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N0KFQ > TODAY 16.06.13 17:37l 44 Lines 1679 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Jun 16
Path: IZ3LSV<F1OYP<N9PMO<JE7YGF<7M3TJZ<HG8LXL<N0KFQ<KB0WSA
Sent: 130616/1522Z 362@KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA BPQK1.4.55
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Jun 16, 1896:
Tsunami ravages Japanese coast
As daylight breaks, survivors of a tsunami in Japan find that
more than 20,000 of their friends and family have perished
overnight.
The tsunami resulted from a disturbance in the Japan Trench, 120
miles east of Japan's main island of Honshu. This deep underwater
gorge is located where the Pacific tectonic plate is pushing
under the Asian plate. A large earthquake at the fault caused a
massive displacement of water.
In Kamaishi and along the Sanriku coast of Honshu, people were
celebrating a yearly festival. Many felt the far-off quake, later
estimated at a magnitude of 7.6, but most safely ignored the
gentle rolling of the ground. However, about 20 minutes later,
the harbor waters receded suddenly and, 15 minutes after that, an
enormous tsunami crashed into the town's coastline.
Waves may have reached as high as 115 feet in some places. Entire
villages all along the coast were washed away during the evening.
Fishermen who were working at sea and people living several miles
inland, though, had no clue about the destruction until the
following morning, when they arrived at the shore to find miles
of the coast lined with wreckage and corpses. The final death
toll was estimated at between 22,000 and 27,000 people.
This section of the Japanese coast seems vulnerable to such
disasters. On March 3, 1933, 75-foot waves resulting from an
8.9-magnitude quake killed 3,000 people. Accounts also tell of
destructive waves in 869 and 1611.
Approximately one third of all major earthquakes produce damaging
tsunamis.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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