NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: 
I cannot imagine.  *shakes head*

 MrsHobieJoe wrote: 
sure does. Gives you an idea how those people must be feeling right now, no home, no food, friends and family lost, sitting there in the falling snow without hardly any shelter and the damn earth just keeps on shaking.

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: 

blimey- at first it's all pretty quiet and then after 14:30 on Friday all hell breaks loose.  Very effective format.

Animated Japan quake map.

Pause for a moment and ponder the energy this took.

Quake moved Japan coast 8 feet; shifted Earth's axis

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: 
Cheers mate - those are jaw-dropping pictures.
 
Funny thing, but the first thing I thought of was how much they looked like I imagined "Volcano Adventure" by Willard Price would look like (I was 9 or 10 when I read it).
 
Looking forward to seeing a real volcano at the end of May - we've got your appartment thanks to your advice, so we'll try and look after it for you.

sorry to change the tone, but this just in for all who live on the West Coast of North America:

One of NZ's leading architects wrote: 

 Rod wrote: 
it's easier for blokes: we can pee more than 1m.

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: 
Yeah, I hadn't considered that aspect of a visit, I guess.  I'd still love to go there, burnt cheeks and all.

 Rod wrote: 
Pretty awesome camping ground!!  ( but the toilets are pretty ratshit so I've heard. You end up scalding your bum).

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: 
Wow. Those are amazing photos!

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: 
Bump for Mr. HobieJoe.

Bit of eye candy from the more attractive side of earth sciences to get us out of the funk caused by the ChCh quake.

Nyiragongo Crater

 geoff_morphini wrote: 
I can understand that. For a "small" quake it packed a hell of a punch aimed right at the CBD in the lunch hour.. it could not have been much worse. I think I know how you are feeling. I have the same experience with volcanos. On the one hand there is the awe of nature's power and the fascination with the symmetries and patterns and the way the whole thing ticks. On the other there is gut-wrenching tragedy when all of this results in human tragedy. It makes you feel physically ill, all the more so because you can see the other side of it as well. It's a strange and very unhealthy combination of understanding and sheer helplessness. Kind of like blowing a few fuses somewhere up there in the reasoning department because reasoning is no response.

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: 
It's hard to put this one into perspective.  I have too much information coming in right now to sort it out.  There are so many human tragedies that I've barely been sorting through the data.  Just starting to do that.  Big accelerations probably due to shallow event.  Close proximity to a big population center is not good.  Large areas of liquefaction.  Probably the soft, unconsolidated material has contributed to the severe shaking from a moderate magnitude earthquake.  I've seen a couple of Coulomb trigger models to date but it is way too early to make that call yet.  

Bottom line is this is a really sad time for a great city and country.   

Geo, if you have time... what's your call on this ChCh quake? Coulomb stress transfer in action? Is this what you were meaning by static triggering?

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: 
It is Kirishima, Japan.  That is a fantastic blast video, have already tucked it into presentation for class, thank you.

Here's the Eruptions blog about it.  Kirishima eruption

If it was a Manbird eruption all would perish.

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: 
Well, it is Manbird...

 oldviolin wrote: 
Do his perfumes cause shockwaves like that?  That might account for all the broken windows.

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: 
Manbird calls that perfumes...