/japan/KOBE.HTML#7.%20DAMAGE%20TO%20GEOTECHNICAL) - multiply that about 20 times, for size, and you get an idea of the effects a big quake would have on Tokyo. Modify it for a really bad scenario (say an M8.5 at 7am, when people are moving about and breakfast is being cooked accross the city) and you could easily be talking over a million deaths and enough damages to do some serious worldwide economic problems.
Kryozerkia
31-08-2004, 05:53
Must hoard anime!
Bootleg!!
Daistallia 2104
31-08-2004, 05:57
Oh, and I meant to mention that both the Japanese national and local government's were very slow and rather incompetent in their initial response to the Hanshin earthquake. It was over 24 hours before SDF forces from neighboring prefectures were sent in. The Yamaguchi-gumi (the largest organized crime syndicate in Japan, which happens to be headquartered in Kobe) actually responded with relife efforts faster than the national government...
Now that was embarassing.

And if anyone wanted to make money off this one, try buying stocks in Osaka based construction related firms.
Daistallia 2104
31-08-2004, 05:59
THEY ARE MAKING THE LAST GODZILLA MOVIE THIS YEAR.

Just like the previouis 4 or 5 were "the last". ;)
Goed
31-08-2004, 06:41
Oh, and I meant to mention that both the Japanese national and local government's were very slow and rather incompetent in their initial response to the Hanshin earthquake. It was over 24 hours before SDF forces from neighboring prefectures were sent in. The Yamaguchi-gumi (the largest organized crime syndicate in Japan, which happens to be headquartered in Kobe) actually responded with relife efforts faster than the national government...
Now that was embarassing.

And if anyone wanted to make money off this one, try buying stocks in Osaka based construction related firms.

I thought that was the Yakuza that was the largest?
Democratic Nationality
31-08-2004, 07:58
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/08/30/japan.earthquake.ap/index.html

Is it just me, or does Japan seem like the LAST place a Japanophile would want to live and the FIRST place normal people want Japanohphiles to live? [/insensitive]

Is it just me, or am I glad theres more than 3,000 miles of water seperating me from Tokyo? Is it just me or did that make no sense?

Anyone here actually been to Tokyo? I have, and it's a commercial/corporate hell. They have become so Americanized it's unbelievable. What happened to the Japanese culture? Is this the fate of all countries, to be overwhelmed by the American mass media and American-inspired capitalist globalization? 60 years of American cultural and economic imperialism have done more to damage Japan's character than any earthquake ever could. As for Godzilla, well, at least if you're going to be destroyed by a monster, make it a Japanese one. That would feel better.
Daistallia 2104
01-09-2004, 05:21
Oh, and I meant to mention that both the Japanese national and local government's were very slow and rather incompetent in their initial response to the Hanshin earthquake. It was over 24 hours before SDF forces from neighboring prefectures were sent in. The Yamaguchi-gumi (the largest organized crime syndicate in Japan, which happens to be headquartered in Kobe) actually responded with relife efforts faster than the national government...
Now that was embarassing.
I thought that was the Yakuza that was the largest?

Uhmm... That's kind of like like saying "I thought thhat was the mafia that was the largest" after someone tells you the Gambino's are the largest organized crime syndicate in the US. ;)
The Yamaguchi-gumi (http://yakuza-japan.go.ro/yakuza_Modern.html) is the largest Yakuza family.
Highland
01-09-2004, 05:25
I've lived in Japan and Okinawa before...when my dad was stationed there, wasn't bad but I barely went off the base.
Daistallia 2104
01-09-2004, 05:31
Anyone here actually been to Tokyo? I have, and it's a commercial/corporate hell. They have become so Americanized it's unbelievable. What happened to the Japanese culture? Is this the fate of all countries, to be overwhelmed by the American mass media and American-inspired capitalist globalization? 60 years of American cultural and economic imperialism have done more to damage Japan's character than any earthquake ever could. As for Godzilla, well, at least if you're going to be destroyed by a monster, make it a Japanese one. That would feel better.

Have you ever been anywhere in Japan besides Tokyo. I've lived here 13 years - 1 year in Isahaya (Nagasaki prefecture), 2 years in Niigata, and 10 years in Osaka, and I have travelled throught the country. Japan may have become utterly Americanized at a quick glance, but I can assure you it remains very, very Japanese. The "hell" of modern urban life in Japan has
nothing to do with so called "American cultural and economic imperialism" and everything to do with Japanese culture.
Daistallia 2104
01-09-2004, 05:33
I've lived in Japan and Okinawa before...when my dad was stationed there, wasn't bad but I barely went off the base.

Which service was he with? And do you remember where he was stationed?
Too bad you didn't get off base more. It's a nice little place, especially outside of Tokyo.
The Class A Cows
01-09-2004, 05:48
Ive heard horror stories about sanitation inside the larger cities. Are there any wastewater disposal and pollution problems there? Im on a quest to find a big city with worse problems of this kind than Los Angeles (London came close.)
Daistallia 2104
01-09-2004, 05:49
Oh, and today - September 1st - is the anniversary of the 1923 Great Kanto earthquake (http://japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=1&id=310720).
Goed
01-09-2004, 08:27
Uhmm... That's kind of like like saying "I thought thhat was the mafia that was the largest" after someone tells you the Gambino's are the largest organized crime syndicate in the US. ;)
The Yamaguchi-gumi (http://yakuza-japan.go.ro/yakuza_Modern.html) is the largest Yakuza family.

Ack! Sorry, I really didn't know ^_^;;;
Daistallia 2104
01-09-2004, 17:19
Ive heard horror stories about sanitation inside the larger cities. Are there any wastewater disposal and pollution problems there? Im on a quest to find a big city with worse problems of this kind than Los Angeles (London came close.)

Waste water really isn't a problem. Most residences are on septic systems that require pumping out.
Pollution, especially dioxins, on the other hand is still a major problem. However Seoul and Ciudad Mexico have much worse problems.
Daistallia 2104
01-09-2004, 17:22
Ack! Sorry, I really didn't know ^_^;;;

No worries. :D
Nimzonia
01-09-2004, 17:27
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/08/30/japan.earthquake.ap/index.html

Is it just me, or does Japan seem like the LAST place a Japanophile would want to live and the FIRST place normal people want Japanohphiles to live? [/insensitive]

Is it just me, or am I glad theres more than 3,000 miles of water seperating me from Tokyo? Is it just me or did that make no sense?

The USA is also a natural disaster zone, but you seem quite content to live there.

Everywhere looks dangerous from the UK, since we banned plate tectonics.
Mattemis
01-09-2004, 17:32
we should just get some big ropes and tie them to japan and then proceed to pull the island closer to usa. this way they get less chance of impending doom and we get more anime!
Colodia
01-09-2004, 17:35
The USA is also a natural disaster zone, but you seem quite content to live there.

Everywhere looks dangerous from the UK, since we banned plate tectonics.
Our earthquakes aren't as frequent and devastating, even though this is California.

14 years and I haven't felt a thing down here in Southern California. I'd say I'm quite happy and safe here.