From Gary Irwin, JET in Kikuyo
2016-04-15 22:59 JST 2016 From Gary Irwin, JET in Kikuyo Irishman describes terror of being caught up in Japanese earthquakeLimerick man Garry Irwin tells how he was caught up the the mayhem surrounding the earthquake in Kumamoto city http://www.irishexaminer.com/examviral/real-life/irishman-de … ↗ View original post on Facebook For a link to the original post on Facebook, open this page on a computer. Reactions: 12 · Comments: 0 · Shares: 8 ← 2016-04-15 22:44 JST 2016-04-15 23:22 JST → Around this time … 2016-04-16 02:31 JSTTV Live - NHK WORLD - English 2016-04-16 06:37 JSTEnglish info from Japanese expat Sayuri Goto http://kumainfo.exblog.jp/25671276/Information about Kumamoto (mainly about Kumamoto city) 2016-04-15 23:45 JST【UPDATE】The volunteer effort in Kumamoto City has been postponed until further notice. =================================Information about volunteering has been released! Apparently there have been numerous inquiries from people in other prefectures, but because damage can still occur due to the (seemingly never - ending) aftershocks, they are asking people to wait until Thursday the 21st, when they will officially begin accepting volunteers. If prep goes smoothly, though, they may open it sooner. The volunteer activities are expected to be centered around clean up of fallen items in homes and other debris. Mashiki plans to match volunteers with the kind of work they want to do as well as provide materials and transportation to and from the sites.They haven't decided where the volunteer HQ will be yet, but they're currently working on reaching out to residents at evacuation centers to see who needs what kind of help as well as ascertain which locations are safe enough for volunteers to go to. Higashi-ku in Kumamoto is also setting up a volunteer HQ at the Higashi-ku Jimusho and will be accepting volunteers (both individuals and organizations) from within Kumamoto Prefecture starting tomorrow, the 16th, until Wednesday, the 20th. They are also accepting requests from residents in need of assistance. Volunteers are asked to gather at the Higashi-ku Jimusho by 8:30 am, after which they will be transported to the homes of those who need help cleaning up (mostly the elderly and handicapped individuals). The number to call for more information is ０９６（２８２）８３７９Address for the center :熊本市東区錦ヶ丘1-1Parking is limited, though, so they ask that everyone take public transportation if they can. -Sara現地ボランティア、２１日から受付 益城町社協－熊本のニュース│ くまにちコム 2016-04-16 03:20 JSTI posted a translation earlier of information i saw on a japanese friends facebook (also shared the original post). Another JET provided a screen cap later from NHK's twitter reporting the information to be FALSE. Apolgies for not taking the time to research it BEFORE sharing and for the time it took to get it down - ive been a bit busy at my school helping connect city officials with the principal and helping the ppl who evacuated here, giving out blankets, etc.-Sara 2016-04-15 23:22 JSTHere's another still from this evening's Hodo Station. The yellow points indicate areas where some kind of serious damage was reported. The castle, for example, is one yellow dot. One thing this map illustrates is that the relationship between the severity of the shaking and the distance from the epicenter (shown in red toward the bottom of the screen) is not simple. Mashiki, for example, is not the closest point to the epicenter, though I have heard that the area hardest hit is just above a fault.-- Kirk 2016-04-15 22:59 JSTFrom Gary Irwin, JET in KikuyoIrishman describes terror of being caught up in Japanese earthquake (this post) 2016-04-15 22:44 JSTA TV program called Hodo Station reports that aftershocks of about 6- on the Japanese scale can be expected for about a week. Here's the description of 6- (6-lower) provided by Wikipedia: Difficult to keep standing. A lot of heavy and unfixed furniture moves and falls. It is impossible to open the door in many cases. All objects will shake violently. Strongly and severely felt outside. Light posts swing, and electric poles can fall down, causing fires. Less earthquake-resistant houses collapse and even walls and pillars of other homes are damaged. Apartment buildings can collapse by floors falling down onto each other. Less earthquake-resistant buildings easily receive heavy damage and may be destroyed. Even highly earthquake-resistant buildings have large cracks in walls and will be moderately damaged, at least. In some buildings, wall tiles and windowpanes are damaged and fall. Gas pipes and/or water mains will be damaged. Gas, water and electricity are interrupted. Small to medium cracks appear in the ground, and larger landslides take place. 2.50–3.15 m/s² VIII-Xhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Meteorological_Agency_seismic_intensity_scale 2016-04-15 20:58 JSTI was able to get the full audio for William Baerg's interview on the BBC website:http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03qc76v#play-- KIrk 2016-04-15 20:00 JSTThe BBC tweeted a couple of the photos I took today.-- Kirk 2016-04-15 19:36 JSTI am pleased to report that our own William Baerg, who has been doing lots of good work recently as a co-editor of the page, was interviewed about the earthquake by the BBC. Unfortunately, I missed his introduction and his first few words but I got most of it. I'm posting it as a video because it's been my experience that Facebook doesn't allow audio posts.By the way, nice job William!-- Kirk 2016-04-15 19:18 JSTWilliam here.There was a question regarding the history of seismic activity in Kumamoto. The link below is a handy chart to earthquake location and estimated magnitude over the last 150 years or so. As you can see, this was the largest quake in the region since the 1890s. http://www.jishin.go.jp/main/yosokuchizu/kyushu-okinawa/p43_kumamoto.jpg
