The every day disaster movie which is Japan

[railsquid]

@railsquid " it has just been confirmed that *no* bicycles have fallen over outside Yokohama station (I am not kidding)."

... well someone on the Brits in JP group on FB just reported a broken champagne flute, another a broken Gundam figure and another ( more seriously ) that their TV fell over and got broke - but otehrwise All Quiet on the Eastern Front.

I have no experience with securing champagne flutes, but here at Chez Railsquid we have clamped down on the TV:



I did find some minor "damage" on the layout due to an unsecured picture:



Also the tree on the left fell onto the floor. But I am sure we will recover and rebuild .

BTW - did you ever have a go in one of the earthquake simulators? - that is a great way to get scared and start securing all the furniture...

Yeah, in 1996 or 1997 if memory serves correctly.

Around 2008 I was working as the IT person for a small company in Tokyo which had a bunch of servers and stuff piled randomly on an unsecured metal shelf in the office, which I flagged as a potential issue multiple times, but they were all like "nah, don't bother, nothing's going to happen" until one day in late 2010 I took it upon myself to go into the office very early and rearrange the damn thing and secure it as much as possible, and lo-and-behold it survived March 2011 unscathed.

[railsquid]

Anyway not too much damage overall, but quite a few burst water mains, and funnily enough the other day I took this picture with an eye to posting it here:



as the construction work is replacing the water pipes with more earthquake-resistent ones.

[Bealman]

Saw a little segment on the morning ABC news of things shaking around a bit in Tokyo

[railsquid]

Saw a little segment on the morning ABC news of things shaking around a bit in Tokyo

Did they report on the escaped emus in Kyushu?

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20211007/p2a/00m/0li/012000c

[Bealman]

Ha ha, no. I'm sure the Aussie news would not be impressed with them being made into lipstick 

[railsquid]

Volcano, anyone?

Just level 3 out of 5 at the moment.

[daffy]

Nature reminding us once again just who is in charge on this restless Earth.

I know Japan is in a tectonic nightmare of a position geologically speaking, Ian, but how common are eruptions at the moment, and is this one unusual, or just, shall we say, run of the mill?  How close is it to population centres, and what does that large car-park serve?

Stay safe.

[railsquid]

I know Japan is in a tectonic nightmare of a position geologically speaking, Ian, but how common are eruptions at the moment, and is this one unusual, or just, shall we say, run of the mill?  How close is it to population centres, and what does that large car-park serve?

My subjective impression is that noteworthy eruptions of major active volcanoes happen maybe a couple of times a year, somewhat less frequently than noteworthy earthquakes. This particular volcano is in the middle of the island of Kyushu, not immediately near any major population centres, though there are certainly smaller towns in the general vicinity.

The car park serves the "Aso Volcano Museum".

[daffy]

Thanks Ian.

I see now from satellite images that the volcano is surrounded by a semicircle of smallish settlements and cultivated fields, taking advantage as elsewhere in the world of the rich volcanic soils. Closer to the cone, on the west/north-west side there appears to be an unusual number of golf courses.

[railsquid]

Tsunami hits Tonga after underwater volcanic eruption

And elsewhere around the Pacific, incoming here right now:

[cmason]

Indeed Ian. The phone has been shouting tsunami alerts at me every five minutes. Pray for Tonga and a reminder as to where we live ( on the ring of fire ).

[railsquid]

Indeed Ian. The phone has been shouting tsunami alerts at me every five minutes.

Is that the built-in alert system or some kind of app? My phone is silent, but it is well inland; I only noticed a few minutes ago when I checked the news.

[cmason]

Indeed Ian. The phone has been shouting tsunami alerts at me every five minutes.

Is that the built-in alert system or some kind of app? My phone is silent, but it is well inland; I only noticed a few minutes ago when I checked the news.

Its the regular alert - just like the earthquake one. iPhone XS Max on Softbank network (but not a SIM locked one - bought direct from Apple ) with GPS locationing switched on but partially obfuscated IP locationing. Alerts are Kanagawa specific ( basically Tokyo-bay at 0.2m  and Sagami-bay at 1m ). You may be too far inland to be alerted?

[railsquid]

Indeed Ian. The phone has been shouting tsunami alerts at me every five minutes.

Is that the built-in alert system or some kind of app? My phone is silent, but it is well inland; I only noticed a few minutes ago when I checked the news.

Its the regular alert - just like the earthquake one. iPhone XS Max on Softbank network (but not a SIM locked one - bought direct from Apple ) with GPS locationing switched on but partially obfuscated IP locationing. Alerts are Kanagawa specific ( basically Tokyo-bay at 0.2m  and Sagami-bay at 1m ). You may be too far inland to be alerted?

Yup, 25km land and 45m up, which is not typical stomping ground for tsunamis. Useful to know they trigger alerts, I have from time to time known to be in the vicinity of the sea.

IIRC the alerts are broadcast via an SMS-like mechanism on a tower-by-tower basis to all devices connected to the respective tower.

[Bealman]

Yeah, we're just getting wind of it here.