Japan 8.9 Earthquake

I turned on the TV for dinner and there's an live report on the Chinese (Hong Kong) news on the earthquake in Japan. It measures 8.9 and triggered a tsunami with waves more than 10 metres high, the strongest aftershock is 7.1. I think Sendai was the first to be hit and the sea water covered the fields and ruined houses. From what's being reported, three people have been confirmed dead and many more are injured and missing.

Because the earthquake is so strong, it's thought that it'll affect many countries. Tsunami warnings have been sent out to countries including Hawaii, the Philippines, Taiwan, I just heard that the tsunami will hit Australia at 11:20 tonight, but I think that's the warning issued by the US. According to this article, the Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre, operated by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, says there's no threat to the Australian mainland.

This earthquake could be felt in the whole of Japan and several fires started in Tokyo. It caused landslides that buried people. An oil refinery was on fire and a huge black cloud of dense smoke is being sprouted out by the fire. Sendai's airport is already under water, Narita airport and Haneda airport in Tokyo had been both closed, but Haneda has now opened two lanes for planes to touch down. Planes still can't take off. 8 military planes are sent to affected areas to survey and help in rescue. Nuclear energy stations have shut down and there's no report of  radioactivity leakage.

People were standing on their roofs waiting to be rescued. There was brown water all around the buildings. All shinkansen (bullet train) in east Japan has stopped. Local train stations have stopped operating, leaving lots of people waiting there. According to a Hong Kong lady there on the phone, there isn't widespread panic and people are going into stores and buying food and preparing for the disaster.

I saw ships upside down in the water, and the water was pushing the ships and tipping it to one side until it's fully upside down. It wasn't fast but it was so inevitable. It's like a large hand tipped the ships over slowly but surely.

At one time it looked like the camera was shaking, but it was actually a tremor. The whole scenery: the land, the water, the buildings all shook together. It was scary.

Natural disaster is always something that hits so hard. I just read on the newspaper today that China was also hit with an earthquake with around 370 dead. What's been happening?  I'm hoping people will be rescued soon. It's lucky that I've never experienced something like this.