Monday, July 25, 2005

The Great Tokyo Earthquake


Well, the long-overdue Great Tokyo Earthquake hit on Saturday afternoon. I was up a mountain so didn't feel it (apparently, the greater crustal thickness reduces the impact, and anyway I was miles away).


Of course, it wasn't really the big earthquake that has been widely expected for some time now (they seem to occur about every 70 years and the last was 1923, when about 140,000 were killed). But it was the biggest for over a decade, enough to shut down the trains for a couple of hours. Here is a brief description of a simulation of that previous earthquake, using the Earth Simulator.


Our own earthquake detection system rated last Saturday's quake as a plastic-man-toppler, but the rubber ducks (and indeed loudspeaker) survived. And now there's a typhoon on the way too (but only a small one). I guess someone is telling me it's time for a post about natural disasters.

No comments: