M 7.4 earthquake – 100 km ENE of Miyako, Japan
earthquake.usgs.govFelt it all the way in Tokyo!
There is this amazing app called NERV that, whenever there is a large earthquake anywhere in Japan, sends you an early warning push notification and an animated display with shockwaves emanating from the epicenter, plus a countdown timer for the first wave hitting you. The first it went off for me it felt like something out of sci-fi. I think I got 45 seconds this time before my apartment started shaking.
>NERV
Does it play appropriate Evangelion OST track depending on magnitude though?
It is straight up the same NERV, so it might.
From the site:
> The name and logo of "NERV" are used with the explicit permission of khara Inc., the copyright holder of the "Evangelion" series, and Groundworks Corporation, which manages the rights to the series.
This is just the best. A very serious company, doing seriously cool and important stuff, also has an anime name/icon.
I wish more corps took themselves so lightly, while remaining serious about what they do.
For people unfamiliar wanting an easier comparison, Evangelion is Japans star wars. It'd be like learning of tornadoes from someone with Empire insignia
> Evangelion is Japans star wars
Which is funny to say because Star Wars is actually the Western version of samurai movies (especially but not exclusively Akira Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress).
That's the movie that Lucas is pretty open about heavily drawing "inspiration" from (all the way down to specific characters and plot beats) but Hidden Fortress is itself part of a larger genre of similar stories.
probably closer to the 90's Batman: The Animated Series
ostensibly a kids show, but wayyyy darker and which has had a huge impact on later fandoms
I don't know how anyone could get the impression evangelion is a kids show, unless you consider all animation as "for kids"
It's a show about 14 year olds with emotional angst and the show reminds you the robots are a depression masking metaphor every other episode.
Yes, it's a show for pre-teens and teenagers.
I suppose on the surface, but also that analysis would also put akira and serial experiments lain in the same "for teenagers" category in a way that really doesn't fit any of these shows. The broader implications about the psyche is probably lost on most teenagers (I say this as someone who first watched these as teenagers, and I only picked up on some of the finer details because I knew they were there already. It's why I wanted to watch them)
Eh, Gundam is Japan's Star Wars. Released about the same timeframe (late 70's), tons of sequels and spinoffs, etc.
Evangelion is what happens when someone does a very successful riffs on the genre that Gundam is the most prolific example of.
wouldn't it be more accurate to say its their star trek? admittedly not a gundam fan but I don't see it talked about or merchandised nearly as often as evangelion.
Maybe not in Western countries, but Gundam is HUGE in Japan and neighboring countries like Taiwan. A big part of it is that the merchandise is heavily focused on model kits, like Warhammer on steroids.
Oh yeah, I forgot about gunpla. I think the reason I'm so unfamiliar with that side of the mecha world is that it's so fractured if that makes sense. I have friends into it that I could ask but I don't need another expensive hobby haha
More like Dragon Ball, which was half-inspired by Journey to the West, Superman, T2 and whatnot.
Evangelion is so mega overrated of an anime im experiencing second hand embarrassment on behalf of Japan for letting its national personaification be exlempified by shinji.
it is a masterpiece, up there with ghost in the shell, akira, and serial experiments lain in terms of "japanese existentialist scifi"
Lain is 10/10. Akira/Ghost in the Shell are great too. Evangelion is a weak 7/10 in comparison to them in every aspect imaginable. I also realized that Evangelion is Japan's version of assigning weird mysticism to religions they don't understand (much how westerners depict shinto/daoism/buddhism with tons of mysticism).
Evangelion is a disgusting anime to consider part of your national personification. Drop it and pick up Ghibli films more please Japan.
Evangelion is not “Japan’s version” of anything in terms of western religions. It’s one guy who was making a TV show. It’s not Japan’s “national personification.”
If you want to go down the rabbit hole you’ll find a lot of quotes from Anno and others on it.
A lot of it boils down to “we did this because it’s cool and we have no idea what Christianity is” down to Anno going “Yeah I could do this because no one in Japan is really going to care and I don’t really care about the Western world anyway.”
https://wiki.evageeks.org/Statements_by_Evangelion_Staff
It’s fine to not like it but it’s quite a step to go “this is how Japan thinks.” It’s akin to saying America is personified by the Simpsons every time they go to Japan.
But America is personified by the Simpsons!
I guess Saddam Hussein's propaganda team thought so in 1991 too.
It is a show about depression, which is why people love it.
The "weird mysticism" is just the reification (pun intended) of the urge to self-harm. i.e. Literally turning into a puddle of emotion, or allowing oneself to be crucified.
It's visceral in a way I've never seen before or since. Going all in on a surface-level understanding paid off in my mind.
> shinto/daoism/buddhism
The style of your comment is not making a good case for knowledge of this subject.
I guess it reinforces his point about the lack of knowledge of Japanese people.
> Lain is 10/10.
Caught the BeOS fan ;)
(I kid, mostly but remember Lain fans rabidly trying and espousing it)
I was more impressed with the obscure NeXT and apple references, BeOS only crossed my mind because I recognised the end card
i'll concede lain is better, but evangelion beats akira and maybe ghost in the shell. what problems do you have with it in specific?
"When it comes to the safety of this planet, it's NERV or nothin'." - ReDeath fan dub
There's nothing more overrated than a comment saying a great thing is overrated
It's an unpopular opinion for sure. Evangelion had great potential, a mysterious world, but it never reached it. I kept waiting for it to get good and then it just abruptly ended. I couldn't stand Shinji either. His situational paralysis was so frustrating. If he'd been a coward it would at least be understandable. But no, he sits there frozen half the show.
the emotions of the story are the point, not the story itself. Also, shinji is a coward. That's literally the whole point of the show, showing a cowards reaction to being forced into a situation that isn't avoidable in the most drastic way possible
Luckily, the show does a good enough job at explaining itself to those who care to learn the message. I watched it in my teens but only now in my 40s on my fourth view through does it actually finally make sense the way it should. Sometimes things take a while to click.
I feel like the easiest way to distinguish between those that get it and those that don't are asking their thoughts on the ending. If they prefer the original, they get it, and if they prefer the end of evangelion movie they don't totally get it. If they prefer the rebuild films they're in it for the yaoi and mecha which tbf I don't blame them kaworu is hot
I actually really like all of the above, is the thing; the idea that there are multiple ways the story goes broadens things. The Congratulations ending is still pretty brilliant though. You're making me want to go watch it again.
Anno Hideaki and his followers are just not capable of actually doing stories with much depth. It's all just shallow dopamine-maxxed mecha-tronic fetish paired with brutalist architecture and rushed out barely meeting deadlines. But pointing that out is like pointing out that ramen is just a single bowl meal with barely tolerable PFC balancing. Who cares. Uh half noodle garlic vegs sauce please. Yes half.
Sadly we're stuck with companies naming themselves things like "Melchior" and "Palpatine" and somehow it's a good thing?
Anyway I need to get back to working on the Torment Nexus.
I'm starting to like the honesty.
I think that’s pretty much the same. NERV uses child soldiers and is secretly planning a fused hivemind. They are the Torment Nexus.
That's true, but I think the difference lies in the fact that the company using the NERV name for their product is a public disadter alert service, and doesn't seek to do or emulate anything it's named after.
That's not the same for a surveillance company or a defence contractor named after the big bad of a media franchise.
If (probably bad example) FEMA started referring to its aid workers as storm troopers I'd find it a bit unsettling (actually I kind of wish they'd do that because dad jokes are the best). Similarly, while I find the reference amusing the NERV moniker doesn't exactly inspire confidence. I suppose an important difference is that they're a mixed bag rather than a purely evil organization but still.
Dude that’s fucking hilarious. Storm troopers. Amazing.
A private organization delivering critical infrastructure and emergency services. Just no. Not even if it has a cutesy anime external shell. It always ends up being a race to the bottom by the nature of it.
45 seconds is an incredible accomplishment. That’s a decent amount of heads up to get safer place. Obviously nerve wracking but great progress in alerts
Earthquake early warning systems are a top 10 peak human achievement in my book. No joke, I tear up watching videos of Japan's EEW system alerting people of possible danger just in time.
There are streamers who's whole thing is watching these alerts and setting up bobbleheads and glasses of water and stuff to show the shaking. It's so so so cool. Look at what we can do for each other you guys :')
This clip always gets me:
It sounds impressive but it's worth considering that this was a large quake that was felt by basically half of the country. You do not get this much warning if you are anywhere near where damage happens.
The 45 seconds is better thought of as the time it takes for the quake to propagate to Tokyo
TBF you don't need substantial structural damage for falling objects to pose a serious hazard. Plus the relationship of warning length to extent of damage depends entirely on the strength of the earthquake. For the worst ones where you need it the most the majority of the country could get a fair bit of warning.
Yeah. That's leagues better than what I get in Taiwan. The alert often arrives when the building is shaking or even after. I've never had a meaningful headstart.
It would seem the forewarning depends a lot on the distance from the epicentre. This quake, for Tokyoites, was far enough from them that they could beat the earthquake's speed. I'm fairly certain the people on the East Coast near the quake got no notification ahead of the event.
I was in a chat with people in NYC when it hit. They got advance notice, although it was just “why is everything shaking?” Followed by me going silent for a bit, so they didn’t know what was going on until it reached them.
Sorry? I don't get it. Why are you mentioning NYC? Was it a joke?
When the 2011 earthquake happened, those particular folks in NYC got a cryptic notice from me shortly before the shaking reached them.
I was thinking of the more recent quake which I very much felt and heard in my older detached home in Queens. I was in Farmingdale out in Suffolk during the 2011 quake. I got up to walk from my desk, took a few steps then suddenly became disoriented for a few seconds as if I was dizzy. Then my coworker shouts "Holy shit did you just feel that? That was an earthquake!"
I usually get it a few seconds ahead of time at least, in Taipei. I figured it's more related to the proximity than anything else.
An Earthquake happened in SF recently where I got a push notification from Apple/iOS and I felt it maybe 5-10 seconds later. Nothing fancy though just a notification. I'm guessing it's not on for Japan? Seems like this app shows way more.
For big enough quakes you get notification from the government (a VERY loud and specific one too, being in public and hearing _everyones_ phones suddenly go off is... mildly terrifying) too; but they're so frequent and (usually) non-super-threatening that they don't get sent out for _every_ quake.
I thought Google had leveraged on device accelerometers in a crowdsourced way to highlight and show alert anyone who will get a "rumble" soon.
All phones with 4G/5G worldwide should have it. They managed to make the broadcast push SMS thing used for the alerts a mandatory requirement for phones.
The broadcast warning from Japanese equivalent of NOAA don't get issued to areas where the peak acceleration is expected to be less than Shindo 4 level. So GP probably had 3 or less.
Shindo is peak and Magnitude is an integral, so these two can be wildly apart, and Shindo is more commonly used in Japan since buildings tend to be more resistant to longer events with lower peak intensity.
"not on for japan?" Are you expecting to have gotten a notification in SF for an earthquake in a place a 12 hour flight away? That sounds like annoyance, not a feature.
We also have the MyShake app here in CA, but I don't recall getting a notification through it for the last quake. I was asleep, though, so my memory is hazy.
There’s 100-300 earthquakes/week in California so MyShake prefers to only warn for the bigger ones.
you can actually customize how strong a quake you're notified for. but ymmv. the recent california quake was actually the first time that app even notified me.
I was asking if this feature is turned on in iOS for Japan residents for earthquakes in Japan.
Ah, that specific push notification would have been via the FCC's Emergency Alert System (EAS) I believe.
https://www.fcc.gov/emergency-alert-system
But it sounds like Japan's system also sends push notifications which is why I was unclear about what you felt was different/missing. I think the specific tone sound we get from EAS is distinct.
I didn't feel a thing a bit south of Nagoya. Almost strange that there was nothing here, when you got shaking in Tokyo.
How do you use your 45 seconds?
> How do you use your 45 seconds?
There is actually a clear, concise and actionable answer to this question:
- Hide under the nearest table or desk (if you are at home or in the office).
- Grab the nearest pole or handrail (if you are on a train).
The basic idea is that the most common cause of death in an earthquake is being crushed by falling objects, so you should use every second to minimize the risk.
Here are a few common mistakes:
- Do not attempt to stop furniture from falling (you'll get crushed by it)
- Do not try to run outside (you'll get hurt by falling walls)
- Do not try to turn off the gas (most systems have automatic shutoffs)
- And for Catfish's sake, do not use your precious 45 seconds to open the social media.
At 45 seconds, load up social media. (although I actually missed the warnings this time, was focused on work) At least assuming the number is only 7.x.
If it were 8+ or somewhat closer, I'd get under my desk. (then pull up social media on my phone)
Standing underneath a doorframe is also advisable.
I'm pretty sure that is advice from the last millennium that is no longer taught.
Specifically, the two reasons that it's no longer taught is that 1) rushing to get under a doorframe caused accidents 2) doorframes are no longer reinforced the way they used to be.
I suppose it must be dependent on country.
I'm a kiwi and that's what I was taught. We're also ring of fire dwellers.
How does loading up on social media help?
Maybe turn off any gas stove, secure any dangerous tools, stop your car, that kind of thing.
Modern gas stoves have security sensors to turn down themselves. I had to reset my water boiler when I got home.
It's not that social media helps, it's that there's not really more to do. It's just another day on the ring of fire.
In practice for anything short of the very biggest earthquakes, if you're close enough for the earthquake to truly be a big deal you're only getting a few seconds of warning. It's not a task list, it's stop doing the immediate dangerous thing you might be doing and grab immediate cover.
If it's a big one and it's near you, you'd move away from the windows and heavy things that can fall, I suppose?
For me I always just turn on iPhone screen recording and marvel at this amazing app and wish we had something like this in California.
We do - gave me a few second warning of a 4-point one a month or so ago
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/myshake-earthquake-alerts/id14...
Stop any trains. Open elevators at nearest floor.
Stop all surgeries if that is a thing you do. Stop doing any delicate hygiene routines if you happen to be in the middle of one.
Quite clear that people here work in low risk jobs. Anybody working with heavy machinery, drills, saws, knives, etc will immediately know how to use those 45 seconsa well. Those trades that don't typically let you read HN all day.
If you are in a precarious position at the time 45 seconds can make all the difference a California resident.
> Felt it all the way in Tokyo!
How many stories above the ground, and might you guess at your building's construction (wood frame, steel frame, etc.) and foundations (on bedrock, on loose sediments, etc.)?
Receiving one of those sounds really scary.
Hmm, why does this needs to be an app and not the built-in alert notification system? Outsourcing critical infrastructure and emergency services to private parties is always a terrible idea.
There's things built into iOS and Android and the government does send them; but not for _every_ quake, only for the bigger ones, and if you're close to epicenter.
This wasn't big enough in Tokyo to send out one.
> Outsourcing critical infrastructure and emergency services to private parties is always a terrible idea.
That would include Apple and Google.
In many countries the authority and capability to send alerts is relatively decentralized and/or they require people to be inserted in the decision loop. Things are this way for policy and jurisdictional reasons. To change it you'd need to redesign the bureaucracy and authority, including many parts that have nothing to do with emergency services. Those changes are not going to happen.
Under these constraints it is effectively impossible to send automated alerts at scale with low latency as demonstrated here. A private app does not operate under such constraints.
It is built-in, broadcasted by the cell network itself:
In California I was recently alerted to a quake both by iOS (government issued alert) and the MyShakes app.
For major quakes I think over communication is probably warranted.
The earthquake magnitude was revised up to a 7.7
No major tsunami is expected, local media reported initial waves were recorded as high as 40cm. The Japan Meteorological Agency forecasted up to 3m (10ft) waves.
I don't believe this earthquake is a big deal. Large earthquakes (M7.0+) happen in Japan several times a year, and given this happened in the middle of the ocean, I don't expect any major damage.
Yes, this is definitely only a medium deal, given that the tsunamis were mild. There is the usual concern that it might be a foreshock for a bigger quake but that's fairly unlikely.
Plenty of disruption (including a bunch of the shinkansen lines) and annoying evacuation up on the coast.
I will say that this was the longest swaying I've felt in my Kawasaki tower mansion apartment since moving here three years ago -- things were still moving about 5 minutes after it started.
For anyone interested as i was. The Fukushima disaster was the result of a 9.1
And the fact that it is exponential, meaning that a magnitude 9 earthquake is more than 1000 times stronger than a magnitude 7
I live in Aomori (Northernmost prefecture of Honshu) and we got the warning before the earthquake arrived by all the cellphones in the office going crazy at the same time. It was kind of funny, because we have a lot of new guys here who have never been to Japan before and it was their first earthquake ever xD
was reading in a park in suburban tokyo a few years ago, notifications arrived for the noto peninsula earthquake.
kids in the park stared doing wobbly knee dance :D
felt the quake about 30sec later.
The one in 2024? I was in Tokyo at that time but we didn't get any notification nor felt anything :/
Was that early August? I was in Sapporo at the time when it hit. I saw the news on in the hotel lobby and heard rumors that "The big one" is due to strike. I was a little nervous as I was traveling south to Kyoto but thankfully nothing major afterwards.
No, the one in Noto peninsula was 1st of January. Amazing way to start the new year...
I was just in Aomori this past week (to see the sakura blossoms in Hirosaki). We literally left Sunday night, and while it seems like there really wasn't any concern in the city, I'm not sure I would have been prepared as a visitor to the country.
How much warning did you get? I mean in minutes or seconds?
Depends on the location, the alert comes usually as soon as the initial tremors are registered. If you're at the epicenter, tough luck. For example, for me in Tokyo, the alert came 2 minutes before it hit, and even then, the actual earthquake was extremely subtle.
In our case I guess we got the warning 10~20 seconds before the earthquake? I don't know, I didn't count it xD
I use NERV, it gives you a countdown timer and i like to know whether to prepare or not
Ah, I just use the default Android built-in warning. It's funny working in an international project, because all of sudden you hear the alarm in four different languages xD
My brain is so cooked that I saw “M 7.4” and the first thing I thought was, “Which model is that?”
It's quite mid on the benchmarks. No where near the SOTA earthquakes.
I live in Tokyo. Today's quake felt pretty strong (maybe because I was on the 14th floor) and lasted a while. Haven't felt one this big in months.
Is there a disproportionate frequency of earthquakes in Japan? My mental model is that there would be a uniformish distribution of earthquakes all around the Pacific ring-of-fire. But even living in a U.S. state with a Pacific Ocean border (and tsunami warning signs all along the coastal towns), it still seems like Japanese earthquakes outnumber local ones by a wide margin (especially for bigger ones like M7.0+). This could also be explained because Japan has a much higher population density, so earthquakes make headlines easier. And the devastating earthquakes in 2011 could make people more sensitive to earthquakes in Japan. But I guess my question is partially answered by a map of earthquakes on the Wikipedia page about the ring of fire:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_of_Fire#/media/File:EQs_1...
...where is does seem like the West Coast of the North America has lower quake frequency. Here's to hoping the Cascadia subduction zone remains quiet for a while longer.
No reason that the rate of subduction has to be the same everywhere. Some of the plate boundaries might be moving into each other in different directions too, the coupling between plates is not necessarily the same everywhere.
Anyway, in the case of Cascadia, remember that the lack of big earthquakes over the past 100 years is probably telling you that we just happen to live in a time where strain is accumulating (D:)
Yes, I guess we should hope for a lot of M6 quakes in the near term. Or hope that in 100 years the infrastructure will be much more quake resilient than today.
This one was weird, too, like being on a boat in mildly choppy water, not a violent shake at all.
In my experience (NZ) that means it was strong but distant.
Some of the Istanbul earthquakes felt like that for me.
Ruby Kaigi[1] starts soon in Hakodate, across the Tsugaru Strait in southern Hokkaido, ~200–250 km away. I hope everyone stays safe.[2]
[1]: https://rubykaigi.org/2026/
[2]: https://www.japan.travel/en/japan-safe-travel-information/ts...
Was in Tokyo today, if I didn't see the news, I wouldn't have noticed there even was an earthquake.
Surprised others said they felt it.
Didn’t feel it either, and my family and I are close to Shirokanedai. I hope folks are fine where this was felt more than what I experienced.
afaict part of the messaging behind this quake is about the worry that big Sanriku earthquakes like this might make it easier for the northeast part of the trench to unlock (closer to Aomori and Hokkaido, where the Japan Trench starts turning into the Kuril Trench).
I live in Tokyo in a 2 story house. Felt it swaying quite a bit for a few minutes.
How long do these earthquakes typically take until they are over?
> The 1989 earthquake in Loma Prieta, California, which killed sixty-three people and caused six billion dollars’ worth of damage, lasted about fifteen seconds and had a magnitude of 6.9. A thirty-second earthquake generally has a magnitude in the mid-sevens. A minute-long quake is in the high sevens, a two-minute quake has entered the eights, and a three-minute quake is in the high eights. By four minutes, an earthquake has hit magnitude 9.0.
I’m Chiba so pretty far away from this one, and in this case it was like a real low frequency swaying that lasted maybe 3 minutes or so.
In the past there were small earthquakes closer to me that felt like quite a violent bump followed by higher frequency vibrations, but less than a minute. Those earthquakes were much smaller though, like magnitude 4.
Is this the Richter scale? I thought it was obsolete.
It is not. It's the moment magnitude scale