Tech Companies Assess Damage Following Massive Earthquake and Tsunamis in Japan

Posted 03/11/2011 at 10:08am | by Paul Lilly

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An 8.9 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunamis rocked Japan's northeast coast and Tokyo today, leaving many technology companies scrambling in the fallout. The extent of the damage isn't yet fully known, though the disasters hit right as several data centers were being built to handle increased cloud computing demands.

According to Bloomberg, Sony has stopped operations at six of its factories in the Tohoku region of northeastern Japan. All employees in the factories have been evacuated as Sony tries to figure out the extent of damages to buildings. One of Sony's factories that specializes in Blu-ray discs and magnetic tapes was flooded.

Fujitsu was a bit more lucky. A company spokeswoman told CNet that it hadn't received any reports of injuries to employees, though some of the company's buildings were slightly damaged.

Australia's SmartHouse is reporting that this is the strongest earthquake to hit Japan in at least a century, and that the tsunamis were as high as 10 meters. SmartHouse also says that Sanyo, Sharp, and Panasonic have already suspended operations at several of their plants, including Sharp's multi-billion LED display plan in Sakai, which was designed to handle earthquakes and automatically shut down when the first tremor was detected.

According to CNet, the San Francisco Bay Area was bracing for a tsunami this morning, but so far there have been "no significant waves." The San Francisco Bay area is also home to many tech companies, including Maximum PC.