Strong quake hits Kyushu region, collapsing walls, houses

WillEater

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Mar 13, 2008
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It never stops..
M6.0 - NEAR THE COAST OF ECUADOR
Preliminary Earthquake Report
Magnitude 6.0
Date-Time
  • 22 Apr 2016 03:03:42 UTC
  • 21 Apr 2016 22:03:42 near epicenter
  • 21 Apr 2016 19:03:42 standard time in your timezone
Location 0.328S 80.543W
Depth 10 km
Distances
  • 33 km (20 mi) NNW of Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador
  • 59 km (36 mi) NNW of Tosagua, Ecuador
  • 63 km (39 mi) NW of Chone, Ecuador
  • 66 km (40 mi) N of Rocafuerte, Ecuador
  • 224 km (138 mi) W of Quito, Ecuador
Location Uncertainty Horizontal: 6.3 km; Vertical 1.8 km
Parameters Nph = 100; Dmin = 230.1 km; Rmss = 1.09 seconds; Gp = 77°
Version =
Event ID us 20005kqh
 

WillEater

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Mar 13, 2008
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"Today, news broke that Prince Rogers Nelson was found dead in his home in Minneapolis at age 57. He was found unresponsive in an elevator and was declared dead shortly after. Internet criminals are going to exploit this celebrity death in a number of ways, so be careful with anything on anything related to Price's death: emails, attachments, any social media (especially Facebook), texts on your phone, anything. There will be a number of scams related to this, so Think Before You Click!

Also, with the recent earthquakes in Ecuador and Japan, there are charity scams sticking up their ugly heads. If you want to make donations, go to your favorite charity by opening your browser and type their link in the address bar. Do not click on any links in emails."
 

WillEater

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Mar 13, 2008
1,004
450
Ring Of Fire Is Still Screwing Up

M4.8 - CENTRAL ALASKA
Preliminary Earthquake Report
Magnitude 4.8
Date-Time
  • 26 Apr 2016 20:28:40 UTC
  • 26 Apr 2016 12:28:40 near epicenter
  • 26 Apr 2016 12:28:40 standard time in your timezone
Location 62.709N 149.712W
Depth 75 km
Distances
  • 47 km (29 mi) NNE of Talkeetna, Alaska
  • 133 km (82 mi) N of Knik-Fairview, Alaska
  • 166 km (102 mi) N of Anchorage, Alaska
  • 256 km (158 mi) SSW of Fairbanks, Alaska
  • 804 km (498 mi) WNW of Whitehorse, Canada
Location Uncertainty Horizontal: 0.2 km; Vertical 0.6 km
Parameters Nph = 130; Dmin = 0.0 km; Rmss = 0.54 seconds; Gp = 0°
Version = 1
Event ID ak 13497821
 
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Ceewan

Famished
Jul 23, 2008
9,152
17,033
Yakuza quick to mount rescue operations in Kyushu

TOKYO —

In the wake of the powerful earthquake and hundreds of aftershocks centered in Kumamoto Prefecture from the 14th of this month, it was not only the Japan Self Defense Force and fire brigades that dispatched emergency rescue teams to Kyushu. Shukan Jitsuwa’s (5/5) reporter on the scene said the local yakuza groups responded quickly to provide assistance.

Tatsuya Kiyosaki, boss of a local gang called the Daimon-kai, which is affiliated with the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi—one the two groups created following the schism last year that resulted in the breakup of Japan’s largest underworld criminal syndicate—immediately set up an operations center.

Through Twitter messages or word of mouth, local citizens converged on the gang’s office to obtain emergency supplies.

“Boss Kiyosaki had been in Kobe on April 14, but when the area was hit by a 7-magnitude quake, he rushed back to Kumamoto,” a gang source in Kyushu tells the magazine. Upon hearing such woes from victims as ‘I’ve only had one onigiri (rice ball) since the quake,’ ‘I’ve got nothing to feed my kids’ and ‘There are no supplies here at all,’ he undertook what small-scale action he could, by arranging for supplies to be sent to his headquarters.”

Using Twitter and other social media, the locals posted images of bottled water, canned foods and tissue paper, along with various commentary about the availability of rescue items.

The aforementioned gang source also added, “Twenty-one years ago (on Jan 17, 1995), when the Hanshin Earthquake struck the Kansai area, Yoshinori Watanabe, at that time the 5th generation head of the Yamaguchi-gumi, organized volunteer assistance together with Kiyosaki. So thanks to his previous experience, Kiyosaki was quickly able to grasp what people needed most in the damaged areas.”

In March 2011 as well, the Yamaguchi-gumi was active in providing assistance to the devastated areas of Tohoku.

“At that time, people in Tokyo and other places bought up provisions, leading to shortages on a nationwide scale,” a former member of the Yamaguchi-gumi tells the magazine. “I recall that the gang’s bosses issued an order not to buy up all the distributors’ inventories. ‘Leave half, so as not to inconvenience other people,’ they insisted. Afterwards they also arranged to supply items that other volunteers had not considered, such as women’s underwear in a wide variety of sizes. This was seen as ‘the kind of assistance to people that only caring yakuza could provide.’”

After the Tohoku quake survivors were settled in evacuation centers, in response to reports of r***s and looting, the gang also organized “self-protection” groups to patrol the towns.

Photographs accompanying the article show gang members at work in Kobe and Tohoku.

The aforementioned Kyushu-based yakuza told the magazine that with the Kobe-based gang’s experience in emergency logistics, it was likely that more aid will soon flow to Kumamoto.

“I don’t want to sound like I’m trying to glorify the yakuza, but ‘assisting the weak’ is part of our code; even if our own house is damaged, we consider natural to provide assistance to respectable people.”

Their good deeds aside however, Nikkan Gendai (April 23) was less inclined to portray the yakuza as a group of altruistic heroes.

“It’s a tradition for the Yamaguchi-gumi to expect a return on its charitable activities,” said Itsuo Tobishima, a former detective with the Hyogo prefectural police. “After they set up soup kitchens and feed the survivors of a disaster, they expect some form of repayment. After all, that is what ‘ninjo’ (empathy or human nature) is supposed to be about. Government offices are barred from contracting with gangs on reconstruction projects, but I would expect to see many brought in as subcontractors, or third-party contractors.”

Nikkan Gendai agrees, predicting that once the repair crews set out for the damaged areas, we can expect that plenty of sweating construction workers on the job, their sleeves rolled all the way down to their wrists so as to conceal their colorful gang tattoos.


source:
http://www.japantoday.com/category/kuchikomi/view/yakuza-quick-to-mount-rescue-operations-in-kyushu
 
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Ceewan

Famished
Jul 23, 2008
9,152
17,033
Not unlike the Mafia Shylock loaning money @ 20% vig a week.


Not quite that bad but I don't think the yakuza are angels. Imagine if the Italian Mafia had become an integrated part of American society for.....well for around 400 years. The Yakuza are basically subdivided into only 5 organizations in and out of Japan and they trace their roots back to Japans' Edo period. So yeah, they take advantage of the people there but those are their people. The Yakuza have been the lowest social organization in Japan for longer than many countries have been around. So I had expected to hear something about their role in the relief efforts, it is part of who they are and part of who Japan is.

1,000 quakes recorded in southwest Japan in 2 weeks since initial disaster

KUMAMOTO —

More than 1,000 seismic events had been recorded in Kumamoto and Oita prefectures by Thursday in the two weeks since a magnitude-6.5 earthquake struck southwestern Japan, while over 30,000 people remain evacuated from their homes.

The frequency of the seismic events, ranging from minor jolts to the M7.3 quake that occurred two days after the initial April 14 quake, is unusually high as the nation’s total last year was 1,842, the Japan Meteorological Agency said, urging people to stay alert for more earthquakes.

Major transportation lines were rapidly recovering in the region, with bullet train services on the Kyushu Shinkansen Line resuming on all tracks the day before and the Kyushu Expressway expected to fully open Friday.

But repairs to smaller roads have lagged behind, with rocks, trees and debris from buildings severing routes in at least 295 locations.

Debris and waste generated by the earthquakes have spilled onto the streets in parts of Kumamoto city, with public garbage collection services hard-pressed to cope, prompting the Self-Defense Forces to begin hauling waste outside the city Thursday.

At least 30,000 people were still sheltering at evacuation centers in Kumamoto Prefecture. The prefectural government has decided to secure some 4,200 temporary housing units, half through construction and the other half by renting, using a supplementary budget of 36.6 billion yen for fiscal 2016.

While the earthquakes alone have killed 49 people, the prolonged evacuation has also taken a toll, with 16 people suspected to have died as of Wednesday due to illness caused by stress and fatigue and other quake-related causes.

Nearly 100 people have been diagnosed with or suspected to have so-called economy class syndrome, caused by prolonged inactivity, according to a Kyodo News survey.

The central government adopted on Thursday an ordinance for extending deadlines for some administrative procedures, including updating of driving licenses.

Among the more than 200 special measures expected to be launched based on the ordinance is one to freeze bankruptcy procedures for companies that went bust due to the earthquakes for a maximum of two years in an effort to prevent chain-reaction bankruptcies.

Ministers plan to visit the quake-hit areas in the coming days to view the damage and help speed up recovery.

Transport minister Keiichi Ishii said Thursday he will visit affected areas Friday and Saturday to inspect damage to local infrastructure and exchange opinions with Kumamoto Gov Ikuo Kabashima.

Culture minister Hiroshi Hase will on Sunday visit the city of Kumamoto, home to Kumamoto Castle, a major tourist attraction that has suffered severe damage through the repeated quakes.

Internal affairs minister Sanae Takaichi will also visit affected areas in Kumamoto Prefecture on Monday and hold talks with the Kumamoto governor and Kumamoto Mayor Kazufumi Onishi.
 
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