It must have appeared almost as improbable to the earlier geologists, that the laws of earthquakes should one day throw light on the origin of mountains, as it must to the first astronomers, that the fall of an apple should assist in explaining the motions of the moon. Charles Lyell
The safest place to be during an earthquake would be in a stationary store. George Carlin, Brain Droppings
The most remarkable feature about the magnitude scale was that it worked at all and that it could be extended on a worldwide basis. It was originally envisaged as a rather rough-and-ready procedure by which we could grade earthquakes. We would have been happy if we could have assigned just three categories, large, medium, and small; the point is, we wanted to avoid personal judgments. It actually turned out to be quite a finely tuned scale. Charles Richter
Shattering underground rock to get natural gas has opened up a hidden treasure trove. It’s also ignited a major controversy. Fracking: Shattered Ground, PBS 2015
750 chemical compounds are used in fracking fluids including carcinogens and air pollutants. ibid.
Another problem: earthquakes. ibid.
June 1964: Negara Jepang: a 7.5 earthquake strikes. Within moments water bubbles up from below. Tall buildings topple. This is the only episode of fatal liquefaction ever recorded on film: 26 people died. Mystery Investigator: Olly Steeds: Atlantis, Discovery 2010
At 2.46 on March 11th 2011 a massive earthquake struck the east coast of Japan. The quake triggered the largest tsunami in Japan’s history. Japan’s Tsunami: Caught on Camera, Channel 4 2011
Twenty-two minutes after the earthquake Kamaishi was the first town to be hit. ibid.
Kesennuma Port, the economic heart of the region’s fishing industry, began to flood: 3:28:00 p.m. ibid.
‘They [boats] made a crunching sound when they collided with each other.’ ibid. witness
Kesennuma Port was submerged under twelve metres of water. ibid.
It was tragedy on an extraordinary scale. A quake so powerful it knocked the Earth off its axis. Tens of thousands dead. The whole of Japan shifted three metres out of sync. Parts of the coast dropped over a metre. Japan’s Tsunami, Eden 2014
Dr Friedemann Freund of NASA studies mystery lights like the one seen just before the 1995 devastating earthquake in Kobi, Japan. Specifically it was this photograph that caught his attention. Dr Freund quickly learns that it isn’t the only instance of strange lights cited in conjunction with earthquakes. They’ve also occurred half way round the world in Peru ... And this photograph taken in the middle of the night in Matsushiro, Japan, in 1966. Ghost Lights Mystery
Almost one hundred years ago on April 18th 1906 San Franciscans were awoken just before dawn by a massive earthquake. It lasted for fifty-five seconds killing hundreds of people and reducing huge areas of the city to rubble. After the quake came the fire-storms and further casualties. Now, Unsolved History will show that for decades the true magnitude of the disaster and its causes were covered up. Unsolved History: Great Quake Cover-Up, Discovery 2002
When the smoke cleared a city was gone. ibid.
It seems that the military and the local militia were given the order to shoot to kill to establish control in the chaotic streets. In one incident that was later described as a riot hundreds of civilians were gunned down. ibid.
It [photograph] also reveals some important clues about which types of buildings survived and which didn’t. Those built around skeletons of steel fared the best. ibid.
Near San Francisco seismologists are bracing for the next big quake. Secrets of the Underground s1e6, Discovery 2017
‘What you just experienced was a Magnitude 7 earthquake. We don’t know when an earthquake will occur so training and preparation are vital.’ Field of Vision: The Earth is Humming, Japanese simulator lady, short 13:28 2018
Japan is nestled between Earth’s four tectonic plates. The Japanese government estimates that there is a 70% possibility of an earthquake directly hitting Tokyo within the next thirty years. ibid. caption
Japan’s most powerful earthquake ever triggers a monster tsunami. Fear washes over the nation. But that’s just the beginning: ten nuclear reactors at two power plants are crippled, threatening the unimaginable. Nova: Nuclear Meltdown Disaster aka Fukushima Uncensored, PBS 2015
This is the road to nowhere. A once thriving place in one of the most prosperous countries on Earth. Japan: radioactive Japan. Time stood still here on March 11th 2011. Houses that aren’t homes. Schools that are silent. Stores shuddered. Towns without people. Past the checkpoints, the scans and the meticulous suit-up layer upon layer upon layer of protection is the place we simply know as Fukushima: site of three nuclear reactor meltdowns. ibid.
The largest [in Japan] ever recorded. Magnitude 9. ibid.
‘The shaking was like nothing I’d experienced.’ ibid.
In 1964 two crewmen about an Alaskan freighter captured on film the eruption of a giant earthquake … As the earth trembled the harbour was sucked dry; a chasm opened beside the ship. A huge tidal wave smashed in. In Search of s1e7 … Earthquakes, History 1977
A dozen gigantic blocks or plates: most of the world’s earthquakes strike along the seams of these plates. ibid.
The San Andreas Fault looks like a rocky ravine. ibid.
An 8.4 [8.9] Magnitude Earthquake has struck northern Japan and triggered a tsunami. US widens the tsunami earthquake warning to the whole of the Pacific except Canada and mainland United States. BBC News 11th March 2011
Town that Vanished: 10,000 Missing In Picturesque Report. The Mail on Sunday 13th March 2011
I believe it’s part of His [God] plan. Ray Cousins, 4thought.tv 2011
These are the remains of people frozen in last few second of their lives ... They are unique. Margaret Mountford, Pompeii: The Mystery of the People Frozen in Time, BBC 2013
On the morning of August 24th 79 A.D. just before midday a powerful earthquake rocked the quiet countryside around the mountain. ibid.
What did kill them and fixed their bodies in these strange positions? ibid.
An earthquake in the Indian ocean has triggered a massive tsunami. The 2000s: The Decade We Saw It All III, National Geographic 2017
Kobe, Japan’s sixth largest city and one of its most important commercial centres. Then one quiet winter’s morning just before dawn disaster strikes. Suddenly without warning a colossal earthquake rips through the city … 5,500 people died. Seconds from Disaster s2e6: Kobe Earthquake
2004: It’s Sunday morning on a paradise island in Asia. Home to 40 mission people. Just offshore lies one of the largest geological faults on the planet. Scientists have been studying it for decades hoping to understand its seismic behaviour. Then the biggest quake for 40 years rocks the region. Seconds from Disaster s3e7: Asian Tsunami, National Geographic 2006
Freak waves destroy entire communities. ibid.