Reports of sustained uptime in Japan continue

Reports of sustained uptime in Japan continue

No major data center outages reported following disaster

Published 18th March, 2011 by Yevgeniy Sverdlik

Many data center companies in Japan continued reporting throughout the week following a devastating earthquake and tsunami off Japan’s northeastern coast that their data centers continued normal operations. Ample fuel had been secured for many facilities’ backup generators to address rolling blackouts implemented by energy providers.

Jiro Fukuda of the Japan Data Center Council wrote in an email to DatacenterDynamics that there had not been any reports of major damage to data centers as of 17 March. “The Internet and other network services are being provided as usual,” he wrote.

“The discussion about the maintenance of long-term service continuance has already started [among] data center service providers,” Fukuda added.

JDDC is a data center industry consortium, consisting of representatives from the private sector, academia and the government.

Data center services provider Telehouse released a statement on 17 March, saying all 21 of its data centers in Japan were operational, including one in Sendai – the area most severely affected by the disaster.

The company said the data centers will stay operational throughout periodic three-hour rolling black-outs that have been implemented by Tohoku-Electric Power and Tokyo Electric Power.

“All facilities have a minimum 24-hour fuel supply plus regularly scheduled refueling (natural gas and/or diesel) and are expected to continue normal operations,” a Telehouse statement read.

HP and IBM, two large multinationals that act as both IT vendors and providers of data center services, also said their data centers continued normal operations.

HP CEO Leo Apotheker said during a press conference in San Francisco on 14 March that the company’s infrastructure in Japan “has not been really touched.”

IBM Japan spokesman Kazuhiro Kaneko wrote in an email to DatacenterDynamics on 15 March that “all IBM data centers have been working normally even just after the earthquake, and we keep delivering our services to the clients.”

Some services provided by the telecom Internet Initiative Japan were partly unavailable because of service disruptions experienced by some access-network carriers. IIJ said on 17 March that its own infrastructure continued operating as usual.

“IIJ's backbone network and service facilities are operating without disruption,” the company said.

IIJ services that were partially unavailable because of access-network carriers’ problems were Wide Area Network, Line management, FiberAccess, DSL and Mobile services.

Some of the company’s managed services, including security services, were affected by a “chaotic distribution channel”, delaying deliveries of network equipment.

Services affected by delivery disruptions include mobile, managed router, Internet-LAN, managed VPN Pro, managed firewall, IIJ DDoS and network intrusion detection, among others.

Delays in arrival of network-support staff could also play an effect on service availability, IIJ said.


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Japan Quake May Have Slightly Shortened Earth Days, Moved Axis, Theoretical Calculations Suggest

Japan Quake May Have Slightly Shortened Earth Days, Moved Axis, Theoretical Calculations Suggest

ScienceDaily (Mar. 15, 2011) — The magnitude 9.0 earthquake that struck Japan March 11, 2011 may have slightly shortened the length of each Earth day and shifted its axis.

Using a United States Geological Survey estimate for how the fault responsible for the earthquake slipped, research scientist Richard Gross of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., applied a complex model to perform a preliminary theoretical calculation of how the Japan earthquake -- the fifth largest since 1900 -- affected Earth's rotation. His calculations indicate that by changing the distribution of Earth's mass, the Japanese earthquake should have caused Earth to rotate a bit faster, shortening the length of the day by about 1.8 microseconds (a microsecond is one millionth of a second).

The calculations also show the Japan quake should have shifted the position of Earth's figure axis (the axis about which Earth's mass is balanced) by about 17 centimeters (6.5 inches), towards 133 degrees east longitude. Earth's figure axis should not be confused with its north-south axis; they are offset by about 10 meters (about 33 feet). This shift in Earth's figure axis will cause Earth to wobble a bit differently as it rotates, but it will not cause a shift of Earth's axis in space -- only external forces such as the gravitational attraction of the sun, moon and planets can do that.

Both calculations will likely change as data on the quake are further refined.

In comparison, following last year's magnitude 8.8 earthquake in Chile, Gross estimated the Chile quake should have shortened the length of day by about 1.26 microseconds and shifted Earth's figure axis by about 8 centimeters (3 inches). A similar calculation performed after the 2004 magnitude 9.1 Sumatran earthquake revealed it should have shortened the length of day by 6.8 microseconds and shifted Earth's figure axis by about 7 centimeters, or 2.76 inches. How an individual earthquake affects Earth's rotation depends on its size (magnitude), location and the details of how the fault slipped.

Gross said that, in theory, anything that redistributes Earth's mass will change Earth's rotation.

"Earth's rotation changes all the time as a result of not only earthquakes, but also the much larger effects of changes in atmospheric winds and oceanic currents," he said. "Over the course of a year, the length of the day increases and decreases by about a millisecond, or about 550 times larger than the change caused by the Japanese earthquake. The position of Earth's figure axis also changes all the time, by about 1 meter (3.3 feet) over the course of a year, or about six times more than the change that should have been caused by the Japan quake."

Gross said that while we can measure the effects of the atmosphere and ocean on Earth's rotation, the effects of earthquakes, at least up until now, have been too small to measure. The computed change in the length of day caused by earthquakes is much smaller than the accuracy with which scientists can currently measure changes in the length of the day. However, since the position of the figure axis can be measured to an accuracy of about 5 centimeters (2 inches), the estimated 17-centimeter shift in the figure axis from the Japan quake may actually be large enough to observe if scientists can adequately remove the larger effects of the atmosphere and ocean from the Earth rotation measurements. He and other scientists will be investigating this as more data become available.

Gross said the changes in Earth's rotation and figure axis caused by earthquakes should not have any impacts on our daily lives. "These changes in Earth's rotation are perfectly natural and happen all the time," he said. "People shouldn't worry about them."

Story Source:

    The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

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Quake moved Japan by 2.4 meters

Quake moved Japan by 2.4 meters
Posted: 13 March 2011 1109 hrs

WASHINGTON: Japan's recent massive earthquake, one of the largest ever recorded, appears to have moved the island by about 2.4 meters (8 feet), the US Geological Survey said Saturday.

"That's a reasonable number," USGS seismologist Paul Earle told AFP. "Eight feet, that's certainly going to be in the ballpark."

Friday's 8.9 magnitude quake unleashed a terrifying tsunami that engulfed towns and cities on Japan's northeastern coast, destroying everything in its path in what Prime Minister Naoto Kan said was an "unprecedented national disaster."

The quake and its tectonic shift resulted from "thrust faulting" along the boundary of the Pacific and North America plates, according to the USGS.

The Pacific plate pushes under a far western wedge of the North America plate at the rate of about 3.3 inches per year, but a colossal earthquake can provide enough of a jolt to dramatically move the plates, with catastrophic consequences.

"With an earthquake this large, you can get these huge ground shifts," Earle said.

"On the actual fault you can get 20 meters (65 feet) of relative movement, on the two sides of the fault."

He said similar movements would have been seen for Chile and Indonesia.

In December 2004, a 9.1 magnitude quake off Sumatra caused a tsunami that killed an estimated 228,000 people.

An 8.8 quake off the coast of Chile in February 2010 killed more than 500.

There was not a similar ground shift in the 7.0 earthquake that devastated Haiti in February 2010, Earle said.

"A magnitude 7.0 is much smaller than the earthquake that just happened in Japan," he said. "We've had aftershocks (in Japan) larger than the Haiti earthquake."

Kenneth Hudnut, a USGS geophysicist, said experts read data including from global positioning systems to determine the extend of the shift.

"We know that one GPS station moved (eight feet), and we have seen a map from GSI (Geospatial Information Authority) in Japan showing the pattern of shift over a large area is consistent with about that much shift of the land mass," he told CNN.

- AFP/cc

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Death toll climbs to 32 in Indonesia volcano eruption

By the CNN Wire Staff

October 28, 2010 -- Updated 1214 GMT (2014 HKT)

Deadly eruptions in Indonesia

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Rescue and recovery efforts continue to unfold
• The volcano erupted at least three times Tuesday
• The traditional gatekeeper of Mount Merapi fell victim as well
• The gatekeeper, who was in his 80s, will be buried Thursday

(CNN) -- The death toll from an Indonesian volcano that exploded this week has climbed to 32, medical officials said Thursday.
Rescue and recovery efforts continue to unfold, with the Indonesian government scrambling to help tens of thousands of residents displaced by the eruption.
The volcano erupted at least three times Tuesday, forcing residents to flee.
Mount Merapi, which looms on the horizon north of the major city of Yogyakarta, is one of Indonesia's most active volcanoes and lies in one of the world's most densely populated areas. The volcano has a summit elevation of nearly 10,000 feet (3,000 meters).

Video: Volcano evacuees on edge

RELATED TOPICS

• Indonesia
• Mount Merapi

Hundreds of displaced residents have crammed a small government building in Yogyakarta. Many had fled with only the clothes on their backs.

Some residents refused to flee, holding out to watch over their crops and livestock. Some residents awaited word from the traditional gatekeeper of Mount Merapi. But Maradjin, the gatekeeper, fell victim to the volcano as well.

He is to be buried Thursday. He died in his 80s, after being appointed about two decades ago by the last Sultan of Java. Maradjin's father was gatekeeper before him.

"Merapi is a house of spirits, which also means a living mountain," Maradjin told CNN in a 2006 interview. "When Merapi emits smoke, we have to be respectful."

CNN's Kathy Quiano and Stan Grant contributed to this report.

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7.7-magnitude quake hits off Indonesian island

7.7-magnitude quake hits off Indonesian island

October 25, 2010 By ALI KOTARUMALOS , Associated Press Writer

(AP) -- A powerful earthquake hit off western Indonesia late Monday, briefly triggering a tsunami warning that sent thousands of panicked residents fleeing to high ground. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

The 7.7-magnitude temblor struck at a depth of 13 miles (20 kilometers) off Sumatra island, said the U.S. Geological Survey.

At least five towns in the provinces of Bengkulu and West Sumatra were badly jolted, officials and witnesses said, as were the nearby Mentawai islands.

"Everyone was running out of their houses," said Sofyan Alawi, a resident in the city of Padang, adding that, with loudspeakers from mosques blaring out tsunami warnings, the roads leading to surrounding hills were quickly jammed with cars and motorcycles.

"We kept looking back to see if a wave was coming," said 28-year-old resident Ade Syahputra.

Areas closest to the epicenter of the 9:42 p.m. (10:42 a.m. EDT, 1442 GMT) quake were sparsely populated, and there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties, said Ade Edward, a disaster management agency official.

A 5.0-magnitude aftershock hit less than an hour after the original quake, and the region remained on alert for more.

Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity due to its location on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire.

The city of Padang was badly shaken one year ago by a 7.6-magnitude quake that killed at least 700 people and flattened or severely damaged 180,000 buildings.

That followed the 2004 tsunami off Sumatra's westernmost province of Aceh that was triggered by a 9.1-magnitude quake and killed 230,000 in a dozen countries, roughly half in Indonesia.

©2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Chile quake wave racing to Asia at jet speed: scientist

Chile quake wave racing to Asia at jet speed: scientist 

February 27, 2010 Enlarge

A wave hits the coast of the Hakahau city in the French Polynesia Marquesas Ua Pou island. A tsunami triggered by the powerful quake that rocked Chile was Saturday racing across the Pacific Ocean towards Hawaii and Asia at around 450 miles per hour, a quake expert said.

A tsunami triggered by the powerful quake that rocked Chile was Saturday racing across the Pacific Ocean towards Hawaii and Asia at around 450 miles per hour, a quake expert said.
 

Estimating the depth of the wave's water column to be around four kilometers (2.4 miles) on average, Roger Bilham, a professor of geological sciences at the University of Colorado, calculated that at mid-ocean, the mass of water would be hurtling toward Hawaii at 200 meters per second, or 720 kilometers per hour (446 mph).

"Mid-ocean, the wave is traveling at around the speed of a jet plane," Bilham told AFP.
"The amplitude of the wave is small when it's mid-ocean, but it may rise to five to 10 meters when it reaches Japan or the Philippines," he said.

A huge arc of nations around the Pacific, from New Zealand to Japan, have gone on tsunami alert, while sirens sounded warnings of destructive waves around Hawaii for the first time in 16 years.

The powerful 8.8-magnitude quake that rattled Chile in the early hours of Saturday occurred offshore in a subduction zone -- the point where two tectonic plates meet and one plunges beneath the other.

The undersea earthquake that set off the 2004 Asian tsunami, which killed some 200,000 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless, was also a subduction earthquake.

"Subduction zone earthquakes produce the world largest tsunamis because the sea floor moves like a piston, heaving 100 kilometer by 50 kilometer (60 miles x 30 miles) or larger regions of sea floor water up or down," Bilham told AFP.

Walls of water of up to four meters (13 feet) crashed ashore in French Polynesia and the Marquesas Islands hours after the quake had rattled Chile.

But the tsunamis caused only minor damage and no casualties as they rampaged across the Pacific, where authorities had sounded warning sirens and urged residents of coastal areas to move to higher ground.

The tidal waves that devastated parts of southern Asia in 2004 struck without warning. It was after that deadly series of monster waves that the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, set up after a tsunami unleashed by a 9.5-magnitude earthquake in Chile in 1960, beefed up its warning system.

"This time, we're ready for the tsunamis. When the waves hit Hawaii, there will be cameras there to catch them," said Bilham.

"This is a huge success," he said.

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Tremors in various parts of S'pore following quake in Indonesia

Tremors in various parts of S'pore following quake in Indonesia
By Asha Popatlal, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 30 September 2009 1923 hrs

	Photos 1 of 1 A quake reading on a seismograph.

SINGAPORE: Singaporeans island-wide literally felt the earth move under their feet on Wednesday evening as tremors shook various parts of the island - from Redhill in central Singapore to Pasir Ris in the northeast.

This came after a powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.6 hit Indonesia.

Singapore's Meteorological Services confirmed that the earthquake struck at about 6.15pm on Wednesday in the waters off Southern Sumatra, about 530 kilometres from Singapore.

Minutes later, MediaCorp's news hotline started ringing as Singaporeans reported feeling tremors that lasted anywhere between 30 seconds and a few minutes.

The Police and SCDF said they received more than 150 calls about the quake.

Videos sent in by viewers showed chandeliers swaying, as were other objects.

The calls came from across the island - Ang Mo Kio in the central north, Marine Parade in the east, Punggol in the northeast and Raffles Place in the central business district.

Callers said that some workers in the Suntec area and Changi Business Park were evacuated.

One man said: "There were a lot of office people on the roadside. We felt it for about five to ten minutes." Others said their neighbours were screaming and shouting.

Rajakumar Choppa who works at Expo Changi Business Park, said: "Around 6pm, we felt some kind of a building shake. I felt it three times actually and then we all stood up and rushed downstairs because there was some fire alarm in the building.

"When we got downstairs, there was a crowd. We were all watching and not knowing what was happening. I was able to see the building literally shaking."

Callers also reported jams in the Causeway area as the bridge was shaking.

Experts MediaCorp spoke to said the situation was bad.

Professor Kerry Sieh, professor of Geology, Earth Observatory of Singapore, NTU, said: "It's definitely getting worse. The earthquake sequence began in 2000 with a 7.9 about 800 km away from the south of Singapore. You haven't felt this big of a sequence of earthquakes that is many large earthquakes for at least 175 years."

A tsunami warning was initially issued after the quake but later withdrawn.

- CNA/vm

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Strong quake strikes Indonesia

Strong quake strikes Indonesia

Reuters  Published: Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Metro TV via Reuters TV A video grab shows a foot among the wreckage of a building following an earthquake in Padang on Indonesia's Sumatra island, Sept. 30, 2009.

PADANG, Indonesia -- A powerful earthquake off the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island has killed 13 people, a health ministry official said on Wednesday.
The earthquake struck off the city of Padang on the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island, damaging houses, toppling bridges and starting fires.
The 7.6 magnitude quake was felt around the region, with some high-rise buildings in Singapore, 440 km (275 miles) to the northeast, evacuating staff. Office buildings also shook in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre cancelled an earlier tsunami alert.
"Hundreds of houses have been damaged along the road. There are some fires, bridges are cut and there is extreme panic here," said a Reuters witness in the city, who also said broken water pipes had triggered flooding.
His mobile phone was then cut off and officials said power had been severed in the city. A resident called Adi later told Indonesia's Metro Television there was devastation around him.
"For now I can't see dead bodies, just collapsed houses. Some half destroyed, others completely. People are standing around too scared to go back inside. They fear a tsunami," said Adi.
"No help has arrived yet. I can see small children standing around carrying blankets. Some people are looking for relatives but all the lights have gone out completely."
Online news agency Detik.com said a hospital and a large market had also been damaged in the city.
Sumatra is home to some of the country's largest oil fields as well as its oldest and smallest liquefied natural gas terminal, although there were no immediate reports of damage to those facilities.
Padang, the capital of Indonesia's West Sumatra province, sits on one of the world's most active fault lines along the "Ring of Fire" where the Indo-Australia plate grinds against the Eurasia plate to create regular tremors and sometimes quakes.
A 9.15 magnitude quake, with its epicentre roughly 600 km (373 miles) northwest of Padang, caused the 2004 tsunami which killed 232,000 people in Indonesia's Aceh province, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, and other countries across the Indian Ocean.
The depth of Wednesday's earthquake was 85 km (53 miles), the United States Geological Survey said. It revised down the magnitude of the quake from 7.9 to 7.6.
A series of tsunamis earlier on Wednesday smashed into the Pacific island nations of American and Western Samoa, and Tonga killing possibly more than 100 people, some washed out to sea, destroying villages and injuring hundreds.
Geologists have long said Padang may one day be destroyed by a huge earthquake because of its location.
"Padang sits right in front of the area with the greatest potential for an 8.9 magnitude earthquake," said Danny Hilman Natawidjaja, a geologist at the Indonesian Science Institute, in February.
"The entire city could drown" in a tsunami triggered by such a quake, he warned.
Several earthquake-prone parts of the country hold tsunami practice drills, and the national disaster service sends alerts via telephone text messages to subscribers.
But some experts have long said Indonesia needs to do more to reduce the risk of catastrophe.
Padang needed to invest in better infrastructure, including more roads and other escape routes, said Hugh Goyder, a consultant for the United Nations' International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, earlier in the year.
"The road goes parallel to the coast, which means it's difficult in some areas to get away from the coast," Mr. Goyder said, adding that in one part of the city, the only escape route was a narrow bridge.
© Thomson Reuters 2009


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