Yesterday at another FR site I expressed the concern that Thursday’s 6.4 quake might just be a foreshock.
It’s not often that I hate when I am right. I am listening to Japan news. They called the Thursday quake a 6.4, and this one a 7.3. So far only 3 deaths, but I expect many more, and 470 at hospitals with broken bones and other injuries. They keep repeating the same short information of about 3 minutes with the same photos over and over. I suspect that means they are having a really hard time getting their photographers and news crews out and back to the studio. Now they have showed views of roads destroyed by landslides and report bridge damage. Rescues being attempted in collapsed apartments and houses. The nuclear plant nearby is OK for now.
I have written here more than once about my observation of what may be a 90 year earth cycle over the past few centuries. It seems to have about 30 years beginning and ending with a major volcanic eruption, and serious earthquakes within the cycle. We are at the end of the most recent 30 years, but so far no major eruption like Tambora or Katmai. Lots of big earthquakes however. After the action cycle, then things become quieter for around 60 years. Hope to be wrong about the volcano. Another person commenting hear wrote about Sakarujima, a volcano on the edge of a 15 mile diameter caldera which blew about 22,000 years ago. Looking at world temperature charts shows a noticeable temperature drop at 22,000 kya.
The live news stream is riveting, even without understanding what they are saying. They are concentrating at what looks like might be a college or something like that on a flat mesa. One of the two story buildings seems to have collapsed on itself (like Northridge) as the rescuers are accessing it with short ladders to what was maybe a second floor balcony.
The surrounding scenery is spectacular with roads cut by landslides and one major slide that has obliterated roads and houses.
http://www.volcanocafe.org/a-wedge-of-worry-aso-caldera-ndvp-4/
That’s a good article about the Aso complex.
You were not alone, everyone including scientists doing earthquake observation in Japan said that this was a flurry culminating at that point with a 6.4.
All of Japan and the bulk of scientists called this quake way ahead of time.
I read an article about it couple of days ago about a bigger one being expected this time.
We came close with the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991--said by many to be one of the largest volcanic eruptions of the 20th Century. So much volcanic ash and sulfur dioxide was spewed out from Pinatubo that it caused far-above normal rains in California for essentially three winters.
The fear now is that either Mount Aso (which is just north of the very center of Kyushu island) or Sakurajima east of Kagoshima city could erupt in a BIG way like what Pinatubo did in 1991, which could cause tremendous damage to Kyushu with ashfalls as far east as Tokyo itself.