2011年3月16日 星期三

Tsunami津波 hit northeast Japan

News reports on March 22 show that the 1000-year old 長命穴Longevity Cave - one pass adds three years to your life - has collapsed.

[One of the 260 islets in Matsushima before the tsunami; now most islets and pine trees have been decimated]

On March 11, at 2:47PM local time, Japan is struck by the largest recorded earthquake in its history off the coast of the northeastern city of Sendai [9.0 on the Richter scale]. It surpasses the previously largest 宝永地震 in 1707 [Magnitude 8.6]. Minutes later, the coastal areas were devastated by a huge tsunami津波.

The same epicenter has acted up before, in 869AD [貞観11年] [see the red rectangle in the diagram above]. The tsunami had also left markings in the inland areas.

Matsushima松島, near 仙台市Sendai City, in Miyagi-ken, is one of the three major sights in Japan. Legend has it that the well-traveled poet Matsuo Basho [松尾芭蕉, 1644 – November 28, 1694] was at loss for words, totally captured by its beauty when he first visited it. He left behind an unfinished haiku: Matsushima ya aaa Matsushima ya Matsushima ya松島や ああ松島や 松島や.

News reports now indicate that the Matsushima Bay was somewhat spared; although East Matsushima appeared to have been hit hard by the tsunami (see photo below taken at 8:58AM on March 12 by a reporter):
Unfortunately, the short Togetsu Bridge渡月橋 linking Oshima雄島 has now vanished; the 252-m red bridge to 福浦島Fukuura Island - the Fukuura Bridge福浦橋 above - is most likely also damaged.

And 瑞巌寺Zui-gan-ji, a national treasure built in 1604-9 by Lord Date Masamune伊達政宗, has been turned into a temporary shelter for some 300 stranded tourists who were later evacuated to Sendai. The temple itself sustained some minor damages. The entry way to the temple is covered by mud, however.

The counterpart of the tastiest oyster that has long disappeared from Danshui can still be found in Matsushima; although after the tsunami, the fate of the famed 松島牡蠣Matsushima kaki, cultivated in the bay remains unclear; the exports seem to have stopped for now.
[Above: the oyster beds and below: THE oyster]
This natural disaster has wreaked havoc in the northeast Japan where entire villages and towns were claimed by the sea. The Fukushima power plant nuclear reactors are still out of control. With 50 heroic workers on the job, that too will end soon, one way or the other. The journey of recovery will be a long and hard one; yet fully recover it certainly will.

Good luck and Godspeed.

6 則留言:

  1. Hello EyeDoc,

    Strangely enough, just a day or two before the tsunami hit Japan, I was going to ask you about two previous tsunamis in that area and what effects it may have had on Japanese immigration to Taiwan. (links below)

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1896_Meiji-Sanriku_earthquake

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1933_Sanriku_earthquake

    Note, in the 2nd wiki, there is a link to this short 1933 Japan Tsunami video: http://tinyurl.com/4vspz7r

    If you think about timing, 2 years after the 1933 Japanese quake, Taiwan had a big earthquake in 1935 (Hsinchu). More recently, 4 years after the Kobe quake Taiwan had 921.

    Something else interesting, according to some tsunami documents online found by Michael Turton, Tainan was hit with a tsunami in 1661. I wonder if this weakened the Dutch position and had anything to do with the timing of the Fort Zealandia siege by Koxinga?


    @ Patrick: I've read the Chinese tried to re-sell Taiwan to the Dutch in 1683... -> I've read that as well. (I believe from Murray Rubenstein's book "Taiwan, A New History")

    ~marc

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  2. Let's hope there is no connection between one earthquake and the next; although in the Pacific rim, it is certainly an equal opportunity natural disaster.

    The two links that you have provided refer to earthquakes/tsunamis that occurred off the shores of the NE region. Emigrants to Taiwan were, however, mostly from Kyushu. So a direct cause-effect was probably not there.

    The 1661 tsunami in Tainan destroyed only 23 houses in Anping, not much of a disaster.

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  3. Thanks for the feedback EyeDoc. - marc

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  4. Hi Marc,

    The pleasure is all mine. Thanks for commenting.

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  5. Have you read Andy Chang’s article, AC通信347? http://melma.com/backnumber_53999_5141664/
    Among the three blows, Earthquake, Tsunami and the Nuclear Disaster that Japan suffered, he classifies the first two as 天災natural disasters but the third one as 天罰heaven’s vengeance. What is your opinion?
    張三

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  6. Hi ChoSan,

    I thought Andy Chang was parsing 石原慎太郎's unpopular punishment-from-heaven statement until "...核発電について、今回の災害は天意、天が原子力発電を止めよと警告したのだと思う。"

    That may well be; however, there are still no viable alternatives to nuclear power at this point. And he did not propose any, either.

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