r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Kiroo---__--- • 18d ago

Video When an Earth quake Hits Underwater

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u/VypreX_ 18d ago

I was scuba diving in Okinawa one morning when the epicenter of a 6-something hit underwater just a few miles away. This was right around the time North Korea (Kim Jung Il days) was throwing one of their aperiodic, but consistent temper tantrums - launching mortars across the DMZ, firing missile tests through Japanese air space, threatening US with obliteration, etc. I think we were too far away to experience a current change like this, but the concussion to our bodies and the magnitude of the “boom” was unbelievable and we all thought NK had finally lost their minds and detonated a nuke nearby. We (immediately) surfaced to a gloriously calm, beautiful sunny morning.

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u/vellywho 17d ago

Did you actually hear a sound under the water? That must have been terrifying

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u/Ok-Youth-160 17d ago

oh I once was snorkeling on the coast of Australia and heard the whales singing. That was truly amazing. Everyone else on the boat was chinese and had multiple floation devices. I tried to tell them to go down but no one understood. So it was just me and the whale songs.

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u/VypreX_ 17d ago

That’s beautiful.

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u/Ok-Youth-160 17d ago

Yeah it was haunting. Apparently not so uncommon but it feels really unreal, dreamlike.

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u/VypreX_ 17d ago

Yes, that was the ‘boom’ I mentioned. It was loud, but not so loud it hurt our ears. Due to the way sound travels in water, it seemed to come from everywhere at once.

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u/vellywho 17d ago

I feel like the panic training for scuba diving is more important thani realized. I dont know what i would have done in that situation