Quote:
Originally Posted by GoNative
I think the point you are missing is that this quake was far larger than even any they were possibly warning about. It was the largest earthquake in recorded history in Japan. And still the reactors survived the quake. Amazing really. I don't think you would find any structure in the world is built to withstand a quake larger than anything ever recorded in the history of that country. This was totally unprecedented. Many areas along that coast have had previous tsunamis and had built large walls to prevent one entering their towns. These were specifically built to save lives and were not part of some bungling corporation trying to save money. They built walls to withstand the largest waves they ever expected. Problem was that no one ever expected a wave of this size. And that means no one. Not the Americans or anyone else. At least the Americans can rest easier now knowing that the reactors can obviously handle the larger sized quakes that they warned about. No problems there.
|
Not really. It was the most powerful quake in Japan's history but it's epicentre was miles off the coast of Japan. While it was a magnitude 9 quake, the actual force in many centres of Japan were about half that of the quake in Christchurch. (Christchurch was said to be 2.2G's of force while the recorded G's in Tokyo were said to be 0.82 if I remember correctly.)
All the damage in Japan was done by tsunami, very little was caused by the quake itself.
Furthermore, while the backup generators of the Fukushima plant were taken out by the tsunami, it was the initial quake that stopped the cooling system altogether.