done.
The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake that struck the Bay Area of California was a magnitude 6.9 on the Richter scale, nearly equal to the 7.0 magnitude of the recent Haiti earthquake.
The energy released by a 6.9 magnitude earthquake is equal to 22 metric megatons of TNT. For comparison, the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki was equal to just 21 kilotons of TNT.
The energy released by an 8.9 magnitude earthquake is equal to 22 metric gigatons of TNT, 1,000 times stronger than the energy released by the earth quake in ‘89. It generated tsunami waves up to 10 meters high, that’s 33 feet. The highest seawalls in Japan are 40 feet, but they’re the exception. 88,000 people are feared missing and least 1,000 are presumed dead. Entire cities have been washed out to sea and the aftershocks keep coming. This is the largest earthquake Japan has ever experienced and the fifth largest earthquake the world has ever known since records have been kept.
The memory of the Loma Prieta is etched into the collective consciousness of Bay Area residents. Terrible as it was, just 63 people were killed, though up to 12,000 people were left homeless. It can be difficult to gain perspective on an event like this, so devastating and yet so far-removed from our realities.
The best direct action you can take is to text REDCROSS to 90999 and donate $10 to the relief effort, or visit the American Red Cross website and donate with your credit/debit card or Amazon accounts.
Slight edit to switch the Nagasaki atom bomb measurement from Approximate TNT for Seismic Energy Yield to kilotons of TNT
Notes:
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atom bomb measurement from Approximate TNT for Seismic Energy Yield
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