The Japanese are projecting 10,000 dead in one Prefecture....and a second reactor in jeopardy. The Nisei will tank, and their insurance companies will be devestated also. Nothing but horrific news from there. A 60 year old man was rescued from the roof of his house....9 miles at sea!

Japan sits on the most active part, 80%, of the ring of fire. Got it from google and the USGS.

Update from Christchurch: Aftershocks are higher than what was expected while the opposite is true of Japan. That is not a good thing. Possibility of an increase in seismic pressure elsewhere. The red dots on the map are volcanoes. Something else to consider. Earthquakes have been known to set them off.

Um, and didn't I read somewhere recently that Mt St Helens was grumbling a bit more than it had done for some time?

Mt. St. Helens is no longer dormant. That changed back in 1980 when it erupted. It is now a very active volcano and the possibility does exist for it to go again. The one that really worries USGS is Mt. Ranier. Bigger by far than Mt.St.Helens and right on Seattle's doorstep. That one has not been listed as dormant! If that one goes so goes Seattle.

Only 10 cm, Doc.

And the whole of Japan main island was pushed 2.5 meters.

Mother Earth is pissed off, and has had enough. She's fighting back with a vengeance.
(I don't f***ing blame her. We, the human race, are the worst scum in existence.)

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

drag your mouse over each image from right to left to see the difference.

Yes, I knew that, but I'm sure that I read somewhere just recently that Mt St Helens is showing signs of belly ache and could spew forth soonish.

I've not seen anything on Mt Ranier of late, but now you mention it I shall look it up..

Considering the billions upon billions of tons of rock/minerals man has removed and cannot replace, the planet's equilibrium quite possibly is skewed and Mother Earth is rearranging the furniture to stop us going off-kilter and hurtling into space.  I was watching a documentary a few nights ago and they showed the biggest man made hole on Earth, and man, it is phenomenal.... several kilometres deep and just as big across. 

One such hole my not be of great consequence, but mankind has created them right around the globe... and when you consider how much cooling vegetation has also been destroyed, there are bound to be lash-backs from mother nature.

Oh, and for anyone who reads this and thinks my position on this global warming bullshit has changed, no, no it has not.... different dynamics entirely. 

To personalize an earthquake and tidal wave? A female planet? Well, that's one way of looking at it. Mine? Since you asked, The planet has no emotion, sentience nor sex. It produced an environment conducive to our life form evolving and altering that environment. This may or may not lead to our extinction.

To ascribe the earth's rotation, molten core and magma layers which cause the crust plates to move, collide and subduct to a female planet's plan to snuff out a pesky (if at times, adorable and lovable) life form however, seems a tad outre.

Our actions and inactions have consequences, Snowy. I don't need to ascribe seismic events to justifiable actions of an aggrieved female planetary intelligence.

Horrendous! 

Nice link Xiandi! Cool and sad at the same time. Reminds us of just how vulnerable we are...and just how poorly we plan for these things.

And Doc. Mother Earth = she. I don't think he meant it literally...or was insinuating/suggesting anything by that. Everyone calls the planet Mother Earth...at least everyone I know does. And I tend to think of the planet as a living eco system. And when we humans do things that screws up the balances on this planet I think it's going to fight back...so to speak. And whether you think of it as being a living thing with or without a sex isn't at all important...the consequences are still the same...we self proclaimed smart humans are screwing things up and payback time is coming. I seriously doubt we as humans are going to wise up in time to turn things around. We can't concentrate or agree on one thing long enough to make a difference. When we stop trying to appear smart and actually become smart is when we can make a real difference...until then it will only "appear" as though we're making a difference.

As far as the planet producing an environment conducive to our life form...I think it's us that is forced to change according to what the planet gives us...and if we can't adapt to it or we screw it up...it's going to shake us off like a bad case of fleas. So...we can either respect the planet or join the dinosaurs as past tenants of the planet. And that may come sooner than we think. We just got a taste of what could happen and how quickly we could all be gone.

I agree with Web completely. You don't need to subscribe to the Gaia Principle in order to believe. But it helps. lol

EDIT: There's been a second explosion at the nuclear reactor. Unit 3. The US Navy has backed off. 11 workers injured.

Update:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ap_on_bi_ge/as_japan_earthquake

A tide of about 2,000 bodies have washed ashore.

Man....the news just keeps getting better and better huh? This just may prove to be a tough one to recover from...it all depends on what happens with these reactors...fingers crossed. I hope the einsteins that be on the ground are making this priority one.

They have experts from four nations helping out. Plus search and rescue from others. It will be a long time before all is known I'm afraid.

Check this out!   http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110314/ts_yblog_thelookout/japans-earthquake-shifted-balance-of-the-planet

Freakin' awesome!