It lists two examples of level 4s, 1999 Japan and 1980 France.

There are over 700 comments, and some are by actual nuclear engineers like Vic and Sandy Salt. It’s worth taking some time to read them. It’s an antidote to the clueless sensationalism of the MSM reporters.

There is a newer thread up that says that the explosion destroyed the building surrounding the containment vessel, but the containment vessel itself has not been breached.

http://minx.cc/?post=313279

I wonder if it’s possible for another huge quake to hit… or do the geologists think that that danger has passed?

The New Madrid fault in the midwestern U.S. had THREE 8.0+ quakes in 1811 and 1812. Of course, each fault has its unique individual characteristics, so I have no idea if that is possible with the fault off Japan.

Oh, and some think that New Madrid is about due again, by the way.

Here’s a map of the aftershocks near Japan. You can’t even see the original quake.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Maps/10/140_35.php

LAG – like you, I was in the Bay Area (San Jose), during the Loma Prieda quake, and that relatively slight quake was horrifying enough. I remember the water in the pools of my neighbors tidal waving over the backyard fences, and my brother almost cracking his neck as he tried not to tumble down the stairs. The electricity was out for about a week, and no bookshelf was left standing. The glass on our sliding door in the living room shattered, and there were cracks forever after in our driveway.

That sucked. I can’t imagine how much an 8.9 plus tsunami sucks.

gs – your correction is correct: “placating” is the right word.

Incidentally, my girlfriend is Japanese – grew up in Tokyo – and she’s been trying to locate some of her friends from the northeast for the past 24 hours. Her parents and brother in Tokyo are fine, as is their house (though her father’s workplace apparently suffered damage), and apparently her grandparents down in Kanagawa Prefecture are fine.

Her father is telling her as we speak that the aftershocks are huge – like 6.1 on the Richter scale. I seem to remember being terrified after the Loma Prieda quake because we’d all been taught that the great San Francisco quake was in fact an aftershock. I wonder if it’s possible for another huge quake to hit… or do the geologists think that that danger has passed?

Turns out that the containment didn’t actually get breached, as was being reported.