tsunami

Air Disruptions to Japan

Japanese airlines canceled hundreds of flights today, grounding thousands of passengers, while other airlines diverted or suspended flights bound for Tokyo after a massive 8.9 earthquake struck northeast Japan resulting in a tsunami of water crashing into and devastating coastal towns in the northeast of Japan.

The United States Geological Survey said the earthquake had occurred at about 230 miles northeast of Tokyo and at a depth of about 17 miles.

The quake occurred at 2:46 p.m. Tokyo time  hitting off Honshu, Japan’s most populous island. The quake was so powerful that buildings in central Tokyo, designed to withstand major earthquakes, swayed.

A ship carrying more than 100 people was swept away by the tsunami,  CNN reports. It has also been reported that 200-300 bodies have washed up in Sendai as of 0700 PST and the death toll is only expected to rise.  Power blackouts were affecting about 2 million residents around Tokyo alone.  Cell phone service was affected across central and northern Japan as everyone rushed to call friends and relatives as powerful aftershocks hit.

grounded at narita

Tokyo’s major airports stopped flights, though Haneda Airport was later reported to have reopened several runways. Narita airport remained closed as of late Friday. All Tokyo-area trains were stopped, and the shinkansen, or speed- bullet train service in the quake-torn areas has been suspended.

Japan’s All Nippon Airways said 131 domestic and international flights were canceled, grounding 32,700 passengers.

An ANA spokesman said all flights coming into and out of Tokyo’s Narita airport and an airport in Sendai in northern Japan had been canceled from 0900 GMT. But he said the Haneda airport in Tokyo is partially operating for takeoff and landing.

Japan Airlines said that 27 of its flights had changed destinations or canceled altogether, affecting up to 6,000 passengers.

Cathay Pacific Airways said it expects flights to Japan to continue to be affected in the coming days.

British Airways canceled two flights to Tokyo from London. Two flights from Japan to the U.K. departed before the earthquake struck, so the carrier has no planes in the country.

British-Airways-Aircraft-

A British Airways spokeswoman couldn’t say when flights to Japan would resume, but they were watching the situation carefully.

Singapore Airlines Ltd. diverted two flights bound for Tokyo, one from Singapore, and one from Los Angeles, to other airports, Fukoka and Haneda,  after Tokyo’s Narita Airport was temporarily shut down.

South Korea’s two major airlines also said they had suspended some flights to Japan. Korean Air Lines Co. initially halted flights to Narita and Haneda airports, but later said it had resumed flights to Haneda airport as of 0800 GMT.

Asiana Airlines Inc. said it has stopped flights to Narita, Haneda and Sendai airports for now.

The quake occurred in what is called a subduction zone, where one of the Earth’s tectonic plates is sliding beneath another. In this case, the Pacific plate has slid beneath the North American at a rate of about 3 inches a year. The earthquake occurred at a depth of about 15 miles, which while relatively shallow by global standards is about normal for quakes in this zone, said Emily So, an engineer with the United States Geological Survey in Golden, Colo.

In a subduction quake that occurs underwater, as this one did, the sudden movement of a portion of one of the plates can displace enormous amounts of water, triggering a tsunami. As the tsunami waves approach shallow coastal areas, they tend to increase in height.

japan-tsunami

The devastation often comes from a succession of waves, with the first few being relatively small. The waves can propagate across oceans at speeds of 500 miles an hour or greater. With Friday’s quake occurring only about 80 miles offshore, people in the closest coastal areas would not have had much time to evacuate.