We just had a very strong earthquake which fiercely rocked and rolled the main Island of Honshu in Japan.
TV broke with news on all channels IN ADVANCE OF EARTHQUAKE, warning people to "get ready". 8:43 a.m. local time Saturday (just about 10 minutes ago). 7:43 p.m. Friday Eastern Time.
Then, sure enough, the long, rolling shaking began, and increased in intensity. I estimate the shaking to have gone on for at least 45 seconds. It hit here at 8:45 a.m. It literally gave us 2 minutes to prepare. I have never experienced an advance earthquake warning.
The epicenter is considerably far from Tokyo, way up in northwest Japan. So I am sure there is little or no damage in Tokyo, but I can imagine damage and/or loss of life near the epicenter. It may well have been a 7.5. We will see.
