Shake it baby
Mother nature sure knows how to party. Japan being Earthquake central didn’t really register much until recently. I have had a few earthquakes in the past but recently Japan has got a lot more…movey
For those that won’t watch the international news and don’t live here recently Japan has suffered a bout of the earthquakes. We had three relatively large ones in 4 days. My survival instincts in earthquake situations are terrible. For the ones that happen in the early morning I wake up, realise it is an earthquake then lie in bed being shaken about.
My reasoning is that if I am gonna die in an earthquake then I will die comfortably in bed (Also the fact that I am on the top floor of a 3 storey apartment building means that should it fall down I hopefully won’t get trapped under too much rubble.
The Tokaido Earthquake
What is the Tokaido Earthquake? It is a devastating Magnitude 8.0 earthquake and…Well it hasn’t happened yet.
By studying historical accounts and fault-line data Japanese scientists have determined that every couple of 100-150 years a large earthquake hits near the centre of Japan. This earthquake is a devastating demonstration by Mother Nature that we are here at her sufferance only.
This earthquake will make the famous Kobe earthquake look mild in comparison. Here is a lovely uplifting guide designed to help foreigners weather this storm.
A few numbers, if you aren’t interested in reading it, is that even in today’s highly modern and sophisticated Japan 5,900 people are expected to die, 19,000 are expected to be seriously injured and a whopping 190,000 buildings will suffer severe damage.
So, this monster of an earthquake occurs every 100-150 years. When it hits it will devastate a large part of central Japan including the main shinkansen (bullet train) rail links, the army is constantly training to handle the aftermath of this scenario. It will certainly be an “Interesting time”
Oh yes, the last earthquake in the cycle happened 155 years ago…
