The east coast is also where the vast majority of Japan's population lives, and was previously hit by the 2011 tsunami (Fukushima and all that). We're about to find out the hard way what lessons they have learned.
Update: First detected wave in Nemuro, Hokkaido (northernmost Japan) was only 30cm. There may be more. Waves of 3-4m have apparently already hit Kamchatka in Russia.
Update 2: We're almost an hour in and highest waves to actually hit Japan remain only 40 cm. It looks unlikely that this will cause major damage.
To be fair, most of Japanese TV is like that. I always joke that the primary reason they developed HD TV was to be able to cram more text in every corner xD
My favorite is the NHK reporters standing in the middle of absolutely nowhere with their NHK helmets. No matter what the event, there is a reporter wearing a helmet.
Also when you visit most japanese websites you can see this phenomenon.
I've read an explanation once that this is because culturally, japanese people perceive a wealth of information and choice as being re-assuring and trustworthy, while most westerners feel more re-assured by seeing less content and choice presented in a more minimalist kind of way.
Eg. old people without smartphones or someone just turning their TV on, seeing big letter "Tsunami evacuate" with map and other information.
You instantly know the most important information and you can act on it.
EDIT: Apologies, I misunderstood—a reply to this comment said they were just predictions. (I saw in this video[0] that the first waves had arrived, and assumed the heights would've therefore corresponded to actual measurements. But it's still in the "predictions" section, and I should've noticed that before posting....)
No. That's the predictions. Biggest wave so far has been 60cm (EDIT: as of 6am UTC it's 1m30cm, but that's still relatively small. It came up almost exactly to the top of the pier in Kuji.)
It's complicated. Tsunami forecasting is a very inexact science and "3m" means "very large".
The average actual height in eastern Japan (Tohoku) was 4-6m, but there were peaks up to 20m in places like Ofunato where the local geography funneled all the water upwards.
My guess is that the wide area simply reflects the uncertainty, and not some apocalyptic scenario. Hopefully this broad warning and plenty of time gets everyone out of danger effectively
Yes, but it would have to be equal and opposite the incoming tsunami, and the amount of energy involved is mind boggling. The recoil would have its own repercussions. Your neighbors on the receiving end of the resulting double tsunami would want to have a word with you.
My wife decided to not travel to Japan due to an impending warning from a manga for July 2025. I have been making fun of her all month only to get this tsunami warning now!
> The 2021 reprint capitalizing off this revived popularity warned of a "real disaster" in July 2025, causing a minor case of mass hysteria in 2025 when summer trips to Japan from East Asia decreased markedly and several airlines even cancelled flights.
That's because the other mangas forgot to adjust by +/- some 1000 km for location, 25 days, 365 days, 1825 days, or some other arbitrary but possibly nicely divisible number, for when and where it strikes.
You also have to conveniently forget the things that don't sell mangas such as annual typhoons, heatwaves, and of course thousands of premature deaths from man-made causes such as pollution and poor lifestyle.
Otherwise, if predicting disasters was easy, everybody would be doing it. No, it takes special, paper-based skills such as mangas , tarot cards, weekly horoscopes, etc.
Ryo Tatsuki clarified it wasn't her that said July 5th was when the big one will hit but that it was her publisher that pushed that date for marketing and sales.
She along with the Thai clairvoyant and Brandon Biggs all say July is the month when the earthquakes and tsunamis begin.
It is unwise to simply write this off, Ryo Tatsuki said she saw 4:18am in July 2025 which can only mean 14 hours from now we will know if that is it.
It is July 30th 2:14pm, in 14 hours it will be July 31st 4:18am. After that a 20 hour period until the deadline.
Is your wife generally fearful like that or this was a rare occurrence and she can actually have some introspection on that and has a fighting chance of coming on top of that?
I know few folks like that, for them it comes from general lack of understanding of reality, society and human nature, a lot of superstition in various directions and similar traits. Suffice to say its very hard to live up to one's potential in life with such mindset, but such things could be conquered if there is enough resolve.
From videos online so far, it seems the strength of the quake didn't translate to massive lateral movement. There seemed to be lots of intense P-wave wiggling and bumping rather than large S-wave swings back and forth. The big Japan quake was one of those, where you saw offices being slid back and forth and everything flying off shelves.
Not sure what that means for the tsunami - but so far it seems less intense than the 8.8 would imply.
Japan uses a scale that measures the movement[0]. Of course depending on where you are the result changes, but it's a lot more usable for the practical "how much shaking will be involved here/was involved here".
The first list on that page is specifically for the deadliest earthquakes, and so it only includes earthquakes with 100,000+ fatalities. The ranking by magnitude is farther down (and according to that list, a magnitude of 8.8 would make it tied for sixth place).
Multiple lists. On the list of strongest by magnitude, it would be in a three-way tie for 7th if there's no further revision to the magnitude estimate (which there usually is). It would be second by magnitude on the list of deadliest earthquakes, but thankfully due to location will not likely make that list.
Not that it's much use to compare, but the closest DART buoy 21418 to the M9-9.1 2011 Tōhoku earthquake[1] (which had an epicentre just 72km East of Japan's east coast) recorded a water column height variation of ~3m.[2][3] The closest DART buoy to today's M8.7-8.8 earthquake is 21416 and this recorded a water column height variation of ~0.6m back in the M9-9.1 2011 Tōhoku earthquake.[4]
Watch has been upgraded to Warning (Aleutian Islands and California from Cape Mendocino to the Oregon border) or Advisory (California from Cape Mendocino south, and pretty much everything from the California/Oregon border to Alaska until you reach the Aleutian Islands, it looks like.)
Has anyone heard how bad it was in Petropovlosk? USGS estimates "severe" shaking with the possibility of moderate to heavy damage and a chance of fatalities.
They have had quite a swarm of quakes there over the last couple of weeks, including one that was M7+ around the 20th.
From what I see in Russian-language news, only relatively minor damage. I've lived in Petropavlovsk, it's an ugly city in various states of disrepair, but they do take seismic reinforcements seriously, like mag 7 should cause zero damage according to plan.
It's basically immune to tsunamis as it's protected by a bay with narrow entrance that extinguishes the waves, also most of the city is raised at least 10m above the sea.
Severo-Kurilsk, an island town destroyed by a similar tsunami in 1956, lost its port again: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severo-Kurilsk — the rest of the settlement was rebuilt on higher ground, leaving only the port vulnerable.
The settlement is notable as having belonged to the Japanese in late 19th and early 20th centuries, who once relocated islanders there. Russian Wikipedia says they were Ainu.
So far the news here has only shown damage to a school (which apparently was empty due to repair work), and some bad flooding in one part. Let’s hope for the best.
People tripping over eachother arguing whether a tsunami is a "wave" on a disaster warning submission... If HN was a village everyone would drown in the process.
I use MyShake which will let me get alerts based on specific magnitude cutoffs. I actually just ratcheted up my "global" alert from 7.5 to 8 because of all the alerts from the last couple weeks in the pacific.
I have family members who were in Hawaii (Haleiwa) today and they are wondering if they should try to beat the tsunami and get back to their hotel in Waikiki.
I am afraid Waikiki will see flooding. I know Duke's and some other restaurants were closing early.
Do not stay in Haleiwa or go to Waikiki. Consult a map, and find some uphill areas above 100ft to drive to. Drive towards Mililani and wait it out in the upland areas.
My kids are at camp right now on the North Shore and are being evacuated by bus to Mililani.
Talked to the AI which said: MMI 4.5 in the context of an M8.7 quake, for your vessel: Danger level from shaking alone: Very low in open water. Danger from tsunami in the open ocean: Very low (unless extremely close to epicenter). Prime danger: If near shore, from tsunami run-up, NOT the shaking. Actionable advice: Remain in deep water until tsunami warnings have cleared; proceed to port only when officially safe. Monitor official maritime and tsunami alerts closely after any major earthquake.
That's interesting. Mental note, if piloting a vessel in a tsunami, head to deep water.
>Important Context: In the Japanese audio, a TV announcer says they don't know if this incident is related to the earthquake/tsunami: "We have no information indicating a connection with the recent tsunami".
>Also, stranded whales in Tateyama have been observed since yesterday
The USA also has a site that seems to be up at the moment. Without seeing the CA version I'm not sure how it differs, but I suspect it's possible for Canadians to get some useful local information from it: https://www.tsunami.gov/
But our funny-accented cousins can access useful information on the .gov as well (the entire west coast of Canada is under tsunami watch at the moment).
I was parked at Selzer beach in Seaside, Oregon when the earthquake/tsunami news hit around 7:30pm. Within 30 minutes it was impossible to buy gas without queueing and now there is a pretty steady stream of cars heading out of town. As of 9pm it’s been upgraded to a warning up and down the coast.
I was just thinking of tsunamis the two days ago in the Del Rey beach parking lot, where I noticed the locals seemed to park at the exit end of the lot, facing out. I moved my car to match because that just makes sense.
I’ve never thought about a tsunami when visiting the beach in my life. Are they much more common in the Pacific? We go to the Gulf and Atlantic and it’s never something I think about. We usually go in June/July, so we don’t worry much about hurricanes either.
There is no Atlantic ring of fire, is there. What little places like Iceland show is nothing compared to what pacific has to offer in much larger area.
Reading the news, it seems there was no significant impact in the neighbouring societies, except the death of sea life (whales in Chiba), is that right?
I’m in Costa Rica on vacation, hotel said the beach is closed but they didn’t know why (lol yeah right). Per tsunami alerts it should be hitting right now at 1-3M above tide, I don’t see any evidence on various beach livecams like Taramindo. I’m in puerto Jimenez which is on the inland side of a small peninsula in southern CR so not expecting much.
All the tectonics and volcanos that are underground are linked, these seismic events aren't just isolated on islands.
I hate to say this but we can expect a major event in August. All I can tell people is to prepare but I see people just with blank expression, there is almost no concern at all which reminds me very much of November 2019.
I happened to be visiting Miyagi just before the tsunami struck, and I was really panicked.
When I got out of the car, everyone's smartphones nearby suddenly started beeping.
A message in Japanese, saying something like "TSUNAMI EVACUATE NOW," sounded throughout the area. At the time, my phone displayed a warning that a three-meter tsunami would hit the area within an hour.
I waited on slightly higher area for about two hours, but the locals kept going about their usual business, and there were no announcements from the nearby police.
Fortunately, nothing happened, but it's difficult to know which information to trust. Still, it's good that there's a system in place for evacuation alerts.
Just when I am about to depart on vacation to Sulawesi in Indonesia, mostly for diving and some culture and adventure... well at least Togian islands are not directly exposed to part of pacific ocean that generated this.
I guess I will have to sleep with a big wooden log.
Can the wave be seen and tracked from planes above? I know they can travel at upwards of 300+mph but given the distance from Russia to the west coast seems like it should be able to be tracked.
No. When they travel at that speed they are not visible. Only when they hit shallow water (a necessary , but not sufficient, condition) do they slow down and become a threat.
There are planes, buoys and other things being mentioned on the news here in Japan as ways things are being tracked. Maybe not what you meant, but tracking the wave isn't necessarily correct. There are many waves, and the initial wave is often (in this case also) not the largest.
The news mentioned a previous similar event where the largest wave was 4 hours later.
I don’t think there’s a high false positive rate on these. They do happen pretty rarely, and a false negative is far worse than a false positive. Due to the tsunami wave propagation, it can sometimes take hours for significant waves to reach the coastline.
to put this in perspective, and please, if you work for USGS or whatever, correct me if i am wrong: this is roughly the same magnitude of the 1994 Northridge earthquake in California.
i think i got the scale the wrong way around, the magnitudes reported now are only larger (than Richter) with smaller quakes compared to the Richter; it looks like 8.8ML ~= M8.8. Sorry, i looked at the chart the wrong way around.
Each incremental increase in magnitude is 10^1.5 in power. The difference between 1994 Northridge and this one is 2.1, so roughly 10^3 difference in power.
I'm actually not sure the Northridge earthquake was cited in the Richter scale, most references I see have it as about a 6.7, which based on the USGS catalog, was it's moment magnitude 6.7 Mw
Japan forecasting tsunamis up to 3m across basically the entire eastern coast. First waves will hit within 10 minutes.
https://www.nhk.or.jp/kishou-saigai/tsunami/
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/live/ (live, Japanese)
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/live/ (live, English)
The east coast is also where the vast majority of Japan's population lives, and was previously hit by the 2011 tsunami (Fukushima and all that). We're about to find out the hard way what lessons they have learned.
Update: First detected wave in Nemuro, Hokkaido (northernmost Japan) was only 30cm. There may be more. Waves of 3-4m have apparently already hit Kamchatka in Russia.
Update 2: We're almost an hour in and highest waves to actually hit Japan remain only 40 cm. It looks unlikely that this will cause major damage.
Here are some live streams.. No action yet. Fingers crossed!
From a helicopter Japanese KATU news https://www.youtube.com/live/mBQHNV7cqrM?si=lwqB5YHknA7KUTY_
Webcams https://www.youtube.com/live/5pTPKHJxQ4g?si=xWe5MkLKIZ3N5I8D
Hawaii news https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lVy5nLWruu0&pp=ygUSSmFwYW4gdHN...
Now that things have calmed i can say that the webcam chats were very entertaining
Japanese news reporting during disaster scenarios is something to behold.
The screen is filled with data and blinking like a Bloomberg Terminal.
To be fair, most of Japanese TV is like that. I always joke that the primary reason they developed HD TV was to be able to cram more text in every corner xD
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My favorite is the NHK reporters standing in the middle of absolutely nowhere with their NHK helmets. No matter what the event, there is a reporter wearing a helmet.
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Also when you visit most japanese websites you can see this phenomenon.
I've read an explanation once that this is because culturally, japanese people perceive a wealth of information and choice as being re-assuring and trustworthy, while most westerners feel more re-assured by seeing less content and choice presented in a more minimalist kind of way.
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Yes, but it does make sense.
Eg. old people without smartphones or someone just turning their TV on, seeing big letter "Tsunami evacuate" with map and other information. You instantly know the most important information and you can act on it.
Pachinko!
A̶F̶A̶I̶C̶T̶,̶ ̶N̶T̶V̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶r̶e̶p̶o̶r̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶3̶m̶ ̶w̶a̶v̶e̶s̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶j̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶s̶t̶a̶r̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶h̶i̶t̶ ̶J̶a̶p̶a̶n̶.̶
EDIT: Apologies, I misunderstood—a reply to this comment said they were just predictions. (I saw in this video[0] that the first waves had arrived, and assumed the heights would've therefore corresponded to actual measurements. But it's still in the "predictions" section, and I should've noticed that before posting....)
[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbRCvDZO5Zk
No. That's the predictions. Biggest wave so far has been 60cm (EDIT: as of 6am UTC it's 1m30cm, but that's still relatively small. It came up almost exactly to the top of the pier in Kuji.)
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How big was the 2011 tsunami? Is 3m bigger or smaller?
It's complicated. Tsunami forecasting is a very inexact science and "3m" means "very large".
The average actual height in eastern Japan (Tohoku) was 4-6m, but there were peaks up to 20m in places like Ofunato where the local geography funneled all the water upwards.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_T%C5%8Dhoku_earthquake_an...
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Don’t worry, if there’s one nation we can trust to have done the right thing, it’s Japan.
I honestly can’t tell if this is satire.
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I've been monitoring the situation, but it appears nothing ever happens.
My guess is that the wide area simply reflects the uncertainty, and not some apocalyptic scenario. Hopefully this broad warning and plenty of time gets everyone out of danger effectively
Question: Could you cancel out a tsunami with a underwater explosion, similar to active noise canceling ?
Yes, but it would have to be equal and opposite the incoming tsunami, and the amount of energy involved is mind boggling. The recoil would have its own repercussions. Your neighbors on the receiving end of the resulting double tsunami would want to have a word with you.
Yike!!
My wife decided to not travel to Japan due to an impending warning from a manga for July 2025. I have been making fun of her all month only to get this tsunami warning now!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_2025_Japan_megaquake_prop....
> The 2021 reprint capitalizing off this revived popularity warned of a "real disaster" in July 2025, causing a minor case of mass hysteria in 2025 when summer trips to Japan from East Asia decreased markedly and several airlines even cancelled flights.
Sadly we won’t hear from the partners of everyone whose manga didn’t successfully predict a real disaster in a month.
That's because the other mangas forgot to adjust by +/- some 1000 km for location, 25 days, 365 days, 1825 days, or some other arbitrary but possibly nicely divisible number, for when and where it strikes.
You also have to conveniently forget the things that don't sell mangas such as annual typhoons, heatwaves, and of course thousands of premature deaths from man-made causes such as pollution and poor lifestyle.
Otherwise, if predicting disasters was easy, everybody would be doing it. No, it takes special, paper-based skills such as mangas , tarot cards, weekly horoscopes, etc.
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Well, you can continue to make fun of her because, fortunately, this has turned out to be basically nothing (for Japan, anyway).
> The statement was revised later to specify the date "July 5, 2025" as that of an asteroid impact,[8] or even the end of the world.[9]
Ryo Tatsuki clarified it wasn't her that said July 5th was when the big one will hit but that it was her publisher that pushed that date for marketing and sales.
She along with the Thai clairvoyant and Brandon Biggs all say July is the month when the earthquakes and tsunamis begin.
It is unwise to simply write this off, Ryo Tatsuki said she saw 4:18am in July 2025 which can only mean 14 hours from now we will know if that is it.
It is July 30th 2:14pm, in 14 hours it will be July 31st 4:18am. After that a 20 hour period until the deadline.
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Is your wife generally fearful like that or this was a rare occurrence and she can actually have some introspection on that and has a fighting chance of coming on top of that?
I know few folks like that, for them it comes from general lack of understanding of reality, society and human nature, a lot of superstition in various directions and similar traits. Suffice to say its very hard to live up to one's potential in life with such mindset, but such things could be conquered if there is enough resolve.
the manga was about a mega quake in Japan, not a tsunami from Russia
Thats well within acceptable cleirvoyant margins of error.
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That is _really_ big. It will likely crack the top 8 ever recorded. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_earthquakes
From videos online so far, it seems the strength of the quake didn't translate to massive lateral movement. There seemed to be lots of intense P-wave wiggling and bumping rather than large S-wave swings back and forth. The big Japan quake was one of those, where you saw offices being slid back and forth and everything flying off shelves.
Not sure what that means for the tsunami - but so far it seems less intense than the 8.8 would imply.
Japan uses a scale that measures the movement[0]. Of course depending on where you are the result changes, but it's a lot more usable for the practical "how much shaking will be involved here/was involved here".
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Meteorological_Agency_se...
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I think it has been revised to 8. Earth is going off today. Edit my mistake, 8.8 now!
USGS still has it listed as magnitude 8.7.
(Update: It was just revised upward to 8.8.)
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us6000qw60...
The other way around it seems, on `07-29-2025 23:24:56 UTC` went from 8 to 8.7 [1]
[1] Table on https://www.tsunami.gov/
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The 1960 Valdivia quake released about 1.5e23 J, or about 1000 hurricanes, or about 25% of the total energy of all earthquakes in the past 100 years.
Wow. The same region had a 9.0 in 1952
By magnitude it would be the second largest on that list
The first list on that page is specifically for the deadliest earthquakes, and so it only includes earthquakes with 100,000+ fatalities. The ranking by magnitude is farther down (and according to that list, a magnitude of 8.8 would make it tied for sixth place).
Multiple lists. On the list of strongest by magnitude, it would be in a three-way tie for 7th if there's no further revision to the magnitude estimate (which there usually is). It would be second by magnitude on the list of deadliest earthquakes, but thankfully due to location will not likely make that list.
~1.3m water column height variation observed by the closest DART buoy at 48°7'34" N 163°22'35" E (5787m nominal water depth).[1]
[1] https://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=21416&typ...
Is that a lot?
Not that it's much use to compare, but the closest DART buoy 21418 to the M9-9.1 2011 Tōhoku earthquake[1] (which had an epicentre just 72km East of Japan's east coast) recorded a water column height variation of ~3m.[2][3] The closest DART buoy to today's M8.7-8.8 earthquake is 21416 and this recorded a water column height variation of ~0.6m back in the M9-9.1 2011 Tōhoku earthquake.[4]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_T%C5%8Dhoku_earthquake_an...
[2] https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/hazard/data/DART/20110311_honshu/j...
[3] https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/hazard/dart/2011honshu_dart.html
[4] https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/hazard/data/DART/20110311_honshu/j...
Quick link to the tsunami view: https://www.tsunami.gov/
Just “watch” level for US west coast, but warning level for Hawaii and Alaska.
Air alarms are going off in Hawaii. Still a few hours away, but they are not joking around. Saying it can wrap around all the islands and hit anywhere
Phone just went off screaming with a warning here in NZ - more a "stay away from the water" warning than a "head for the hills" one
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It will arrive in California in the middle of the night. Hope they don’t materialize.
I have family staying in Waikiki
Watch has been upgraded to Warning (Aleutian Islands and California from Cape Mendocino to the Oregon border) or Advisory (California from Cape Mendocino south, and pretty much everything from the California/Oregon border to Alaska until you reach the Aleutian Islands, it looks like.)
Upgraded to an "advisory" for the California coast.
[flagged]
Has anyone heard how bad it was in Petropovlosk? USGS estimates "severe" shaking with the possibility of moderate to heavy damage and a chance of fatalities.
They have had quite a swarm of quakes there over the last couple of weeks, including one that was M7+ around the 20th.
From what I see in Russian-language news, only relatively minor damage. I've lived in Petropavlovsk, it's an ugly city in various states of disrepair, but they do take seismic reinforcements seriously, like mag 7 should cause zero damage according to plan.
It's basically immune to tsunamis as it's protected by a bay with narrow entrance that extinguishes the waves, also most of the city is raised at least 10m above the sea.
it's not That ugly :)
but yeah I totally get what you mean, better watch volcanoes and nature than the urban scape around
indeed thankfully not that much damage there
Severo-Kurilsk, an island town destroyed by a similar tsunami in 1956, lost its port again: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severo-Kurilsk — the rest of the settlement was rebuilt on higher ground, leaving only the port vulnerable.
The settlement is notable as having belonged to the Japanese in late 19th and early 20th centuries, who once relocated islanders there. Russian Wikipedia says they were Ainu.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/50°40'00.0"N+156°07'00.0"E...
That port right next to the water has probably disappeared.
So far the news here has only shown damage to a school (which apparently was empty due to repair work), and some bad flooding in one part. Let’s hope for the best.
It's a very remote, very thinly populated area. The entire Kamchatka peninsula has under 300,000 people, who (statistically) have 1 km2 each.
Sure but a bunch of those people live in Petropavlovsk and surroundings
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Current official news:
Around 3k were evacuated in the region to safe areas as a precaution: aftershocks are expected for a month.
Some buildings (including hospitals) have cracks due to an earthquake.
Some minor damage to power lines, some near-shore flooding at some businesses.
All in all, it’s ok.
On Twitter, a search for Russia brings up some videos of pretty severe shaking
Officials report M5-6 in the area, minor damage, several injuries, tell locals not to go to the beach in the next few weeks. They are used to it…
People tripping over eachother arguing whether a tsunami is a "wave" on a disaster warning submission... If HN was a village everyone would drown in the process.
Didn't it take years to solve the debate about light being a particle or a wave?
..I'll show myself out :)
That area of Russia has seen quite a bit of massive seismic activity over the last couple of weeks. I keep getting earthquake alerts about each one.
What do you use for alerts?
I use MyShake which will let me get alerts based on specific magnitude cutoffs. I actually just ratcheted up my "global" alert from 7.5 to 8 because of all the alerts from the last couple weeks in the pacific.
Waves at Midway Atoll and Guam are reported to be 3ft (1m) amplitude by Hawaii Governor Josh Green as of 6:24pm Hawaii Time
I have family members who were in Hawaii (Haleiwa) today and they are wondering if they should try to beat the tsunami and get back to their hotel in Waikiki.
I am afraid Waikiki will see flooding. I know Duke's and some other restaurants were closing early.
Do not stay in Haleiwa or go to Waikiki. Consult a map, and find some uphill areas above 100ft to drive to. Drive towards Mililani and wait it out in the upland areas.
My kids are at camp right now on the North Shore and are being evacuated by bus to Mililani.
I'm sorry you're going through that, it sounds like they will be safe in Mililani.
AIS map of vessels in the area: https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:166.7/cent...
A fairly small US fishing vessel is in relative proximity... https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:43...
Talked to the AI which said: MMI 4.5 in the context of an M8.7 quake, for your vessel: Danger level from shaking alone: Very low in open water. Danger from tsunami in the open ocean: Very low (unless extremely close to epicenter). Prime danger: If near shore, from tsunami run-up, NOT the shaking. Actionable advice: Remain in deep water until tsunami warnings have cleared; proceed to port only when officially safe. Monitor official maritime and tsunami alerts closely after any major earthquake.
That's interesting. Mental note, if piloting a vessel in a tsunami, head to deep water.
> That's interesting. Mental note, if piloting a vessel in a tsunami, head to deep water.
E.g. the 2011 tsunami may have had a height of 1.2m or so in open ocean, but when concentrated by shallower water and a bay inlet reached 40m.
Here's a visual of your thoughts from the Fukushima event:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-VcWF8dIDj4
Japan, Tsunami. Coast Guard ship rides over the tsunami waves. 日本 - 津波 4.1M views · 14 years ago
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Makes sense. More cushion for the pushin.
There's some interesting visualizations of the quake here
Nearby quakes, faults, movement visualization, etc.
https://earthquakes.builtbyvibes.com/quake/m8.8-119-km-ese-o...
Dutchsinse coverage. https://youtu.be/58ab1phrFF0?si=gb_gpEld8uLTDu8M
It is the sixth strongest earthquake ever recorded on the planet.
Whales have been washed ashore in Chiba https://x.com/AZ_Intel_/status/1950395615944511821
Community Notes says:
>Important Context: In the Japanese audio, a TV announcer says they don't know if this incident is related to the earthquake/tsunami: "We have no information indicating a connection with the recent tsunami".
>Also, stranded whales in Tateyama have been observed since yesterday
https://www.conservation.ca.gov/cgs/tsunami/maps is getting a hug of death :(
If anyone gets on, please post a screenshot.
The USA also has a site that seems to be up at the moment. Without seeing the CA version I'm not sure how it differs, but I suspect it's possible for Canadians to get some useful local information from it: https://www.tsunami.gov/
Anything that ends in .gov is related to a government entity in the US. Other countries don’t get access to that TLD.
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ca.gov is California, not Canada.
But our funny-accented cousins can access useful information on the .gov as well (the entire west coast of Canada is under tsunami watch at the moment).
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This also happened during the tsunami last year.
Does anyone know of a map app that works offline and can save overlays like this?
No, but an archive.org for US govt webpages like tsunami.gov (including dynamic content) seems like something that is currently needed.
Interactive map: https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us6000qw60...
I was parked at Selzer beach in Seaside, Oregon when the earthquake/tsunami news hit around 7:30pm. Within 30 minutes it was impossible to buy gas without queueing and now there is a pretty steady stream of cars heading out of town. As of 9pm it’s been upgraded to a warning up and down the coast. I was just thinking of tsunamis the two days ago in the Del Rey beach parking lot, where I noticed the locals seemed to park at the exit end of the lot, facing out. I moved my car to match because that just makes sense.
I’ve never thought about a tsunami when visiting the beach in my life. Are they much more common in the Pacific? We go to the Gulf and Atlantic and it’s never something I think about. We usually go in June/July, so we don’t worry much about hurricanes either.
There is no Atlantic ring of fire, is there. What little places like Iceland show is nothing compared to what pacific has to offer in much larger area.
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Reading the news, it seems there was no significant impact in the neighbouring societies, except the death of sea life (whales in Chiba), is that right?
I wonder how they died.
I'd expect they are safe from a bit of shaking. Are there shock waves involved?
Here is a 2 minute compilation video from a helicopter and other vantage points showing the waves crashing into the shores of Japan.
https://old.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/1mcwvpw/...
I’m in Costa Rica on vacation, hotel said the beach is closed but they didn’t know why (lol yeah right). Per tsunami alerts it should be hitting right now at 1-3M above tide, I don’t see any evidence on various beach livecams like Taramindo. I’m in puerto Jimenez which is on the inland side of a small peninsula in southern CR so not expecting much.
each Live cam.
<https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20250730/k10014878741000.ht...>
What happens to the US West coast?
It moves to Arizona? Or is that the other "big one"?
All the tectonics and volcanos that are underground are linked, these seismic events aren't just isolated on islands.
I hate to say this but we can expect a major event in August. All I can tell people is to prepare but I see people just with blank expression, there is almost no concern at all which reminds me very much of November 2019.
Okay Charlie Frost
Evidence?
I happened to be visiting Miyagi just before the tsunami struck, and I was really panicked. When I got out of the car, everyone's smartphones nearby suddenly started beeping. A message in Japanese, saying something like "TSUNAMI EVACUATE NOW," sounded throughout the area. At the time, my phone displayed a warning that a three-meter tsunami would hit the area within an hour. I waited on slightly higher area for about two hours, but the locals kept going about their usual business, and there were no announcements from the nearby police.
Fortunately, nothing happened, but it's difficult to know which information to trust. Still, it's good that there's a system in place for evacuation alerts.
Agenda-free TV channel on YouTube has pretty good live/current coverage right now
Which TV channel please? Link or name?
He doesn't look to be live right now, but here is the channel: https://youtube.com/@agendafreetv?si=ROE1VAC1D6IlCcXl
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Shanghai has relocated 280.000 people from its coast according to this article: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/HLf3PM29IqaWajMhflo_uA
Unclear if its related to the tsunami that is about to hit or the typhoon it is currently experiencing. Wild. Stay safe everyone!
Update: The yellow warning has been lifted
Also, a volcano,
https://www.newsweek.com/russia-klyuchevskoy-volcano-erupts-... ("Russia's Klyuchevskoy Volcano Starts Erupting after Earthquake")
Wow! I hope they stay safe. As others have pointed out it will break records [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_earthquakes_in_Japan
Just when I am about to depart on vacation to Sulawesi in Indonesia, mostly for diving and some culture and adventure... well at least Togian islands are not directly exposed to part of pacific ocean that generated this.
I guess I will have to sleep with a big wooden log.
Russian media has some videos of the earthquake (RT, etc.), telegram channels have some tsunami videos, eg: https://t.me/Slavyangrad/136436
Nothing yet from japan
Any supervolcanoes nearby? How is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paektu_Mountain holding up?
Map on USGS:
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us6000qw60...
Can the wave be seen and tracked from planes above? I know they can travel at upwards of 300+mph but given the distance from Russia to the west coast seems like it should be able to be tracked.
No. When they travel at that speed they are not visible. Only when they hit shallow water (a necessary , but not sufficient, condition) do they slow down and become a threat.
You can see bouys displaced by the seismic event, some up to one foot close by. Pretty crazy
There are planes, buoys and other things being mentioned on the news here in Japan as ways things are being tracked. Maybe not what you meant, but tracking the wave isn't necessarily correct. There are many waves, and the initial wave is often (in this case also) not the largest.
The news mentioned a previous similar event where the largest wave was 4 hours later.
Space-based assets.
6th largest in the measurement history.
hope everyone is safe
The National Weather Service wants you to know that "There is no threat for tsunami impacts in North Dakota", https://x.com/NWSGrandForks/status/1950377134565785933.
Just downgraded to advisory in Hawaii (10:44pm HST)
The US still has a National Earthquake Information Centre?
Wow!
Why are the predictions of the tsunami experts so poor? What can be done to get higher accuracy?
I don’t think there’s a high false positive rate on these. They do happen pretty rarely, and a false negative is far worse than a false positive. Due to the tsunami wave propagation, it can sometimes take hours for significant waves to reach the coastline.
We just had another one in the SF Bay Area a few months ago where they were wildly off.
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Very close to his atom arsenal
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to put this in perspective, and please, if you work for USGS or whatever, correct me if i am wrong: this is roughly the same magnitude of the 1994 Northridge earthquake in California.
i think i got the scale the wrong way around, the magnitudes reported now are only larger (than Richter) with smaller quakes compared to the Richter; it looks like 8.8ML ~= M8.8. Sorry, i looked at the chart the wrong way around.
You are off by about a factor of 1,000.
Each incremental increase in magnitude is 10^1.5 in power. The difference between 1994 Northridge and this one is 2.1, so roughly 10^3 difference in power.
I thought that it was a log10 scale, so each increment of 1 on the scale is a 10-fold power increase, not a 10^1.5-fold.
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I'm actually not sure the Northridge earthquake was cited in the Richter scale, most references I see have it as about a 6.7, which based on the USGS catalog, was it's moment magnitude 6.7 Mw
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/ci3144585/...
And today's earthquake for comparison:
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us6000qw60...
And some information of Magnitude types: https://www.usgs.gov/programs/earthquake-hazards/magnitude-t...
I think it's probably safe to assume, that today's earthquake is much more energetic at least.
yeah i misread the charts, where like 3.5ML (richter) is ~5.0, and i missed that it was mb rather than ML, 8.8 ~= 6.7ish body wave magnitude.
That's the thing with standards, there's so many to choose from.
What? No that was a 6.7 or less than one hundredth an 8.8 on a log10 scale