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

Now,

For the water front of my town, an evacuation order was announced by a city hall.

A tsunami of 3m came to Atami.

The prayers of your friends in America are with our Japanese allies at this terrible time. Hopefully the President will authorize the U.S. Military in Japan to come to your aide at once.

We just got the Hawaii alert now....Hawaii under a threat warning for landfall at 3am. We here in Washington state are waiting ourselves for what may come. Early estimates say first landfall in Seattle at 0851am.

God help Japan and the rest of the Pacific.

The tsunamis began hitting within minutes of the quake occuring, I can't imagine that people had time to get away even if they were prepared.

Urayasu in Chiba (where Tokyo Disney Resort is located) was hit by a Tsunami, but it appears to have been small, and only flooded the streets.

So far the damage is incredible,

I'm watching LIVE now, there is a footage of official still inside the building while the building shaking. 8.7 and still the building stands strong, good test for Japanese anti-earthquake construction.

I am watching live and reading the news on Internet. They are saying 8.4 or 8.9 magnitude. This is huge beyond description, and may be one of the biggest on historical record.

I was in the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995, and I believe that was a 7.2 M earthquake that rocked a heavily populated area, and ended up with nearly 6000 deaths total. I hope to the greater powers we don't see that kind of death toll in this one.

Plenty of building have collapsed though and plenty have just been completely washed away in the tsunamis. This is incredibly devastating. I expect the death toll will be very high, especially in Sendai. They've had a 10m tsunami hit them head on. Nowhere near enough time for everyone to evacuate.

God has nothing to do with it. And the Japanese don't believe in that crap anyway. Send your best wishes but how about we keep the god bs out of it!

it's a tsunami warning now for the pacific. i think this is one of the moment where we will witness sistematic major evacuation in real.

The Cosmo oil refinery in Chiba is burning, and the fire is incredible, they'll never be able to put it out, it's going to be a total loss.

The prime minister just spoke on TV; the government will get another chance to show how incompetent it is.

I's going to be days before the extent of the damage is known, I don't even want to think about it.

Another strong aftershock is hitting, more tsunamis are expected,

No need to be like that. Let each of us express wishes of hope how we feel comfortable.

I was in the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995, and that was a 7.2 mag. This is looking like 8.4 to 8.9. I don't know the math, but that is at least 30 times larger, maybe 50 times. That is unthinkable to me. The tsunamis are devastating the coastal areas. I am watching ships being tossed over, in real time. I assume there are people aboard.

OMG these aftershocks are just killing me!

DO NOT cook, everyone!

Shocking Pictures
 

I am watching from Australia on the news. Have friends in Japan but can't contact them at the moment. This is shocking stuff. People must be in these cars and buildings that are floating down the river.
I just hope the emergency services can save most of them.
In Australia we are thinking of you all and hoping for some miracles.

Gaawd! that scared crap out of me. whole entire city was like inside cocktail shaker. and it still quakes a bit time after time

i knew it will come just was not sure that it will be today. On wednesday we had 3-4 small but long and persistent eearthquakes and today it went off. series of small eqs usually precede a l;arge one. Besides it was meant to be, every 90 years or so Tokyo gets spanked.

2h of shaking and it is still shaking here in Tokyo Bay. Artificial land cracked and sea water is gushing out. No idea how bad os Tokyo as the phones are overloaded, cant call anyone.

I hope that all of us here in Japan are OK.

Massive 8.9 quake, tsunamis hit Japan - CNN.com

Yes, there are quite a few Japanese who are praying right now, the Sumyohi shrine is crowded with people rubbing their beads and saying prayers.

At least 2 people at the refinery fire are confirmed dead, and others are missing. The flames are reaching thousands of feet into the sky,

British media reports 8.9 which is huge!

Also tsunamis within japan (pics) and others across the pacific.

my thoughts are with you!

I am very sad to hear about what's happening to Japan right now.
Everyone will be....so sorry to know this is happening to folks. There are no words to comfort at a time like this.

Stay safe all in Japan thinking of you all

we are stil getting aftershocks every 10-15min.
i only hope there are no accidents in tokyo subway.
also another tsunami is approaching Sendai.

The shaking continues, the aftershocks are quite large. Video is coming from outlying areas showing collapsed homes and buildings. People throughout Tokyo are stranded as the trains are not running, and there aren't enough taxis or buses to move people around.

phones are stil overloaded.

Got feedback from my friends in Akita. Some areas got no power, no phones, no net, collapsed homes. Reports of fires in Tokyo as well.

Guys & Girls, please be safe.
I received my last message from my friend at Sendai - Miyagi telling me absolutely massive earthquake, and when I reply, he no longer reply me. Hope he is safe, and also everyone in Japan

earthquake
 

Sad, but I hope national emergency warning system (best in the World) worked in time and death toll is minimal...
Our hearts with you , friends !

We felt it here... It was enough to wake me up from napping. The cats came screaming for me to open the bedroom door - I did - and they came in and refused to leave my side... Then it started shaking.
It wasn`t bad enough here to cause any real damage, but it was definitely a LONG quake. We`re still feeling most of the aftershocks that are over 5.

It was a huge quake... BUT - don`t confuse the 8 something at the epicenter with the actual shaking in populated areas (high 6 ~ low 7 at it`s worst). The quake itself isn`t the biggest issue. It`s the wide spread of the quaking - a 6 or 7 wouldn`t be a big deal in one spot with most of it dissipated before spreading too far. This one was a very shallow quake with a huge radius of impact. Not to mention the tsunamis. But the biggest is that it shook Tokyo quite a bit.

I do think that there won`t be THAT many casualties as the area being hardest hit by the tsunamis was already on alert. There was an earthquake of close scale earlier this week (the 9th?) that was warned to possibly be a "pre" quake.

Right now they`re saying 14 confirmed deaths and 20 or so missing people, which is pretty low (in my opinion) for something this wide spread.

As for the washed away cars and ships - most are empty. Fishing close to the coast will bring you home by noon. Ships further out won`t suffer much, if at all. The ships being overturned, etc, are ships in port.

lkshaglkh just woke up, oh my goodness. Thankfully most people I know in Japan near Tokyo and further north already seem to be online and leaving comments, so they must be OK.

Stay safe all; be careful of those aftershocks.

I shall pray for my fellow men and women,in this hard time..:(

OMG!
The farm village of the coast of Natori City was destroyed by a tsunami.

国内最大の地震 津波厳重警戒　NHKニュース

Hello

i\'m very sad from this news

incredible news....

sorry i have 1 question,,,

i will travel to Morioka next week ... what\'s your opinion ???
it\'s dangerous or no ??

aftershock, after aftershock, afta afta afta shock!! they just hit us minute after minute, second after second. damn,,,is this like beginning of the end of Japan?