Friday, March 11, 2011

Japan Earthquake: More earthquakes coming ? Moon causing it ?

On  March 19, the Moon will be in the nearest point to Earth since 2005. Experts say that the proximity could cause earthquakes or eruptions of volcanoes.


The Richter 8.8 earthquake that destroyed the North of Japan today could be only a part of the Moon effect. It was the strongest earthquake in Japan's history. The world's largest earthquake took place in Chile on May 22, 1960, with a magnitude of 9.5.

1955, 1974, 1992 and 2005. These are the years when the Moon, was very close to our planet. Whenever this phenomenon occurred, mankind has faced all sorts of natural disasters. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, cyclones, hurricanes and tsunamis that killed thousands of people.


On March 19, the Moon will be with over 20,000 km closer to us than the average distance at which the orbit.
More specifically, the Moon will move to 356,578 kilometers from Earth, while the average distance from our planet is about 384,400 km.

Since about a month ago, the Earth seems to be boiling:

  • On 22 February, a 6.3 Richter earthquake that struck the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, and made hundreds of victims;
  • March 7, 2011. In Hawaii's largest eruption occurred in the last 14 years of Kilauea volcano;
  • On March 7 - Solomon Islands was struck by a magnitude 6.6 earthquake;
  • March 9 -  Richter 7.2 earthquake strikes near the east coast of Honshu, Japan;
  • March 11Richter 8.8 strikes the North of Japan, causing massive tsunamis;
Astronomers say that on 18, 19 and 20 March, the moon will be 15% bigger and 30% brighter than usual.


Last time when the Moon was this close,  230,000 people died.


In 1974 Cyclone Tracy devastated the city of Darwin, Australia, from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day. It was the most compact hurricane or equivalent-strength tropical cyclone on record in the Australian basin. Tracy killed 71 people and caused $837 million in damage, destroyed more than 70 percent of Darwin's buildings, . Tracy left more than 41,000 out of the 47,000 inhabitants of the city homeless prior to landfall and required the evacuation of over 30,000 people. 


On September 2, 1992, Nicaragua was hit by a earthquake that was found to be the first tsunami earthquake to be captured on modern broadband seismic networks. The inital shock occurred at 0:16 GMT, and was followed by several aftershocks. Chinandega and León departments of Nicaragua took the most damage, but it was also felt in  Nicaragua at Crucero, Managua and San Marcos and at San José in Costa Rica. It was the strongest eathquake that hit Nicaragua since the earthquake of 1972. At least 116 people die , most of them were children asleep, more than 68 people were reported missing and over 13,500 left homeless in Nicaragua. At least 1,300 houses and 185 fishing boats were destroyed along the west coast of Nicaragua. Total damage reported in Nicaragua was estimated at between 20 and 30 million U.S. dollars.

The 2005 disaster began on 26 December 2004, in the island of Sumatra, with a 9.1 Richter earthquake, also referred to as the Nias Earthquake. It was the third most powerful earthquake since 1965 in Indonesia, it lasted for eight minutes, and its strength made the entire planet to vibrate an inch.

This earthquake caused the BIGGEST tsunami history. The waves measured up to 30 meters.

In the 14 countries that were hit, 230,000 people died and left 1.7 million homeless.

Japan is known as a highly seismic area, and the Japanese people are trained in facing these natural disasters, and the country infrastructure is built that way, and still there was a lot of damage and lives loss. But imagine the damage if that the earthquake today would have hit a less earthquake prepared area.

USGS Earthquake Hazards Program is responsible for monitoring, reporting, and researching earthquakes and earthquake hazards, read the sections below to monitor status in the areas you are interested:

Latest Earthquakes in the World

A few more resources I got from Katie at  Safe Sound Family.

Disaster Recovery Training (Free)
http://etraintoday.com/about-us/disaster-recovery/

A Guide to Keeping Your Family Safe During an Earthquake
http://safesoundfamily.com/p/keeping-your-family-safe-during-an-earthquake/

The Earthquake Recovery Resource Guide
http://www.homeadvisor.com/article.show.Earthquake-Recovery-Resource-Guide.17321.html

Earthquake Preparedness Drills
http://www.shakeout.org/


But hope dies last, I hope that these presumptions will not become true, and it will stop with this today's disaster and no one else in this world will have to suffer.

May God's blessings protect this World!

Remember to SUPPORT JAPAN!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Kevin McCue, a seismologist at CQUniversity in Queensland, Australia, told the Telegraph that the initial death toll would probably have been much higher if the epicenter were closer to Tokyo, instead of off the coast. But Japan was also very much prepared for this quake: Its main island—Honshu Island—sits at the intersection of the Eurasian, Pacific, and Philippine tectonic plates, as part of the notoriously seismically active Ring of Fire. Because earthquakes are a normal occurrence for Japan, their buildings stood up well considering the magnitude of the quake.

Unknown said...

Japanese government warns of further aftershocks, urging people to move to higher ground.

Unknown said...

So there will be more, because of the moon? :-o

Unknown said...

I hope not, but there is a lot of uncertain and confusion these days...