Tsunamis

[ukreal1]

What are the risks in the Okinawa region, my 7 year old daughter keeps asking me so I thought I would put it out there. This is her only 'problem' with coming over there, I think she saw something on national geographic that had 'tsunmai' and 'japan' in the same sentence! Have any of you ever experienced one, what about earthquakes around Okinawa. I know japan has a lot of faultlines...
thanks!

[dk]

I don't think we've ever been hit by a tsunami... Or anything I'd classify as a tsunami. Have we? The waves pick up during typhoons, but we've never had any serious devastation. Just a few broken trees and some drownings from time to time when people are dumb enough to go swimming/surfing/diving right around the time a typhoon is about to hit.

[DougP]

Well My wife and I awoke to a small earthquake yesterday morning. Other's I know felt it too.
http://www.jma.go.jp/en/quake/8/07090800391.html
If there is a chance of a tsunami they'll issue a warning. And they measure the tsunamis in centimeters btw so even the small ones coming our way will get reported before hand

[Muku]

Originally Posted by dk

I don't think we've ever been hit by a tsunami... Or anything I'd classify as a tsunami. Have we? The waves pick up during typhoons, but we've never had any serious devastation. Just a few broken trees and some drownings from time to time when people are dumb enough to go swimming/surfing/diving right around the time a typhoon is about to hit.

According to relatives many years ago, possibly right after WWII in the Oura wan a tsunami hit and either one person died or 2 or 3 people died, depending on who is telling the story.

I personally have seen a tsunami here in Okinawa after an earthquake in mainland Japan. Not all tsunamis are monsters like the one that hit over Chirstmas a few years back in Thailand and Java, the one here was in the neighborhood of 15 to 20 centimeters or so. I was camping on the beach when it happened, relatives came over and started yelling at all of us to get off the beach because a tsunami was coming. I would have missed it if someone hadnt pointed out what to look for at that time and location as well.

The threat here is very real as well. It all depends on the location of the earthquake. Okinawa lies just off one of the major fault lines but is still close enough to feel seismic activity. On occasion we get earthquakes here as well, but nothing in comparison to the monsters that hit mainland.

This "area" is not called the Rim of Fire for no reason.

However there hasnt been a "killer" tsunami here in all the centuries that I feel I have been living here so tell your daughter not to worry. Think of it this way, she has better odds of getting hit by a bolt of lightening than seeing a tsunami.

[Hollarey]

Originally Posted by DougP

Well My wife and I awoke to a small earthquake yesterday morning. Other's I know felt it too.
http://www.jma.go.jp/en/quake/8/07090800391.html
If there is a chance of a tsunami they'll issue a warning. And they measure the tsunamis in centimeters btw so even the small ones coming our way will get reported before hand

Yup..I felt that one yesterday morning. My chair started swaying back and forth and the whole upstairs was swaying. I thought maybe I was just dizzy or something so immediately I started looking up earthquake news and it was posted that one just happened.

[dk]

Originally Posted by Uchinamuku

I personally have seen a tsunami here in Okinawa after an earthquake in mainland Japan. Not all tsunamis are monsters like the one that hit over Chirstmas a few years back in Thailand and Java, the one here was in the neighborhood of 15 to 20 centimeters or so. I was camping on the beach when it happened, relatives came over and started yelling at all of us to get off the beach because a tsunami was coming. I would have missed it if someone hadnt pointed out what to look for at that time and location as well.

What exactly does a 15 to 20 centimeter tsunami look like?

To me, in my mind, I visualize a perfectly normal wave. That's hillarious. I bet ants everywhere on Okinawa were screaming "Armageddon!"

[Muku]

Originally Posted by dk

What exactly does a 15 to 20 centimeter tsunami look like?

The beach area I was at had an area that was not, and usually isn't affected by waves, unless there is a typhoon and storm surge. Anyway my relatives told me where to watch and it was over before I even knew what I was looking at. But the water line suddenly rose for a few seconds up roughly 15 to 20 cm's and then dropped back down to "normal".

Up in mainland they usually check for the height of tsunamis in areas where there is little or no wave activity, like in the harbors and they are able to accurately measure the height of the tsunami.

Like I wrote before if I didnt know where to what to look for it would have passed me without knowing about it.

To me, in my mind, I visualize a perfectly normal wave. That's hillarious. I bet ants everywhere on Okinawa were screaming "Armageddon!"

I was kind of feeling the same thing when I first heard about it, like why arent we racing for the top of that mountain back there......

Looking back at it now it was rather funny, we were the only people one the beach moving our stuff off, because of the relatives that came running over yelling at us to move our butts. Everyone else was looking at us like wtf, but then they are old folks and it is rather hard to know as I never had been around a tsunami before.

[dk]

Cool story. I'd like to see one of those mini-tsunamis someday.

[P_chan]

Did anyone feel that earthquake last night? It was around 12:20am and I felt it. I was laying in bed about to fall asleep once it happened. It was just a small shaking but lasted about 5 seconds.

[Tempestuous]

Originally Posted by Uchinamuku

According to relatives many years ago, possibly right after WWII in the Oura wan a tsunami hit and either one person died or 2 or 3 people died, depending on who is telling the story.

I personally have seen a tsunami here in Okinawa after an earthquake in mainland Japan. Not all tsunamis are monsters like the one that hit over Chirstmas a few years back in Thailand and Java, the one here was in the neighborhood of 15 to 20 centimeters or so. I was camping on the beach when it happened, relatives came over and started yelling at all of us to get off the beach because a tsunami was coming. I would have missed it if someone hadnt pointed out what to look for at that time and location as well.

The threat here is very real as well. It all depends on the location of the earthquake. Okinawa lies just off one of the major fault lines but is still close enough to feel seismic activity. On occasion we get earthquakes here as well, but nothing in comparison to the monsters that hit mainland.

This "area" is not called the Rim of Fire for no reason.

However there hasnt been a "killer" tsunami here in all the centuries that I feel I have been living here so tell your daughter not to worry. Think of it this way, she has better odds of getting hit by a bolt of lightening than seeing a tsunami.

Our sponsor said one time there were the little announcement cars going around and around.... saying the same thing over and over again in Japanese, like they had never seen before, they thought it was odd, but whatever. Well he goes to work and finds out it was they were announcing a potential tsunami. They lived RIGHT on the sea-wall and were like- Oh!! That could have been something nice to know!