Big earthquake in Japan
 

A big earthquake has just hit Japan, and it is still shaking here. There is a large fire burning near Odaiba, and the ground is still shaking. A tsunami warning had been issued for all the east coast of Japan. It is starting to shake badly again, and my apartment is a mess...

Cell phone service is out, though it worked long enough for me to call my girlfriend in New York City.

Tsunamis of up to 6 meters are possible on the northwest coast. It's been 20 minutes and my building is still shaking back and forth.

The quake seems to have been centered in Miyagi prefecture, and it was 7.9 in magnitude.

Tsunamis are hitting, houses and buildings are being washed away, another big aftershock has hit. The flooding is terrible, there are more fires in Chiba, one of the steel mills has started burning, and another quake is hitting

Yeah felt it pretty strongly here. And we've just had a pretty big aftershock as well. It's the biggest shake I've felt here in the last 7 years.

Still shaking, tsunamis may reach 10 meters in places, including as far south as Chiba. Trains and subways are stopped, tsunamis are hitting in other places and they are huge,

Telcom seems to burn in Odaiba.

A telephone is impossible of connection to a niece with my younger brother who is in Tokyo with my friend who of me is clear in Miyagi.
A road sinks in Miyagi

Sendai airport has been hit by a large Tsunami and is being washed away, an oil refinery is burning,

I am watching TV Japan right now. 8.4 magnitude! This is incredible!

The view is better from here, not that I am enjoying it, it's been more than an hour and my building is still shaking. Everything is all over the floor, but there is no point in cleaning it up as just may end up getting knocked down again.

I've had a bad feeling for the last week that this might happen, I stocked up with food and water, and it was delivered just Wednesday.

JR has suspended train service for the next 3 hours, all cell phone service has been shut down (not very helpful), more big shaking as I write...

Well I hope that as little people get harmed as possible.

Unfortunately I think it's going to be rather devastating. These were huge quakes and there's huge tsunamis now wreaking havoc along the eastern coast of Honshu and will hit the southern coast of Hokkaido.

I hope that the damage is minimal and that this is the big one they've been talking about.... That way, there's no more worrying for a while (wishful thinking)

The USGS uprated the first tremor to an 8.9.... impressive