Watches, warnings, advisories issued across 50 Pacific basin countries, entire U.S. West Coast; Evacuation warnings in Hawaii...
By Brad Friedman on 3/11/2011, 1:09am PT  

We've been following and covering on Twitter since news of the 8.9 magnitude earthquake in Japan --- reported as the largest in its history --- and a subsequent 13 foot high tsunami struck. The wave of water, later reported as 10 meters, or 30 feet, has engulfed entire towns, much of it captured on live daylight video.

You can check our feed and/or follow our coverage here for the latest (as long as we can stay awake tonight): @TheBradBlog.

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A few key pieces of information at this hour (1am PT)...

Tsunami watches, warnings and advisories are in effect across the Pacific, including West Coast of the U.S. from CA-Mex border up to Alaska. NOAA Advisory.

CNN reports 50 countries in the Pacific under tsunami warnings right now.

Also via NOAA, here are estimated tsunami times for West Coast of U.S.

This map gives a more general idea of the scope of the tsunami warnings and the times they could take to strike in various locations, if they do.

Sirens are reportedly sounding in Honolulu at this hour. People are advised to get to high ground, as a "significant event" is predicted by NOAA to be headed towards the Hawaiian islands. The hope remains that the wave will be greatly decreased by the time it hits other coasts --- if it does.

The tsunami and earthquake footage streaming live on the net and on CNN, MSNBC, etc. from Japan has been remarkable. Here's just some of the incredible --- and horrifying --- footage:


A wall of water overtakes an airport --- I believe it's Sendai Airport, which has been seen completely flooded in other footage tonight --- in about 60 seconds...

More remarkable tsunami footage. Leveling a village...

Still more amazing tsunami footage, tossing boats, cars, houses about...

The effect of the quake --- which was said to have continued "for minutes" --- is captured somewhat in this guy's comments (in English) as he video tapes:

The calm demeanor of the folks seen here, as the quake occurs, is remarkable:

[The video previously posted here had been labeled by the uploader as Japan on YouTube, but was in fact from the recent Christchurch, NZ earthquake, so we've removed it here. Our apologies for the error.]

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UPDATE 12:41pm: "Big Government Tyranny" saved countless lives in Japan. Though nuke plants still at risk. Details...

                 

Article Categories: Japan