Nature’s Scoreboard
| Day | Time | Event | Severity | Reaction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday | 8 pm | Earthquake | M6.9; S4 | Surprise! |
| Monday | 7 am | Fierce Rain | 65 mm | Wow. |
| Tuesday | 5 am | Earthquake | M6.6; S4 | Again? |
| Tuesday | ?? | Typhoon #9 | Pfft… |
We’ve experienced two big earthquakes in three days – a magnitude 6.9 on Sunday at 8 pm and one of 6.6 this morning at 5, both felt in Tokyo as a 4 on the Shindo scale. These were good shakers; in the stationery store on Sunday, pens rattled in their displays. This morning the bed rocked like a choppy ocean and I heard our glasses clinking together in their cabinet. No damage done in either quake in Tokyo, but there are some fires and collapses nearer the epicenter in this morning’s quake. NHK says we should be braced for further quakes, but not the Big One.
Following the quake Sunday we had a torrential rain yesterday morning. 65mm fell in under two hours. It was impressive. The river rose quickly at Iidabashi and I heard the flood warning sirens sound, though the river didn’t flood.
This morning I am battening down for the main thrust of Typhoon #9. By battening down, I mean making a pot of coffee and turning on a light as the sky dims. The rain has started, but it’s gentle so far. Despite that typhoons are equivalent to hurricanes, I rarely worry about them, which is probably completely insane. But so often the warnings come to nothing – the typhoon veers away before it reaches the city or it peters out. They are hard to predict accurately so there is a lot of wolf-crying. I think, though, this one might actually slam us.
Science says no, but I still think there is a link between rain and earthquakes.
