The strongest recorded earthquake to hit Japan, measured at 8.9 on the Richter scale by the US Geological Survey, struck about 400km (250 miles) north-east of Tokyo, today, 11th March, at 1446 local time (0546 GMT). Estimated to have occurred at a relatively shallow depth between 10 to 20km, the main brunt of the tremor (map and videos) hit the Northeast coast of the main island of Honshu, approximately 130Km (80 miles) east of the port city of Sendai, where it is reported that police have already found between 200 to 300 bodies.
Sendai will be known by many Nikon photographers: it is the location of the Nikon Sendai Corporation manufacturing plant, where currently the D3s, D3x and D700 cameras are made, along with many other component parts, both mechanical and electronic, for other Nikon D-SLR models. Furthermore, the plant will probably be preparing production lines for the highly anticipated replacements to the D700 and D3-series models, which are expected to be announced later this year.
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© Simon Stafford: I took this picture of part of the camera production line at Nikon Sendai Corporation during a visit to the plant in 2008.
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According to news reports Sendai airport, which is not far from the Nikon plant, suffered extensive flooding as a result of the 10m (30 foot)-high tsunami wave that hit the nearby coast. Some initial reports have suggested that the Nikon plant was not affected to any significant degree; however, I have been in touch with staff at Nikon who work in offices in the Shinagawa district of Tokyo, many of whom remain at their desks although it is now the middle of the night, since after shocks are still affecting the city and it is not safe to travel, plus virtually all public transport has been suspended; thankfully, there are no reports of any casualties among them. Apparently they have not received any definitive reports about the situation at Nikon Sendai, nor the Nikkor lens factory at Tochigi, which is about midway between Tokyo and Sendai. There will almost certainly be consequences for Nikon Sendai, which will affect its staff, and camera production, regardless of whether it was hit directly by flooding, or the effects of the earthquake, and likewise with Nikon Tochigi.
Another large earthquake, measured with a magnitude of 6.6, has struck in the Nagano prefecture, which in the central region of Honshu Island, early this morning local time in Japan. Currently, there are tsunami warnings for virtually all of the Eastern coast of Honshu and much of Hokkaido Island, which lies to the north.
At this time we can only offer out sympathy and support to all those people who have been affected by this devastating natural disaster.
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