I am in the car, and I am on my way to Sendai and Fukushima. I landed at Narita International Airport, and i have to take a long drive all the way to Sendai. The airport in Sendai was completely wiped out.... sad..
I am on my way to the island of Honshu, and currently I am about to get off the mainland.
I can already see the signs of devastation around here. There are cracks in the streets here and there, and I'm terrified of what's to come. Also, on March 13, there was an eruption of Mt. Shinmoedake on the island of Kyuushu. I'm not very sure if each these are related, but they sure are scary.
On a debrief about this trip, I learned that Japan is one of the most seismically active places on the planet. The reason is because Japan lies near the meeting of the Pacific, Philippine, and Eurasian plates. Now, what happened in the earthquake is that the Pacific plate when under the Eurasian plate. This movement is called subduction. This pushed the Eurasian plate up, causing the earthquake. Now, since Japan is right where they meet, they got most of the trouble. This resulted in tsunamis that was another major concern for Japan and other countries.
http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/06fire/background/volcanism/media/subducting_plate_600.jpg
This is a perfect diagram of what happened. Also, in this picture, you read something about a Mariana trench. This is the result of subduction boundary between the Philippine and Pacific plate. Later, I am heading to where the damage is at the most; the ocean. I'm looking into visiting 37'43'45" N 143' 50' 17" E. This is a convergent tectonic boudnary, which means they are coming into each other.
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2008/06/14/japanb276.jpg
just some pictures i found on the way!
ttyl, Matthew
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