Oh Jesus! I'm watching CNN right now. My prayers go out to all affected.

Godzilla ain't got nothing on this. The aftershocks are as strong as the Haiti quake. There will be loss of life... but structural damage in this 8.9 seems to be small. The news (CNN) is stating this quake is 1,000 times the Haiti quake. The Japanese were however prepared due to their rich quake history.

The death and destruction will be coming from the tsunami which hit at jet plane speed, and fires.

Thoughts and prayers for the poor victims of this monster.

Awful! MAJOR disaster, no doubt. The video footage of the Tsunami is horrifying, I'm pretty sure thousands of people have died.

My hopes and thoughts are with the Japanese people at this time.

8.9? Only two days ago they were hit by an earthquakes that registered 7.3 and yesterday China was hit by one. After shocks registering 6.0 and higher and the entire Pacific rim is under Tsunami warning. A breaking news story on yahoo reports a 4.5 quake struck Hawiai only hours ago. 2012 any. Unbelievable.

The Japanese are having trouble pumping cooling water into one of their nuclear reactors and have declared an emergency. If they're unable to fix the problem on time, it's Chernobyl all over again, but this time on a small island such as Japan. The whole country will become inhabitable.

Deaths due to the earthquake and tsunami are already in the hundreds and climbing fast.

I spent time in Japan, and I can see the people in my memory, and almost feel their pain, horror, and feeling of helplessness. I hate to bring up stuff that a lot may dislike, but there are a lot of military stationed there (especially in Yokota outside Tokyo), and I do know they will do all they can to help in whatever way they can. If nothing else they can help with planes and rescue ops. I saw a scroll on TV that the epicenter of the quake was 231 miles off the coast of Japan to the east, and also that the US military has had no damage and is accounted for, I don't mean that in a selfish way, I mean that means they can concentrate on the Japanese people and situation rather than themselves. Some may not like them, but they are usually around when needed. In addition to how horrible the actual desctruction is, one of the news channels said that Japan is the worlds 3rd largest economies, and the European and Asian markets are in distress. I think we know what that means. Ours just opened and it's only slightly down, give it time. This tragedy is going to affect us all one way or another, but I do think many prayers are needed for the injured and lost in Japan.  

Man....signs, I tell you....signs...

Indeed. A sign of movement of a subduction fault and plate movement.

But way too many signs lately Doc, wayyyyyy too many.

I agree Doc. This is actually normal for the Earth. The problem is that there are so many people that things like this are bound to be terrible for people. There are people everywhere now. God help those people.

To be expected considering Japan sits uncomfortably within the ring of fire. Just a few hours after that China was hit, with 34 dead and 200 some odd missing. then after China Hawaii gets hit with a 5.4 temblor plus they're waiting on the tsunami. Did some one say signs?