I was going to write something fun here for the new year, but miserable news has come in, and I cannot ignore it. A massive earthquake occurred in the Noto Peninsula, Japan. Here is the first news article.
At around 4:10 pm on 1st January, an earthquake struck a wide area of the Hokuriku region, including a magnitude 7 earthquake in Noto, Ishikawa Prefecture, and the JMA issued a major tsunami warning for Noto in Ishikawa Prefecture at 4:22 pm.7.4の地震が日本を襲った - https://t.co/PkNX4fh4bW pic.twitter.com/vslnAvieBG
— Japan Earthquakes (@earthquakejapan) January 1, 2024
When I lived in Japan, the kitchen cabinet doors had mechanisms that automatically locked the doors when an earthquake occurred. There are regulations for heaters or stoves to be contained in the automatic system if a vibration is detected, to extinguish the fire.
However, despite these efforts, it looks like the fire has already started. I saw some people asking for help on X (former Twitter) that they were under a fallen house or furniture last night. I hope they have been already rescued.
If you attended the IPP39 in 2019, you might have visited JAIST (Advanced Institute of Science and Technology), which has the NOB's puzzle collection gallery. That area was also affected by the massive earthquake, and I don't know the current condition of the university.
On 5th May 2023, a magnitude of 6.5 occurred in the same area. This time, the magnitude was 7.6, a difference of 1.1, but more than 30 times greater in earthquake energy. You cannot simply estimate the energy with the number of magnitudes.
One night on, we probably can see more details about the area struck by the quake. Hopefully, no one was left behind from the rescue. Please be safe, everyone.
