Swordie Bloggie

The bad news from Japan this afternoon, at 2.46pm local time, has shaken more than half of the world’s population…  an 8.9 magnitude earthquake in the Pacific Ocean, about 373 kilometres (230 miles) from Tokyo, caused major damage in north-eastern Japan.

The quake, the biggest in 100 years, created huge tsunami with 10m high tidal-wave sweeping across rice fields and towns… followed with more than 30 aftershocks for hours where some of it with more than 6.0 magnitude strength. The US National Weather Service has to issue tsunami warning to at least 50 countries and territories.

Most of the people here was so worried coz Philippines and Indonesia are in the path of the tsunami… if it go through Philippines and reach Indonesia, definitely we will be hit… but from the graphic animation on TV, we are actually covered by Philippines… one reason why we are called Land Below the Wind… Just like the sanibel island in Florida which is on the opposite side of the tsunami path in US.

Although we are away from the tsunami path, people living at coastal area facing the South China Sea are asked to be alert from 6pm to 12am local time… I hope Japan will recover from this disaster soon… and hope there is no more earthquake…

Once again, Indonesia is going to face another natural disaster… Mount Merapi located on the border between Central Java and Yogyakarta, Indonesia, the most active volcano in Indonesia is starting showing its color again… it has erupted regularly since 1548… and experts are forecasting the eruption this time would be much more spectacular than the last one in 2006.

Smoke can be seen from the top of the mountain at least 300 days a year… and during the weekend, officials recorded about 500 volcanic earthquakes activities… seismic activity… in the area. People living within 10km or 6 miles around the mountain were told to evacuate and seek shelters at a safer place. Other neighboring countries are getting their medical cart ready for deployment for medical relief if the volcano erupted.

On May 27, 2006, an earthquake with 5.6 magnitude about 30 miles southwest of Mount Merapi killed at least 5,000 people and made about 200,000 people homeless… but the Merapi eruption itself only caused two fatalities 😛