Massive Earthquake In Japan Is Disastrous Start To 2024
"Resolve to survive in 2024."
That was my exhortation to readers on New Year's Eve. "A plague, two wars, runaway inflation and a riot at the US Capitol," I wrote, recapping recent events in the last Daily of 2023. "This century's Roaring Twenties hasn't been an especially auspicious decade so far."
A few hours later, 2024 got off to a decidedly inauspicious start when a magnitude 7.6 (on Japan's scale, 7.5 on the US Geological Survey) earthquake rocked the Noto peninsula, burying at least half
“Here today and gone tomorrow”
Is that a quote from Blue Velvet?
Japan is a country with almost unspeakable natural beauty. For many Japanese people who practice the principles of Shinto spiritually, living close to nature makes a life worth living- even if it can result in an early death from the very nature that gives meaning to life.
Having said that, no one wants to die early, at the hand of nature or another human, and I hope that this natural disaster is not an ominous sign for 2024.
Fantastic film
Derek- my prior comment was intended as a stand alone comment, not as a reply to your comment.
I did recognize “Here Today and Gone Tomorrow” from my Spotify “funk” playlist- a 1960’s song recorded by The Ohio Players.
As opposed to the others listed, Australia is hardly a small place. The country continent’s land mass is 1.2% larger than the contiguous 48 of the US.
I’ve removed Australia from that list because you’re right: It’s not “small” in the context of nations. What I was driving at, though, was the idea that in a world where natural disasters are getting worse and worse, anything that’s not “attached,” so to speak, feels somehow dicey. Notwithstanding the Yellowstone tail risk, I think it’s fair to suggest that the ultra-paranoid among us would generally feel safer or more insulated in North Dakota or South Dakota or Minnesota than somewhere in the middle of Australia. Obviously, bad things can happen anywhere, and there’s a sense in which it’s “all an island,” so to speak. Plus, every Hollywood doomsday blockbuster for some reason has all the rich people going to New Zealand, but if I were building a bunker, it wouldn’t be on any island — even if that island is technically a continent.
Some ambitious Hollywood producer should make a disaster movie using the New Madrid fault as a basis for a “split” in North America. Could set up an interesting post quake East/West rivalry.
Initial thoughts on possible extent of property damage (link below)
https://www.artemis.bm/news/japan-hit-by-magnitude-7-6-earthquake-structural-damage-and-tsunami-reported/
If, like me, you’ve some exposure to Japanese insurers, this could be pertinent.
H,
Happy New Year to you and the intelligent folks who take the time to comment here. Your title to the January ‘23 monthly was a year early.
As earthquakes have no season, here’s to hoping the rest of the year is much quieter from a geological perspective. Probably too much to hope the seismic activity from our geopolitical environment moves to a calmer place.