Regarding Videos Surfacing of the Japan Earthquake

Living in Oklahoma, I see this all the time with tornadoes.  It's one thing for the storm chasers to get paid to follow the twisters, but the people who have no clue what they are doing and feel like being cool have gotten themselves in trouble a number of times.  When I saw the videos this morning of the people in Japan, I was thinking the same thing.  Put the phone or camera down and find safety!

On a side note, my wife flew into Hawaii last night with a couple members of her family, and she was greeted with the sirens going off at 2 or 3AM her first morning there.  Needless to say, my stomach was definitely in knots when I woke up and read the news.  Luckily, things didn't get too bad in Hawaii.

My wife is in Tokyo on business right now. They were in a taxi crossing the river when the first (smaller) one hit. She said the lamp posts started to move around like trees in a breeze. The driver freaks, hits the brakes and starts yelling "It's an earthquake!" She's like, yeah that seems logical -- now how about we drive the car off this fucking bridge!

Anyway, she's all good. Could take a while to get out of there though, with the airports closed and and the utter chaos along the coastline. Really, really nasty.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ControlJunkie 

Not sure if you guys have caught a lot of these videos on YouTube where people in the middle of the earthquake are just recording, as if there's NOT a natural disaster taking place at that particular moment. Maybe it's just me, but I think at about the time the floor starts oscillating and load-bearing columns inside the buildings shake like my legs did the first time I ever ummm... was just a few inches from the hole for a certain, almost gimme (bald ) eagle putt, I'd drop the camera and do whatever I needed to do to be safe. Kinda reminds me of what Goose said during Top Gun - The defense department regrets to inform you that your sons are dead because they were stupid.

 

Seriously, am I the only one that thinks this is just about the dumbest trend I've ever seen? Because of work requirements, I was a block off the beach in Gulfport, MS, as Hurricane Katrina came through (in case you didnt know, there were lots of other places besides New Orleans that were affected, but I digress), and the best way for me to describe it was like living in a Die Hard movie for like 24 straight hours. But at no point in time did it even cross my mind to grab a video camera and hang out by the window. It just wasn't in the cards. I don't know, maybe it's just me, but I think some people's priorities are wayyy screwed up. I really hope when I have kids, they're not that damn stupid.

I agree, its pretty dumb but some people are desperate for their 15 minutes of fame.  Personally, if there is a wall of water or a tornado coming at me, thats when I drop the camera and evalute what my best odds for survival are.

Id rathar be a living me than a dead person who is famous for a day or 2 because of filming a natural disaster.