Reuters has announced a 6.9 earthquake in Tokyo

[DonRedwood]

Source: reuters

Headline says it all.

Reports following say no threat of tsunami and no further damage to the nuclear reactor.

Read more: https://twitter.com/ReutersWorld

---

(I am skeptical they could know so much 30 minutes after the quake but I'm hoping no further damage too!)

[valerief]

1. Holy shit. Those poor people. nt

[otherone]

2. Those poor people

..

[Dustlawyer]

3. Watch for the Aftershock!

[jtuck004]

4. So let's build an ice wall around the reactor to keep the groundwater from the

mountain from seeping through the basement and carrying contaminated water to the supply of 40,000,000 people...

Oh wait, we have earthquakes. Better make that an earthquake-proof ice wall...

[TexasTowelie]

14. Your sarcasm is duly noted relative to the post that I made earlier today about the ice wall.

[jtuck004]

19. The ice wall is just one issue - all the fuel that is stil in the reactor must be cooled, and with

the apparent damage, that water must be stored, and that plan isn't working out so well.

Plus, the fuel rods themselves have to be moved, and there is a write up out there detailing the high probability that simply trying to move them will cause a reaction that they may not be able to stop, which would result in a fairly large release.

All sorts of probabilities for greater harm out there from just trying to fix the problem, and just as high for waiting until we have a better plan.

There are just no good roads forward at this point...

[TexasTowelie]

20. To say that the situation is a screwed-up mess

is an understatement.

[jtuck004]

21. Yup. And one that is going to involve more and more innocent people. n/t

[godai]

5. dup (not Tokyo)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023590932

[uppityperson]

6. That is GD, this is in LBN.

[godai]

7. To be clear, it's NOT in Tokyo. n/t

[uppityperson]

13. Thank you, I sent a note to the Poster to please edit and link

[Art_from_Ark]

17. Technically, it is "Tokyo"

But it's not the great urban agglomeration that everyone thinks of as Tokyo-- the epicenter was near a tiny island called Torishima that is part of "Tokyo-to", what Americans would think of as "Tokyo State"

[pscot]

8. Twenty minutes later, a 6.0 quake

hit the Haida Gwaii, just across from Japan

[godai]

11. 2nd in last 6 hours there. n/t

[longship]

9. I used to live in CA.

When there was a trembler -- happened all the time -- the Southern California Earthquake Center (at CalTech) would have the first magnitude estimate up within about a minute. I knew that because I could pop up their site within seconds of the quake, and often did.

See for yourself:
SCEC

I can't think that the geeks in Japan would have it any less automated.

So yes. The magnitude is a fairly precise calculation dependent on measurable parameters. Subject to error bars, they'd have a preliminary magnitude estimation within a few seconds with more accurate estimations after more in depth analysis.

But that's what you do when people's lives may hang in the balance.

[olddad56]

15. why are they 'geeks'?

[longship]

16. Smart people with computers, just like at CalTech.

In an active earthquake zone, that's one thing that geeks do.

In Japan, they've extended earthquake warnings onto all their mass transit and out in public. They take this stuff very seriously. Not even CA does that.

Geek is an endearment. There was a time that I called myself one. Now I'm an ex-geek.

[tinrobot]

10. 6.5 - no major damage reported

via Reuters (8 mins ago):

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage and no tsunami warning was issued. The U.S. Geological Survey measured the quake with a magnitude of 6.5.

The quake was measured 400 km (250 miles) below the earth's surface about 580 km (360 miles) south of Tokyo, NHK said. Witnesses said it was felt along much of Japan's east coast.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/04/us-japan-quake-idUSBRE98301B20130904?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

[Art_from_Ark]

18. I felt that earthquake

It was like being on a boat on a small lake, for less than 10 seconds.

[uppityperson]

12. Would you please update subject line with title of a linked article per LBN rules? Thanks