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Massive Earthquake Strikes Japan, At Least 44 Dead As 10 Meter Tsunami Hits Pacific Coast, Kan Mobilizes Forces, Declares Nuclear Emergency
A massive magnitude 8.9 earthquake, the 5th strongest since 1900 and 7th largest in history, struck Japan last night off the coast of Sendai, launching a 10 meter Tsunami across the entire Pacific ocean, killing numerous people and sending Japan into a tailspin. Bloomberg reports: "Prime Minister Naoto Kan mobilized Japan’s Self-Defense Forces and the central bank pledged to ensure financial stability after a magnitude 8.9 earthquake struck off the coast of Sendai, a city of 1 million, causing damage across the east coast of Japan. “I call on citizens to act calmly,” Kan told reporters in Tokyo after convening his emergency disaster response team. “The Self-Defense Forces are already mobilized in various places. The government is making its utmost effort to minimize the damage,” he said, saying later in a news conference that the impact was widespread. The Ministry of Finance said it’s too soon to gauge the economic impact of the temblor, the world’s biggest in more than six years. Japan’s central bank set up an emergency task force and said it will do everything it can to provide ample liquidity. The BOJ, which has already cut its benchmark rate to zero in an effort to end deflation, had last month said the economy was poised to recover from a contraction in the fourth quarter." The financial reaction was swift: "Japan’s stocks slid 1.7 percent in Tokyo today as the earthquake struck less than half an hour before the market closed. The yen advanced 0.2 percent to 82.77 per dollar as of 5:07 p.m. in Tokyo. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped 1.4 percent as of 5:22 p.m. in Tokyo, with losses accelerating after the quake. Futures on the Euro Stoxx 50 Index fell 1 percent. The central bank said in a statement that its settlement
system was working and that it was able to settle all accounts
today without disruption." News agencies report a ship carrying around 100 was swept away by the tsunami. The assessment of the impact is only starting and will likely be massive when all is said and done.
A BBC News live feed of news can be accessed below.
The clip below summaries the devastation:
A video from Sky News:
And a video from Al Jazeera:
This is the biggest earthquake since the Kobe Earthquake, and for those interested how the market reacted following that tremor, here is a Reuters graph:
As a result of the quake Japan declared a 'nuclear emergency' as attempts to cool reactor at northern plant are 'not going as planned' - official via NHK.Below are maps summarizing the nuclear locations:
and sizes...
In a preliminary report, Jefferies believes that the insurance losses from the earthquake will be at least $10 billion. The final assessment will likely be far greater.
Analysts at Jefferies International said Friday that insured losses from
the Japanese earthquake appear limited, based on an early assessment.
The broker said it is working on the assumption of a $10 billion
industry loss and that the impact on insurers' and reinsurers' balance
sheets is likely to be around 5%. Most insured losses are likely to be
in property, Jefferies said. It noted that insurance take-up rates are
low and many homes will not be covered -- around 10% of households elect
for supplementary earthquake cover and coverage is only for a fraction
of the property value. The low level of coverage explains why the 1995
Kobe earthquake incurred $100 billion of economic losses, but only $3
billion of insured losses, Jefferies said. Shares in Swiss Re
/quotes/comstock/06p!rukn
And as a result of refinery shutdowns, crude has dropped in double digit territory. This is a very temporary response.
We will follow this tragic development.
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You are on acid! So China sucks Jersey trash stacks? Maybe China should quit poisoning it's own people,and clean up it's smoke stacks? I'm going to send this to my constituents! I'm Republican!
What? This is public domain information. Look it up fool
Get your KIO3 ready.
Yes, a bloody tragedy, BUT, THEY LIVE ON THE RING OF FIRE...CMON...THIS SHOULD BE AS BIG AS A SURPRISE AS A HURRICANE WHEN YOU LIVE ON THE COAST.
Tragic, yes, unbelievable? no!
Nobody should be surprised.
I have been following these earth quakes; in previous post, I pointed out the mass animal deaths were around Seismic/fault/seismic zones.
WE ARE GOING TO SEE MORE devastation like this along with extreme weather....and 'they' will likely blame it on global warming which, in my humblest treehugging opinion, is bull shit.
Wait until the New Madrid Seismic Zone climaxes...
"They" have never claimed climate change would cause earthquakes. Curious why you expect more extreme weather and yet do not accept global warming...
I 'accept' global warming is happening; what I don't 'accept' is the popular myth that it is CO2.
I am registered Green Party AND I have voluteered, organized, petitioned, done graphics for, held press conference for Green Party Candidates. I met and photographed Nader in agust of 2010 during NYS gubernatorial campaign...
Live from Hawaii coasts, tsunami in making:
http://www.wwlp.com/generic/video/player_page/live-stream
CNN had some idiot on the TV on the beach saying "look the water is going out to sea...200 feet now" they were trying to get him to go to higher ground
are you serious? or joking
Tyler look at this .....
Totally unreal. What is this and can it be closed up .....?
• Video •
Uzumaki whirlpool Japan tsunami
*
The ultimate fuck me it’s over moment, when a farmer sees a fifteen foot wave of mud, sludge, timbers, scrap metal and debris coming at him at 20 miles per hour from the other side of his field. Oh did I mention, it’s also on fire.
Mother Nature rules. Thank God that Goldman is only doing God’s work and not hers.
No I am not joking
They just found 300 bodies in Sendai City. Drowned.
pay attention the these fish kills and bird kills near fault zones
Since you ask... That would be the Lee family in China in this case; and they probably have the technology. Buy why would they? Their takeover of Japan proceeds apace without the need to destroy the infrastructure that they will soon own ... So on 2d thought maybe it was some competitor of China? Any ideas?
is anyone else here having problems loading CNBC.com in the last 30 minutes or so?
and the VIX is down. I'm living in upside down world.
green on day
German n-tv is reporting that the cooling system at Fukushima is running on batteries which only have a few hours of life left and that a nuclear meltdown is possible afterwards. Here is the google translated link:
http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=de&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=de&tl=en&u=http://www.n-tv.de/panorama/Kuehlsystem-auf-Batteriebetrieb-Kernschmelze-droht-article2810866.html
+ + + 15.35 clock cooling system Batteriebetriebt - nuclear power plant threatens meltdown
The emergency cooling system of the Fukushima nuclear power plant run by Japanese information only on battery power. The battery supplies energy only for a few hours, said the Society for Plant and Reactor Safety (GRS) in Cologne, referring to Japanese data. "In the worst case, threatening a meltdown," said GRS spokesman Sven Dokter. What could happen is exactly, but to judge yet because of the unclear situation. The Japanese government was prudent to evacuate thousands of people from the region. Greenpeace expert Christoph von Lieven was seen in n-tv deeply worried. Should it really come to a meltdown, will take on the disaster scale of the Chernobyl accident.
My uncle is smack dab in the middle of all of this in the 23rd floor of a hotel.
I hope Godzilla comes to the rescue.
sorry man, hope he gets through it all ok.
i swear one of our guys called the earthquake last night before it happened!!!: http://www.hedgefundlive.com/blog/earthquakes-and-flash-crashes-the-coming-mini-flash-crash
After 9/11 and 7/11 we now have 3/11.
good for commodities?
On March 19 the moon will pass closer to the earth than it has in 18 years. It will be a full moon. There is much speculation that this "super moon" will cause all kinds of disasters because of its effect on the tides and the earth's surface. Google "super moon, March 19, 2011 and read all about it. Maybe the earth is already experiencing the effects of the close proximity to the earth.