we heard people in tokyo were getting the minute because it was a bit away from sendai and off the coast. we re not sure how well it worked. we have reports that it did function the way it s supposed to. of course, any amount of time you can give people is critical in a situation like this. particularly tsunami. get away. that s ale whole nother warning system. it seems japan is well prepared. they understand they are a smalle island on a large tectonic plate. do we have similar sensors with the greatest time of density like japan does here in the u.s.? not yet. the money they spend on earthquake research is in the hundreds of millions of dollars. it is not the same in the united states. there are other challenges like geography. japan is 4% the size of the land mass of the united states. you know, different parts of the united states are in different types of earthquake hot spots. everyone s heard of california, the pacific northwest. sure. but alaska is a hot spot, ha
when you look at chileam earthquake a year ago, japan just this week, christchurch within this past month, is there another time in history in which all four corners of the pacific ring of fire have all had significant earthquakes because you make the point. three corners have been dealt with, but not this fourth corner. there s an exact parallel in 1906. april the 18th, 1906. the san andreas fault ruptured. a huge rupture. that caused the devastation in san francisco that all americans know about. shortly before that i think maybe three weeks before it might have been a little longer, there was an enormous earthquake which caused many more casualties in valparaiso. there was an island called phormosa, not far from japan. i m not sure about whether there
and you see it go from a 9.0, then an 8.9 is what we re dealing with with this one. this is, again, folks, a historic earthquake we re seeing now. the danger is not going to go away because these waves travel now. the tsunami, the waves are on their way literally now. in the next few hours, some places will be literally under the gun and could be seeing these waves and experience ansu namy. it s hard to believe that number three was the one that caused all the destruction in sumatra, and that is is stronger than that. russell is a researcher in u.c. davis, california, and he s a founder of the research group openhazards.com. thanks for joining us this morning. first, if you could offer some perspective. as you re seeing the pictures and learning about the power of this quake, what are your first
just a moment. also, just a new update for you. the u.s. geological survey is confirming now that a smaller earthquake, a magnitude 4.6, hit hawaii. they re saying that this happened at 10:58 p.m. hawaii time. they are also issuing tsunami warnings for this earthquake. for hawaii and the u.s. coastline. this stretches from the california-mexico border all the way up to alaska. meanwhile back in japan, near tokyo, pictures of an oil refinery burning out of control. japan had four major nuclear plants close to the epicenter of this quake. they claim now those were shut down safely. the prime minister saying that, as of right now, there are no reports of any radioactive material leaking from that power plant. and, again, this was about 230 miles away from tokyo, city of 13 million people.
disaster going on here. a massive earthquake of historic proportions, quite frankly, one of the largest ones the world has ever seen. an 8.9 magnitude earthquake off the coast of japan. that was disaster number one, if you will. it shook even tokyo some 230 miles away. that triggered, though, a tsuna tsunami, a tsunami that s hit the northern part, just north of tokyo now, and that wave is sweeping through as far inland as 60-plus miles, as we have seen. also has triggered tsunami warnings for at least 20 countries, including some parts of the west coast of the u.s. going to turn to a geophysicist now, gerard friar with the pacific tsunami warning center. thank you for giving us an update. everyone is concerned, especially in the u.s. what does that mean a tsunami warning for the west coast and hawaii? what should they expect? what should they prepare for? well, they should prepare for coastal flooding. as we talk, i am watching the