I think what they mean is the strongest reported ever for Japan, not in the world. Still is friggin signifigant however.

I heard about this at around 5 am, awful news

Power plant not out of the woods yet.

""The energy radiated by this quake is nearly equal to one month's worth of energy consumption" in the United States, said U.S. Geological Survey scientist Brian Atwater. "

"The massive earthquake that struck off the coast of Japan Friday ranks as the fifth largest in the world since 1900, scientists said."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/11/AR2011031102916.html

Pretty crazy, and as far as the nuclear plant is concerned I honestly wouldn't worry too much. From what I have read the pumps and battery backup are working. As long as the pumps are working and they have water then all is good. It's a matter of getting a generator in there to make for temporary power. And though it may seem like a lot of work you'd be surprised just how damn fast you can get power going again. Hell, even here in simple old KY the Marine Corps of Engineers has backup plans for our local water plant generator. So, I can guarantee, if Japan hasn't already flown one in and started the process of hooking it up then another country has.

We were talking about this at work. ALl this earthquake activity is going ot make some volcanoe's very unhappy (I'm looking at you Hawaii)

Well.. 1707 there was mag 8.4 earthquake near Honshu on 10/26/1707. On 12/16/1707 Mt. Fuji started erupting. Now I know this recent quake is about 200km from Mt. Fuji but that old gal's been long overdue for some time now.

I'm still in a small state of shock with just how intense the recent quake/tsunami activity has been. I saw some coverage on the news and yes it's a hell of a lot different when you're not simply watching a geologic special on the Discovery channel.

My thoughts and prayers are with everyone touched by this event.

Well good news... i have talked to everyone that iknow in japan and also freinds in bay area in ca...

everyone is ok... ....

Japan bad news: Buddy lost his whole house and can't find his dog:( he was 4 miles from shore so he lost all personal proprty and his dog is missing:(

CA bad news: Friend there is just a pain in the ars:) but didn't loose anything was not even paying attention to what was going on till i called as she was ... well she was actually underwater at that point and time LOL dive training lol (in a diving pool not ocean)

Confirmed radiation leak at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan.

Fox News

the core has been exposed and there was a giant ******* explosion.

http://www.theblaze....sible-meltdown/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMEV-_X5b_8&feature=youtu.be

These are dark days indeed. I feel very lucky to be on the other side of the world right now.

i was wondering what they called it instead of the china syndrome.

Radiation is leaking but the explosion from earlier today was not a nuclear one. Some hydrogen gas combined with oxygen to blow apart one of the reactor buildings. Fortunately, the reactor housing is still intact. They need to get that cooling system operating if they want to avoid a real problem. Radiation leakage and a nuclear blast are two entirely different scenarios to contain.

All the live footage of when it happened made me so sad. Knowing at that exact second the houses and cars with people probably still in them were being washed away. All the people in the cars trying to outrun the wave getting swallowed up. It looked like a movie. I feel so bad for everyone over there.

I made the mistake of watching some of the footage in the justin tv chatrooms too. people can be so cruel.

My brother's wife's family is okay. They live over there.

I'm waiting for a meltdown of the power plant, like what happened here in PA with the Three Mile Island power plant. Most of the news coverage I turn off because I don't like how some of the reporters are phrasing their questions. They are often dumb and it's common sense stuff. Or else that one reporter on Fox News kept turning stuff around asking how we would handle an earthquake of that magnitude, etc... and I felt it was rude, because this isn't about us.

no news of a meltdown is either a testament to sience or silence.

A few things.

Military Crew Said to Be Exposed to Radiation, but Officials Call Risk in U.S. Slight (USS Reagan)

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/14/world/asia/14plume.html?_r=1

Giant whirlpool off coast

http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2011/03/11/that-giant-sucking-sound

First person perspective of tsunami coming in (Quicktime video)

http://ow.ly/4dvh0

Mouseover before and after images.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/events/japan-quake-2011/beforeafter.htm

I was watching the Today show this morning and they had a US earthquake scientist guy on there talking and there is this scale for meltdowns that goes from 1-7. He said that Japan is claiming they only have a 4 on their hands and he said that they aren't taking it seriously enough and it's more like a 6. He also said the sea water being put on the reactors is a last ditch effort. If that doesn't work there will be meltdowns and that the process has already begun he believes for the meltdowns to turn into a reality. So sad

Another scary looking video.

http://news.yahoo.com/video/world-15749633/wall-of-water-slams-japanese-town-24518186

not that an island nation along a fault line is the best example, but nature is a beast. i'm not sure man could do anything, ANYTHING to stop water like that. knowing a hundred years in advance, all you could do was evacuate. your card can be punched anywhere, anytme.

I was watching the Today show this morning and they had a US earthquake scientist guy on there talking and there is this scale for meltdowns that goes from 1-7. He said that Japan is claiming they only have a 4 on their hands and he said that they aren't taking it seriously enough and it's more like a 6. He also said the sea water being put on the reactors is a last ditch effort. If that doesn't work there will be meltdowns and that the process has already begun he believes for the meltdowns to turn into a reality. So sad

To put the 1-7 scale into perspective. Chernobyl was a 7. 3 Mile Island was rated a 5. Any number is a bad number.

well, the way i just saw it explained.....without sensationalism of three headed japanese babies on the horizon....even a worse case scenario would still be controled very well. the fuel would burn at 3,000 degrees, and the actual containment around the core can stand up to 5,000 degrees. besides a giant scare, and a loss of power supplies.....almost a no-issue.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/03/15/japanese-nuclear-panic-rises-agency-says-radiation-leaking-atmosphere/

"......France's nuclear watchdog is now warning the situation at Fukushima's No. 1 nuclear plant now rates at six on a seven-point scale of gravity, according to AFP."Right now it's worse than Three Mile Island," professor emeritus of nuclear engineering at University of California at Berkeley Donald Olander said. But it's nowhere near the levels released during Chernobyl.

The 1986 Chernobyl incident in the Ukraine was a level seven, while the 1979 accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant was a level five.

On Three Mile Island, the radiation leak was held inside the containment shell -- thick concrete armor around the reactor. The Chernobyl reactor had no shell and was also operational when the disaster struck. The Japanese reactors automatically shut down when the quake hit and are encased in containment shells.

In a nationally televised statement, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said radiation has spread from the four stricken reactors of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant along Japan's northeastern coast. The region was shattered by Friday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake and the ensuing tsunami that is believed to have killed more than 10,000 people, plunged millions into misery and pummeled the world's third-largest economy....."

According to what I read in the local paper this morning the radiation outside the reactor is 4 times the safe level. The disaster is also being considered the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.