I’ve never been through a hurricane, tornado, blizzard or tsunami. Growing up in Los Angeles, however, I have ridden my fair share of earthquakes, the biggest being Northridge in 1994. Although it was a big one (6.7 on the Richter scale), I can’t even remember where I was at the time.
12 hours ago, Japan suffered an 8.9 magnitude quake – the biggest since they started recording 140 years ago and apparently the 7th largest in history. To give you a sense of how big this is, the largest thermonuclear weapon ever tested is 50 megatons and the approximate equivalent of an 8.35 on the Richter scale. An 8.9 on that same scale is equivalent to a 336-megaton explosion.
We’re going to see a lot of media footage over the next week or so about the devastation and I wanted to balance that out with some images from the time I spent in this exceptional country I fell in love with. My thoughts are with you!
Seeing pic of the earthquake and tsunami was heartbreaking :( Thanks for the uplifting pics.
Great photos! Thanks for sharing. -Randy
Some really great shots in here! I hope their aftershocks aren’t bad. I can’t believe how much damage it’s done.