Friday 17 August 2007

Earthquake and heat wave

Yeasterday morning i was awoken around 4:20am by my room shaking. It shook for about 1 minute and then subsided. I thought at the time that it must be another earthquake but the next morning i wasn't sure if it had been a dream or had actually occured! Well, turns out there was another earthquake, in Chiba prefecture (my prefecture). This one measured 5.3 on the Richter Scale, but from what i gather, didn't cause much damage. This coincides with a huge earthquake in Chile yesterday, which had a magnitude of 7.7 and caused significant damage and fatalities.

Tokyo is also experiencing a heat wave, and apparently yesterday was the hottest day in the country's history, maxing ot at 40.8 degrees celcius. Fifteen people also died of heatstroke yesterday, induced by this unusually hot weather. The houses here have thin walls and crappy insulation and get much hotter than houses in Australia. Students informed me it is mainly elderly that died (although i know there was at least one school kid among those 15). I was told that elderly often refrain from using air conditioning which would explain it.

All this crazy weather. Good ol' global warming eh... Maybe it's too late??

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow! That's really alarming! And I thought it was hot here! (I'm in Florida and it has been in the upper 90's all week... that would be around 36 degrees Celsius) I've also never experienced an earthquake before. It must be a really frightening experience. As I read more about Japan and what I should be expecting, I get more and more anxious. I also found out that I'll be flying into the Kansai airport. Looks like I'll be living in Osaka then. Hope you are staying cool!

James said...

Yeah it can be hard to sleep but it should start getting cooler soon... hopefully.

Osaka is pretty good because it is close to Kyoto, Nara etc = lots of temples. When do u fly in? Let me know how u get along once u are here...

Anonymous said...

Thanks again! I really am looking forward to it. I'm flying out on October 16th, so I'll be arriving the 17th. It's creeping up very quickly for me.

Unknown said...

Hey man, looks like Japan is treating you well. The usagi finally let me know where I will be living starting September 5th. Home will be over in Miyoshi-Machi, which is like 12 miles NW of Ikebukuro. In related news, I read that the heat managed to warp the tracks on the Tobu Tojo line, which is the line I will be using daily. Do they let you know what branch you will be working at on arrival, or do you find out a few days after settling in?

James said...

Hey Slep, you are informed of ur training branch and and regular branch before u start training.