**Posted by Phineas
Want to see something impressive, in that “so shocking my brain almost can’t process this” kind of way?
Australia’s ABC News has before and after photos [1] of areas in Japan devastated by the Sendai quake and tidal wave. Roll you mouse over the photos to see the difference, and then go donate [2] some money to relief efforts.
By the way, the US Geological Survey has “upgraded” the quake from magnitude 8.9 to 9.0 [3]. To give you an idea of the force generated, the 6.7 Northridge earthquake that trashed Los Angeles in 1994 equaled the force released by the explosion of a 168-kiloton nuclear bomb. What was the equivalent for last Friday’s 9.0 temblor?
474 megatons [4]. The largest warhead we ever deployed was the 9-megaton W53 [5], and it would take 52 of those to match the power of last week’s quake.
Like I said, the mind almost can’t process it.
(Crossposted at Public Secrets [6])