I'm surprised TBH, from the sort of damage I'm seeing and the magnitude of the volcano a loss of 15 people seems very fortunate. Hopefully the count won't get larger, and that no Dakkanaughts or their family are affected.
Watching Sky News earlier, and that wave of water they where following was almost surreal. Seeing folks cars stop just before getting dragged away, there's no way they could have got out. Really shocking stuff to see.
I have to say my thoughts and hopes go out to those in the region, I will be thinking of them today.
1000s will be dead. More missing. People are freaking out. This is the largest recorded Earthquake in Japanese history. I just saw a ship get sucked into a whirlpool on TV. A ship with who knows how many guys on it. There have been multiple Earthquakes since this afternoon. The first one of this series was actually on Wednesday before lunch. There is a gas plant fire raging about 50 km from here. Power is out on the other side of Chiba. A lot of sh!t has been put into perspective today.
Only just heard the terrible news.
Glad your family are safe KK
Just hope the same for all our Dakkafriends in Japan and thoughts are with the victims and their loved ones.
Automatically Appended Next Post: From what you guys are describing am glad I don't have a telly. Just awful.
just saw a footage on webtv.... this looks terrible and since japan is more crowded this will wreck lots of havoc there...
i hope that the world will have soon the time to get to the needed for help...
Thanks for the thoughts and prayers. Tokyo was lucky. Official death toll at 44 currently. Miyagi prefecture is expecting further tsunamis. It was a humbling experience.
SilverMK2 wrote:At least a lot of Japan is built to withstand this kind of stuff.
Just hope that everywhere else under threat has enough time to prepare.
If they can withstand the monster attacks every 3-4 months, they certainly can survive this.
Definately keeping the people of Japan in my prayers, fortunately it looks like the death toll isn't going to be too high (contra India). Thank goodness for early warning systems.
The early warning systems gave those in Miyagi about 30 seconds to prepare. Personally, I'm saving my thanks for the engineers. My house was sliding back and forth intensely but no real damage.
SilverMK2 wrote:At least a lot of Japan is built to withstand this kind of stuff.
Just hope that everywhere else under threat has enough time to prepare.
If they can withstand the monster attacks every 3-4 months, they certainly can survive this.
Definately keeping the people of Japan in my prayers, fortunately it looks like the death toll isn't going to be too high (contra India). Thank goodness for early warning systems.
It is now snowing in the worst affected area. The TV was stuck on some poor sod sitting in his car flashing his headlights on his car and turning his wipers on and off in somekind of last minute gasp of communication with mankind before being sucked into Davey Jones' locker. There was also the expensive new home disintegrating in mere seconds as it hit a ship that had been thrown inland. There will be no swimming in the ocean this summer. Too many souls will be there trying to grasp the legs of the living <-- bit of a weird japanese custom there.
There are still 5.5 quakes raging now. Fortifying my Iron Hippy resolve with red wine from the hardware store and some grated cabbage and carrots.
If there's anything positive that can be gleaned from this, it's that it was 20 miles down. Had it been like Haiti's Earthquake we could be talking about much more damage and severe tsunami waves
Stormrider wrote:If there's anything positive that can be gleaned from this, it's that it was 20 miles down. Had it been like Haiti's Earthquake we could be talking about much more damage and severe tsunami waves
Dude, the quakes are at all different depths. They've been going all day. Even the cat has started ignoring them. Tokyo is a gong show right now. All the train lines are shut down (I think KilKrazy mentioned that earlier) and everyone is standing around wondering what to do. Most people are at home watching news that is actually 'news' for a change. The air traffic has also ceased in the Tokyo area. I'm just hoping the Tsunami that hits the West coast of the US and South America doesn't do too much damage.
Stormrider wrote:If there's anything positive that can be gleaned from this, it's that it was 20 miles down. Had it been like Haiti's Earthquake we could be talking about much more damage and severe tsunami waves
Dude, the quakes are at all different depths. They've been going all day. Even the cat has started ignoring them. Tokyo is a gong show right now. All the train lines are shut down (I think KilKrazy mentioned that earlier) and everyone is standing around wondering what to do. Most people are at home watching news that is actually 'news' for a change. The air traffic has also ceased in the Tokyo area. I'm just hoping the Tsunami that hits the West coast of the US and South America doesn't do too much damage.
Stormrider wrote:If there's anything positive that can be gleaned from this, it's that it was 20 miles down. Had it been like Haiti's Earthquake we could be talking about much more damage and severe tsunami waves
Japan, unlike Haiti, has buildings designed to withstand earthquakes. I don't know what magnitude they're built to withstand, but 8.9 is pretty darn high.
Also, don't forget that the scale here is logarithmic, so a magnitude 8 is many times worse than Haiti's magnitude 7.0. Magnitude 8.9 has more like 700 times the energy of a 7.0.
Scary stuff, and while a loss of life is never a good thing, it's good news that the death toll (from what I've seen) is still under 100.
The sight of a wave of mud, debris, a ship and three or four houses that are on fire getting pulled along by a giant wave kinda puts the fear of God/nature/equivalent into one (can't remember where I saw that clip though, think it was CNN). Let's be thankful that buildings in Japan are many times more resilient to this kind of thing than the ones in Indonesia 2004.
biccat wrote:Scary stuff, and while a loss of life is never a good thing, it's good news that the death toll (from what I've seen) is still under 100.
I'd bet it goes higher.
It's kinda hard to process. Where I am it was a pretty big shake, but negligible damage. We took it very seriously at work, but after it stopped we kind of laughed it off a bit because no one was hurt and there was no damage. Then we turned on the TV and saw that tsunami moving across the Sendai coast. The wost part was watching the live aerial footage and seeing traffic driving unawares right into the giant wave and listening to one of my coworkers helplessly yelling at the tv for them to stop. For me and everyone I know the worst inconvenience is we had to cancel a party and I'm eating a crap convenience store dinner instead. For thousands of other people it's a nightmare that's still unfolding as we speak. It's hard to figure out what's the right way to feel about escaping someone else's disaster.
I hope Japan opens up to allow international aid groups to assist.
Evidently 8,000 troops are being called out in one area. Unfortunately the mortality count is starting to jump. Again, blessings and condolences to those who have lost family.
Hope people pull together in this epic tragedy! Sending the good vibes to our Japanese brothers and sisters. The devestation is unbelievable! The oil refinery explosion looked like a bomb had been dropped. That fireball must've been more than a thousand feet high! Does anyone know how that whirlpool formed? I think the most hair-raising scenes were people in cars driving along with a tidal wave of detritus coming in at an angle with no where else to go! Just think if that sort of disaster happened in your country/state...
The video of the flooded airport is really quite disturbing. Sure, it's no flodded city or villiage, but to see that such large spaces are just drowned is putting these events in a frighting perspective.
I'm Japanese who lives next of Tokyo.
I felt that earthquake. That was insane shock. That was biggest one I felt.
I was at city public hall to setting my miniature show case for local festival.
Tokyo wasnt point of origin.
Now,all train stopped,car traffic is jammed.
I can't phone call to home,friends.
I can't go back home.(Fortunately Im now at friend house)
Point of origin was sea.
Big tsunami washed up the cities.and after that some of those cities are on big fire. and some are snowing. I can't imagine survivor in there.
And not far from there we have atomic generator. and it is smoking. hope not it melt down.
I had friend around there,
can't contact her. I hope she is ok.
anyway that real big earth quake. many people will die.
oh again,even in now,it shaking. damn. I can't sleep tonight.
Sir Motor's right, since the epicenter was out at sea it wasn't as bad as it could have been. I still wish it had never happened; the biggest I felt while living in Saitama was a 7 pointer and it was enough to scare the bejeezus out of me. I still have friends and in-laws over there and my thoughts are with them and everyone else over there, I'm sure tomorrow morning will be full of bad news but I'll hope that I'll be hearing of a miraculously light death/ injury toll.
My wife was able to finally get through to her sister who kept trying and was able to reach her parents (the phone lines are completely jammed). Roll-call complete and everyone is safe, I'm glad to say. Unfortunately, she has some distant relatives in the Sendai area; I hope they all come through ok.
My prays and thoughts are with the people of Japan. Stay safe. I stayed in Nishiwaki a few years ago. Emailed my host family to ask if they are okay. Not expecting a response (He never writes back), but hopefully they are okay.
- 100 people in a ship that was washed away, not seen again.
- The BBC is reporting that as many as 10,000 people may be missing
- The aforementioned 3-400 bodies washed up in Sendai (sp?)
- Several fires at nuclear plants, the cooling system at one large plant has failed. No indication of any radiation leak as yet.
Seriously, chaps. This is one fethed up day for Japan. I just hope it doesn't get any worse in the coming days. The pictures are unbelievable - I've literally never seen anything like it. Some of the footage looks like CGI.
Big love to all Japanese Dakkanauts - keep your fething heads down!
Keep checking in, Motor and krazy and the rest of of you in Japan. We'll welcome the knowledge that you're still okay. We love you guys, please be careful.
Its crazy though, but the first thing I said when i saw the footage in the supermarket was
"Woah working in there would be sweet! You could drink like.. twenty bottles and then just tell the boss they fell off the shelves and smashed!"
My missus said my priorities arent in order, but I was the only guy who had the peace of mind to fill my map pockets with muffins when the Taliban were mortaring the DFAC, so i think its merely a cool head under pressure.
Holy McJebus! That is insane. I can see what people mean when they say it looks like CGI - just unreal.
My missus said my priorities arent in order, but I was the only guy who had the peace of mind to fill my map pockets with muffins when the Taliban were mortaring the DFAC, so i think its merely a cool head under pressure.
You never know when you will need a tactical muffin.
@Nuclear power plant people - designs have moved on (even at the time of Chernobyl) and even if the absolute worst happened you would not get Chernobyl 2: A Glow from the East.
Mrs Kyoto is back in Japan visiting her parents, she's 800 miles from the quake but I'll still feel better when I hear from her. Apparently the cell net is messed up nationwide.
I don't know about anyone else, but it seems there's much less of a cognitive dissonance with this happening in Japan. Either way, hope things work out.
The worst ones I've seen are the ones with entire houses being pushed by the watr into other houses and so on and so on. It looks like the background for a Fallout game more than anything.
All of my friends in Japan live down south or in Tokyo, but this is still some crazy gak. I just hope that rogue Nuclear Reactor doesn't get any worse.
My dumb of a freind keeps telling me that Tokyo is going to be nuked by that reactor, and that it fell into the ocean. Its not an old Soviet model, so it SHOULD be fine. Its probably off, but if anyone knows the condition of that reactor and can provide links it would be great.
Happygrunt wrote:My dumb of a freind keeps telling me that Tokyo is going to be nuked by that reactor, and that it fell into the ocean. Its not an old Soviet model, so it SHOULD be fine. Its probably off, but if anyone knows the condition of that reactor and can provide links it would be great.
The plant is totally fine. The issue is that it the plant had to be shut down and didn't have power to operate the coolant system. There is a backup system in place (diesel generators), but they were damaged in the earthquake. However, there are backups to the backups, so things are under control.
It will require the main coolant system to come back online sometime soon, but that isn't a problem. There's several plans under way to get the main coolant running again.
Plus, God forbid, even if things do go terribly, it's very well contained. Worst case scenario is more Three Mile Island than Chernobyl.
No one was ever in any real danger, evacuations and the warnings were all just being extra safe.
The media is blowing things out of proportion since nuclear reactors are scary.
To the real devastation in Japan: My hearts go out to all of you. I wish I had more eloquent words, but I can't find them. Just know that the world is with you.
Offering my sympathy and hope does not seem enough in times like these. I think I speak for many when I say I wish there was something I could do to help those in need, but I'm afraid that offering my condolences is the best I can do for now. My heart goes out to all of those effected.
This is truly a sobering thing to see. I'm going to smack my friend in the head next week from laughing at the video of the wave going over the farmland and into the traffic
Hopefully a good amount of those missing are still living, my sympathy shall be with them.
That's horrible, Kilkrazy. Reports of incidents like that train are going to be coming in for weeks, I imagine, as people finally figure out what happened to their family and friends.
Also, SPREADING THE NEWS: From AlJazeeraEnglish: 8:52am US citizens in Japan are being urged to let officials know their whereabouts, by emailing JapanEmergencyUSC at state.gov
ChiliPowderKeg wrote:This is truly a sobering thing to see. I'm going to smack my friend in the head next week from laughing at the video of the wave going over the farmland and into the traffic
To have to confront the idea of death from nature coming with such fury at an unknown hour... a humbling thought after watching video's of the wave. My sympathies and prayers for those affected.
Kilkrazy wrote:The damage is starting to look much worse as dawn breaks.
Five nuclear reactors are in difficulty.
300 bodies discovered so far in only one ward of Sendai.
Two trains, and a ship with 100 people on board, were washed away.
There is a 10 car Shinkansen (bullet train) that has vanished.
Some of the video here in Japan is out-of-this world. There was a shot of railroad tracks suspended like a telephone wire as the ground beneath had been swept away in a land slide. Now the footage on TV, on all channels, is people either freaking out or it total shock. Where I live nothing has happened, but it is a really quiet day. I think everyone is at home watching the News.
There have been tremors all day. and some big one particularly out in Nagano.
Now they are writing "water" in japanese on the roofs in the buildings where people are trapped. Crazy.
I hope the destruction and loss of life is not as large as it seems to be.
For a Chernobyl like disaster to occur at the Fukushima nuclear plants effected, would need to be of Generation One Nuclear plant types. In addition they'd need to be staffed with a skeleton crew, and all of them untrained workers from a local coal mine. In addition to THAT they'd have to be performing an incredibly stupid test to see if the turbines when shut off, would turn back on due to the momentum of the coolant through the coolant system. Almost every single Nuclear reactor in any modern nations is going to be a Generation Three nuclear reactor. I really wish news outlets would do their job and report facts instead of fear and sensationalism.
Over 500 missing, I also hope that most of them are found alive or even injured.
Hopefully our crews over there are already airlifting the injured and bringing supplies into the city. There will probably be more aid on the way like a hospital ship or just a massive amount of supplies.
Sir Motor wrote:Now I'm at home.
my family,my house(my miniature) is fine.
and now I contacted my friend she is ok.
Nuke plant is damaged it seems....well it isn't not much far from Tokyo. i hope not becoming Chernobyl.
anyway I'm ok now. Thx for kind reply.
And for dakkies in japan. stay safe.
Good luck man, I have a feeling your going to need it for a bit. I hope everyone over there makes it out ok.
Did you guys hear what some news station said (I didn't hear this personally, my parents did); Some big economy specialist said that this earthquake is a good thing, because it will lower our oil prices for a while (That's what I heard, could be wrong though).
Nevermind that a densely populated country is now drenched in seawater, but hey, at least our oil prices go down
I'll ask who it was/what station it was tomorrow morning, my parents went to bed already.
My prayers and hopes go out to the people of Japan, and all our dakkaites , please stay safe, and if there is anyway we can help post it here, I have already sent a email to our base commander and volunteered for any relief detail that our base may send.
If anyone wants to move to Minneapolis, one of the most geologically stable places on Earth, thousands of miles from the the sea.... I will help you move in. Seriously, just provide Pizza and Beer, and I gotchya. But aside from that, best wishes.
Fafnir wrote:Aren't they designed to move like that though? I mean, doesn't that stop them from actually falling?
Yes, that's right.
I would still hate to be on the 40th floor, though.
I dunno. I mean, it'd be terrifying as all hell, and worrying about what's happening to your loved ones would kind of suck, but it would feel pretty cool up there.
I've been following this story all day, and as soon as I woke up. I found the reporting on the nuclear site to be fascinating. Here has been the chain of it, as I have followed:
The plant lost power, but the cooling is fine
The cooling's not find, but the USAF is ferrying coolant so no problem.
The coolant isn't working, and we might have to vent, but no radioactivity will be released in the venting.
We had to vent, but a tiny piece of radioactivity was released in the venting. It's under control.
We had to vent, and some radioactivity was released in the venting. It's under control.
The venting prevented a meltdown. It won't have a meltdown.
And, as of 5 minutes ago on MSNBC: explosions heard at the plant. But it won't be another Chernobyl, any meltdown won't cause a problem outside of a 6 mile radius.
The accuracy of the first six things that were announced have drastically reduced my faith in the accuracy of the seventh. I hope it can be contained. What a tragedy.
Fafnir wrote:Aren't they designed to move like that though? I mean, doesn't that stop them from actually falling?
Yes, that's right.
I would still hate to be on the 40th floor, though.
I dunno. I mean, it'd be terrifying as all hell, and worrying about what's happening to your loved ones would kind of suck, but it would feel pretty cool up there.
I'm not so sure - there was a dude on the news saying that he was seasick from his building swaying all day... I wouldn't fancy that at all.
Fafnir wrote:All day? Holy feth, that would be terrible.
There have been 30+ aftershocks over 5 magnitude. So yes.
re: The reactor. I'm pretty sure that a Chernobyl style meltdown is an impossibility. I'm not nuclear scientist (and I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn last night.) but I have faith that they've got this (mostly) under control.
That said. This event was somewhere around the 7th strongest Earthquake in recorded history. "Built for it" or not, this is the "Nightmare Scenario".
Fafnir wrote:Aren't they designed to move like that though? I mean, doesn't that stop them from actually falling?
Yes, that's right.
I would still hate to be on the 40th floor, though.
The larger part of my degree was in vibration engineering, so even though I was focused on aeroplanes, I did lots of reading of Japanese research papers on vibration as they are world leaders in the field. It is unbelievable how much research has gone into making skyscrapers earthquake proof, and some of it is completely counterintuitive. For example, putting huge weights in the TOP of buildings in order to raise their centre of mass and make them sway like that, instead of shaking.
Best of all is when this incorporates a damping load, that can move independently of the building to absorb energy from the vibrations and dissipate it as heat. Very clever, but it stops the buildings swaying like that, so it doesn't look as cool from the outside. Still, given the choice, if I was in one of those buildings, I could cope without the swaying.
what really disturbed me on this vid is the clouds of dirt and dust in the air while the skyscaper moves...this cant be good... i expect major repairs to follow throughout even the supposedly undamaged buildings in the area...this will be a truly gigantic effort for japan...
we will see if this will scar japan even more...
Fafnir wrote:All day? Holy feth, that would be terrible.
There have been 30+ aftershocks over 5 magnitude. So yes.
re: The reactor. I'm pretty sure that a Chernobyl style meltdown is an impossibility. I'm not nuclear scientist (and I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn last night.) but I have faith that they've got this (mostly) under control.
That said. This event was somewhere around the 7th strongest Earthquake in recorded history. "Built for it" or not, this is the "Nightmare Scenario".
Funnily enough, I've been teaching my A-Level students about nuclear reactor safety over the past few days. I was going to move onto something else on Monday, but now I thnk I'll be doing a lesson on this reactor in Japan.
The safety features they have there mean that a disaster such as the one that occurred at Chernobyl should be impossible, but I am worried about some of what I have read in the newspapers with regards to multiple-system failures. Even if the worst-case scenario happens in this case though, it should be nowhere near the scale of Chernobyl. Essentially, the reactors used in Japan won't keep working without constant intervention - they essentially shut themselves down if you leave them alone. There may be some leakage and contamination, but there theoretically cannot be an explosion, even if there is a meltdown.
Heh, as I type that there should be no explosion, I flip to BBC News for a second and see that one has actually happened. I expect that is an explosion in secondary systems, not in a primary system such as the reactor core itself. Here's hoping. *bites nails*
A country the size of Japan really can't cope with anything on the scale of what happened to Prypiat, where an entire city was abandoned...
Automatically Appended Next Post: Very worryingly, Japanese news is reporting that although, as I expected, this was a secondary system explosion, not the core itself, it has taken off the exterior shell of the containment building. Hopefully, the actual structural parts of the buidling that do the containment are still intact. :(
One of the guys on the bbc this morning was saying that it could be water touching the fuel rods , which are stupidly hot , the heat causes the water to split into it component elements,it then recombines with a very loud and scary seeming explosion but actually doesn't do a whole lot on the fire and heat side of things.
Not saying that this is what this is but it could be.
But regardless do hope that is a secondary failure or the water as i said above because something on that scale would massively damage japan on every level.
Nuclear reactors can't explode like a nuclear bomb, however an explosion caused by something like the water/fuel rod scenario can damage the containment, allowing nuclear material to be exposed and thrown out like shrapnel.
Yea, I woke up to a phone call about what happened yesterday. That really sucks for Japan, Im just glad Im not the guy that has to figure out where/how to go from here. Im definitely praying for everyone over there.
"Government officials said that the explosion, caused by a build-up of pressure in the reactor after the cooling system failed, destroyed the concrete structure surrounding the reactor but did not collapse the critical steel container inside. They said that raised the chances that they could prevent the release of large amounts of radioactive material and could avoid a core meltdown at the plant. "
As much as my heart goes out to japan and dakkanauts living there I really am in awe of the destruction caused by the quake and tsunami.
As for the reactor, I'm pretty sure it's going to blow at some point and I hope the government realise this and get as many people out of the surrounding area as possible instead of trying to stop it.
corpsesarefun wrote:As much as my heart goes out to japan and dakkanauts living there I really am in awe of the destruction caused by the quake and tsunami.
As for the reactor, I'm pretty sure it's going to blow at some point and I hope the government realise this and get as many people out of the surrounding area as possible instead of trying to stop it.
I very much agree with the first sentence.
But they should save the people and try to stop it.
corpsesarefun wrote:As much as my heart goes out to japan and dakkanauts living there I really am in awe of the destruction caused by the quake and tsunami.
As for the reactor, I'm pretty sure it's going to blow at some point and I hope the government realise this and get as many people out of the surrounding area as possible instead of trying to stop it.
They evacuated something like 2500 people in a 2km vicinity yesterday, which is their 'worst case' scenario for that style of reactor, etc.
corpsesarefun wrote:As much as my heart goes out to japan and dakkanauts living there I really am in awe of the destruction caused by the quake and tsunami.
As for the reactor, I'm pretty sure it's going to blow at some point and I hope the government realise this and get as many people out of the surrounding area as possible instead of trying to stop it.
They evacuated something like 2500 people in a 2km vicinity yesterday, which is their 'worst case' scenario for that style of reactor, etc.
Why can't people understand that real nuclear plants and the ones in movies and fake news are different? This is merely just spreading hysteria based on ignorance.
Also, japan was hit by a most a 7, not an 8.9 earthquake, that was the strength out in the ocean. The majority of japan was hit by 5's, 4's with some 6's closer to the origin.
They deal with 5's all the time, and in any other nation not as prepared against earthquakes like japan is, this would have basically knocked them back into the stone age.
juraigamer wrote:Why can't people understand that real nuclear plants and the ones in movies and fake news are different? This is merely just spreading hysteria based on ignorance.
Also, japan was hit by a most a 7, not an 8.9 earthquake, that was the strength out in the ocean. The majority of japan was hit by 5's, 4's with some 6's closer to the origin.
They deal with 5's all the time, and in any other nation not as prepared against earthquakes like japan is, this would have basically knocked them back into the stone age.
Yup, a reactor melting down and filling the air with nuclear material is totally safe and you don't need to quote any sources for anything you say.
juraigamer wrote:Why can't people understand that real nuclear plants and the ones in movies and fake news are different? This is merely just spreading hysteria based on ignorance.
Also, japan was hit by a most a 7, not an 8.9 earthquake, that was the strength out in the ocean. The majority of japan was hit by 5's, 4's with some 6's closer to the origin.
They deal with 5's all the time, and in any other nation not as prepared against earthquakes like japan is, this would have basically knocked them back into the stone age.
Earthquake (even at 5) + tsunamis + potential nuclear plant problems = national catastrophe.
This isn't about hyping up news to hystrerical breaking point.
It is about the lives of a lot of people.
The infrastructure on the Pacific Coast may not have been knocked backed to the stone age, but it sure ain't gonna be healthy 21st Century right now.
juraigamer wrote:Why can't people understand that real nuclear plants and the ones in movies and fake news are different? This is merely just spreading hysteria based on ignorance.
Also, japan was hit by a most a 7, not an 8.9 earthquake, that was the strength out in the ocean. The majority of japan was hit by 5's, 4's with some 6's closer to the origin.
They deal with 5's all the time, and in any other nation not as prepared against earthquakes like japan is, this would have basically knocked them back into the stone age.
Yup, a reactor melting down and filling the air with nuclear material is totally safe and you don't need to quote any sources for anything you say.
Seems like the folks at TEPCO are being thrown curveball after curveball. While I agree with the first part, which was expressed in my original post explaining the archaicness of the Chernobyl reactor and why the accident happened there. Many of you happen to be latching on to the fear that the news really is impregnating this situation with. Yes, it is deadly serious, but there are CERTAIN EVENTS WHICH MUST happen first for a meltdown/partial meltdown to occur. I don't agree with the earthquake comment.
Everyone do yourselves a favor and read up on nuclear accidents on wikipedia. That should give a much better understanding imo.
I hope TEPCO is able to get some manner of cooling into the reactor.
Monster Rain wrote:I'm really just worried sick about Japan right now.
This seems like it's getting worse and worse.
Well, the AP is out saying that the radiation levels near the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant are now dropping, so that is a little bit of good news, at least. Probably due to the decay of radioactive gases with short half-lives, I would imagine.
You know that feeling you get, when you're so disgusted at people that you feel the bile rising in your belly and the rage filling the back of your head? Yeah...
Holy feth. America is full of idiots. It disgusts me that all those people can vote. Pearl Harbor was a necessity. We struck back, bombed the country, TOOK THEIR MILITARY, and we called it even. I love how people are saying that God did this for America. Yah, I am really ashamed to live in the same country as these ignorant feths right now.
As a staunch proponent of the American way, those people are utter filth. I am disgusted to count them among my, I would assume, nationality and can assure anyone who would think otherwise that most Americans, and I'd say most humans, are extremly concerned with the folk in Japan and would love to help in anyway possible.
You'd think people would drop the Pearl Harbor thing, If we're doing the whole vengeance thing I think Nagasaki and Hiroshima were more than payback for that. Insults to injury is not cool.
On the other hand it proves Americans are capable of remembering a historical event eh?
to be fair Pearl was the start for the US as far as actually getting a war declaration and military action under the US flag and not supplies and fighter pilots to Britain and China. Unless I've gone brain dead and forgotten something stupidly obvious.
Luco wrote:to be fair Pearl was the start for the US as far as actually getting a war declaration and military action under the US flag and not supplies and fighter pilots to Britain and China. Unless I've gone brain dead and forgotten something stupidly obvious.
Luco wrote:to be fair Pearl was the start for the US as far as actually getting a war declaration and military action under the US flag and not supplies and fighter pilots to Britain and China. Unless I've gone brain dead and forgotten something stupidly obvious.
Damn. I've been watching it, and its absolutely horrible. The Pearl Harbor people are just f--king jack rabbits. I am ashamed for America, even when I am not a Citizen, This country doesn't even care for other places, the citizens that is. My friends also say this isn't as bad as Katrina, I highly doubt that. And also there is enough problems F__K YOU NATURE, first Brisbane, Then Christ Church! The navy i hope sends a fleet from pearl harbor with their hospital ships. Ever since the US is suppose to have a few military bases there.
Luco wrote:to be fair Pearl was the start for the US as far as actually getting a war declaration and military action under the US flag and not supplies and fighter pilots to Britain and China. Unless I've gone brain dead and forgotten something stupidly obvious.
That is true however it was not the start of WW2.
Back on topic, I suggest everyone ignores those unpleasant people. There is nothing to be done about them.
Ketara's Friends Housemate: 'What happened to Japan was God.'
Ketara's Friend: 'Why would he do that to all those people?'
Ketara's Friends Housemate: 'Because of Sin'.
Ketara's reaction upon hearing this: 'ZOMG! They totally saw it coming! O_O'
Sorry, but what exactly are you expecting from networks that mostly have automated programming, little to no human interaction, etc?
What do you mean Kanluwen? Are you insulting G4? Because you can't really make fun of it, for that. Your thinking of Comedy central's Tosh.0
I'm saying you're putting far too much praise on a flippin' TV network man. Just because they put up a blog post saying "how you can help" doesn't mean that they should be lauded as "even a channel like them, that they care(more than most american shows)".
Which actually brings me to another thing. "Most American shows" are filmed months in advance--and even then, most don't film on Fridays, Saturdays, or Sundays.
Anything which has a "live" segment on Friday, every channel I turned to was talking about how you can donate to the Red Cross or showing the live feeds from NHK.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Kilkrazy wrote:Guys, members of the forum who are in Japan, or have relatives in Japan, really would prefer you to stick to the topic.
Sorry. That was just something prickling at me.
But Soladrin's right about now being a good time for Twitter. It's been interesting seeing the live updates regarding the Fukushima reactor.
Fafnir wrote:You know that feeling you get, when you're so disgusted at people that you feel the bile rising in your belly and the rage filling the back of your head? Yeah...
I'm sure the above people will learn their lesson of compassion for those struck down by nature when LA falls into the ocean and every non-American troll hops on to Facebook to write "haha eat a knob USA. Payback for [BEEF WITH THE U S AND A HERE]. Karma. lol."
Yesterday, they were out over the ocean near my place scooping bodies out of the ocean. Everyone in Japan is pitching in. There are no stories of looting or crime. These people know how to work together.
Kilkrazy wrote:Guys, members of the forum who are in Japan, or have relatives in Japan, really would prefer you to stick to the topic.
I understand that, Kilkrazy, my prayers are for japan.
But Kanulwen sometimes you assertions are not needed on things that ARE UNRELATED to the topic. But that was related, I posted a place that also is supporting japan. So your spite is not really needed in this matter. So please just leave it alone. There are millions of people suffering in japan alone, and untold millions more across the pacific world. So instead of insulting tv, donate some money to the red cross so we can help the people in japan. Last thing we need to do is to add more to the problem.
Fafnir wrote:You know that feeling you get, when you're so disgusted at people that you feel the bile rising in your belly and the rage filling the back of your head? Yeah...
I'm sure the above people will learn their lesson of compassion for those struck down by nature when LA falls into the ocean and every non-American troll hops on to Facebook to write "haha eat a knob USA. Payback for [BEEF WITH THE U S AND A HERE]. Karma. lol."
Yesterday, they were out over the ocean near my place scooping bodies out of the ocean. Everyone in Japan is pitching in. There are no stories of looting or crime. These people know how to work together.
These people really disgust me.
And I have to say though, if any country can pull themselves out of this gak, it's japan, I've never heard of this big a disaster being so well organized within a day.
True, look how things were in New Orleans after Katrina, even the cops were looting stores, folks were still trapped and little was being done by 24hrs.
shasolenzabi wrote:True, look how things were in New Orleans after Katrina, even the cops were looting stores, folks were still trapped and little was being done by 24hrs.
New Orleans was a gakhole though. They had one of the highest rates of corruption in their police forces, nepotism all over the place, etc.
Soladrin wrote:These people really disgust me.
And I have to say though, if any country can pull themselves out of this gak, it's japan, I've never heard of this big a disaster being so well organized within a day.
Definitely. The one thing to take solace from, however, is that most of the people posting those sentiments are morons and will be bagging groceries/serving drinks/waiting tables for most of their lives.
The people posting the Pearl Harbor comments fill me with shame. Every country has done things they aren't proud of, and in this case it was long before the majority of these people were even born. Japan was "paid back" for that already - hard - and it's sad to see those sentiments haven't died out a lifetime ago.
When I first read about this, I couldn't even conceive it would go so poorly as this. The mind boggles. My heart is with all the people of Japan.
Ouze wrote:The people posting the Pearl Harbor comments fill me with shame. Every country has done things they aren't proud of, and in this case it was long before the majority of these people were even born. Japan was "paid back" for that already - hard - and it's sad to see those sentiments haven't died out a lifetime ago.
When I first read about this, I couldn't even conceive it would go so poorly as this. The mind boggles. My heart is with all the people of Japan.
I was astonished that they found time between chewing at their toenails and checking out celebrity/sports gossip to actual write something on their Facebook accounts. opinions are like a$$holes: everyone's got one.
People today are still kind of in shock. The beach is deserted except for the odd cop who wants to know what Iron Hippy foreigners are doing pouring cans of beer into the sea. It was a libation to the souls of the dead. At least their troubles are over. There is no bread in any of the Supermarkets in town and I reckon it's gonna be that way for the next week or so. The nuclear plant is on everyone's mind as that will affect all of us directly. At the shinto shrine, people were praying for the dead and the gods to show mercy on the living. Humbling experience to say the least.
My main source of visual entertainment is anime.
There is always some district of a Japanese city bashed to bits by something or someone and I wonder who patches it all up again so quickly.
Even around here,Gasoline is out of stock.
At market,No bread. May be some rice is there. We got plenty of these.
And Gas & Electricity will be out in few days.
After shock & Loss of Atomic plant caused these.
Even not in disaster area,we will need supply.
Glad we have american friends. Carrier coming.
Chibi Bodge-Battle wrote:What are the communications like?
Assume the roads and airports are badly affected in the disaster areas?
Disaster areas and those neighbor's communications are bad.
Airport shut,Train is not working it seems.
how are the trains in Tokyo? Can people get around? Can they get to the airport?
On the plus side, refuting the Facebook morons (BTW I would just love to show them Chinese internet comments from September 11th, being an ass on the internet is far from an exclusively American flaw) - a search and rescue team from Arlington VA just left for Japan, along wtih teams from California. People flying halfway around the world to risk their lives helping people they've never met.
There's hope for us all.
Automatically Appended Next Post: The food issue is worrying me.
Houses and shops in japan are TINY. They have literally no storage. When people say they have no food and the shops have no food I believe them. And with transportation in shambles across the north this is a very real danger.
I remember my 'earthquake kit' from when I was in Japan, I had 2 bottles of water and some packs of ramen.
Good to see the fleet going to help. I think this has been my primary source for info, anything with a comment section is unbearable to see. Its like a train wreck, I know what's going to be there but I look anyway.
Good to see there is plenty of rice in Sir Motor's area, food is certainly an issue, though I'm concerned about if there is drinking water still. I know the moment a hurricane is charted to hit, the stores have a hard time keeping it in stock, I do hope they have access to it, the last thing Japan needs is a wave of dysentery or the like... (I have no idea how such an event would affect public water systems or what kind of systems they have in Japan, I just know here it goes quick and we're told not to drink the tap.)
Chibi Bodge-Battle wrote:What are the communications like?
Assume the roads and airports are badly affected in the disaster areas?
Disaster areas and those neighbor's communications are bad.
Airport shut,Train is not working it seems.
how are the trains in Tokyo? Can people get around? Can they get to the airport?
On the plus side, refuting the Facebook morons (BTW I would just love to show them Chinese internet comments from September 11th, being an ass on the internet is far from an exclusively American flaw) - a search and rescue team from Arlington VA just left for Japan, along wtih teams from California. People flying halfway around the world to risk their lives helping people they've never met.
There's hope for us all.
Automatically Appended Next Post: The food issue is worrying me.
Houses and shops in japan are TINY. They have literally no storage. When people say they have no food and the shops have no food I believe them. And with transportation in shambles across the north this is a very real danger.
I remember my 'earthquake kit' from when I was in Japan, I had 2 bottles of water and some packs of ramen.
God I was dumb.
My Earthquake kit is a compass, two bottles of water, a flashlight, 6 cans of beer, a radio and half a pack of smokes.
There was no bread at the supermarket today. All the other essentials (alcohol and tobacco) were there. However, I live in Bag End, Hobbiton, Japan and there are farms everywhere, so there is no shortage of food here. The highways and trains are intermittent. The trains in Tokyo didn't start going until after 9 am Saturday. The train around here just started up again on Sunday morning. Parts of the highway, especially in Ichihara, Chiba which had the gasplant fire, are still closed. The Aqualine was closed last I heard, but the Ferry from Kanaya Chiba to Kurihama was going OK. The Tsunami warnings are all done with now. A lot of resources will be re-directed to Tohoku for sure. I will gladly eat cabbage and eggs for the next 3 months if it means the orphans will get some half decent food. Water and Sanitation is becoming an issue. Rotting wood, food and corpses aren't helping. Gas prices are going up too. I bought gas yesterday at 143 yen /litre. That's like what? $6.40 a gallon? But it was hovering around 140 before Friday.
AesSedai wrote:Khornholio, where are you living?
Bag End, Hobbiton, Japan--> or Kamogawa, Chiba, Japan. Where you can watch the whale at Sea World and then eat it in the cafeteria.
Happygrunt wrote:The Regen is already there, and the George Washington has been in maintenance in the area. Looks like a good chunk of the pacific fleet will be there.
We should be sending some supplies as well. Hopefully they'll send some potable water tablets or filters along with MREs. Just hope that the fleet gets there in time to help the majority of the people.
And of course hope the reactor gets contained. If it has a major meltdown the fallout could actually reach California.
Those facebook people make me wonder, do they know that we vowed to protect Japan after the war? Seriously Japan's like our little buddy in the Pacific and we got their back in these situations.
Hospital ships may not get to Japan in time for major relief efforts because they seem to be stationed in the Atlantic, although a trip through the Panama Canal can help. Our helis should be dropping food and lifting people soon with cargo planes air dropping supplies hopefully.
Our house is in Kanagawa prefecture same as Sir Motor. It’s the southwest side of Tokyo, opposite the earthquake epicentre, and the shock strength was down to five (serious) and they didn’t have any damage in the area.
There are still noticeable aftershocks about one an hour.
The government has issued a warning that another serious quake may occur in the next few days. This is quite scary as Japanese seismologists are the best in the world.
Trains are running, however my daughter’s school has decide to close for tomorrow. Most people will try to carry on as normal. Obviously the real disaster and focus of relief efforts is the northeast region.
Kilkrazy wrote:I’ve been speaking to my wife again.
Our house is in Kanagawa prefecture same as Sir Motor. It’s the southwest side of Tokyo, opposite the earthquake epicentre, and the shock strength was down to five (serious) and they didn’t have any damage in the area.
There are still noticeable aftershocks about one an hour.
The government has issued a warning that another serious quake may occur in the next few days. This is quite scary as Japanese seismologists are the best in the world.
Trains are running, however my daughter’s school has decide to close for tomorrow. Most people will try to carry on as normal. Obviously the real disaster and focus of relief efforts is the northeast region.
There is panic buying in the supermarkets.
There is also a gasoline shortage. There was no gasoline at any of the stations I took the old lady's car to this evening. They all had notices up that there was no gas.
It is beginning to look like one of the Fukushima reactors has suffered a meltdown, and another one is going to. However the containment has not been breached.
Automatically Appended Next Post: TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) has been forced to plan a programme of rotating power cuts in the area it covers, due to the loss of generation from the Fukushima reactors.
One of my friends from near Tokyo emailed me and said public transport is somewhat back (I think it was mentioned earlier in this thread anyway). Mostly glad he's safe though.
Bag End, Hobbiton, Japan--> or Kamogawa, Chiba, Japan. Where you can watch the whale at Sea World and then eat it in the cafeteria.
Going by your avatar I thought you were in Hazzard Prefecture.
This morning/evening Square/Enix shut down the Final Fantasy XI and XIV servers indefinitely (guessing about a week) to conserve energy for essential services.
Due to the continuous earthquakes occurring in the eastern regions of Japan since Mar. 11, 2011, the power companies in Japan have encouraged everyone to cooperate by conserving as much energy as possible as it is feared there will not be enough power supply. Based on the current situation, we have decided to shut down the game servers temporarily, and therefore to suspend services of FINAL FANTASY XIV, FINAL FANTASY XI, and PlayOnline temporarily.
The services will be temporarily suspended for at least a week starting on Mar. 13, 2011 3:00 (PDT). We will provide an update regarding the reinstatement of the service as additional information becomes available. In connection with the temporary suspension of services, players will not be billed for any PlayOnline service throughout the April billing cycle. Additional information regarding this matter will also be posted as it becomes available.
I saw people arguing about it before they shut the servers down and some really stu[id things were said. Someone was complaining that they never shut down the servers for other natural disasters, such as the tsunami in Indonesia a few years back, so why do it this time. Others were complaining that they were just doing it to keep Japanese players happy becuase the servers are in California (they aren't) so they don't really need to shut them down. Really just a great slice of humanitarianism.
Chibi Bodge-Battle wrote:What is a "brownout" please Sir Motor?
Sorry to be dim but not heard the expression before.
I believe it's a planned power outage.
I hope everything gets sorted out soon in japan, at least they have some forsight in their building designs, otherwise this would have be catastrophic.
Living in vancouver i dont have to worry about tsunami's, but being on the pacific rim a earthquake is always a nightmare, japan reminded me how bad that can be. my wishes to those afected.
I have been emailing my friends in Nishiwaki about this, just got two responses and apparently that part of the country is okay. Not sure if this has already been posted, but at least some people made it out unscathed.
Earthquakes generally can cause volcanoes to erupt or form so I'd say yes. I don't know of any volcanic activity specific to Japan as a result of this particular earthquake however.
Viktor von Domm wrote:just heard it in the news here that there is now also a probability of a volcano outburst??? is that true?
So, Japan, in the course of 1 week, has had several earthquakes, a tsunami, a nuclear meltdown AND volcanoes? When dose it end? If any country can get through this though, its Japan. Stay safe and work hard, people of Japan, the world has your back!
well there are still aliens and metroids to boot i guess...
i think japan will grow to its old strenght... the japanese have it in them to rise again like a phoenix... but it will be hard and not done in a hurry...
corpsesarefun wrote:I am now waiting on news that japan has been hit by an asteroid and a hurricane, after that they have no more natural disasters to go through.
Supestanous Black Holes? Super Volcano? Air raid? Invasion?
Yeah lets hope to god that its a friendly air raid of dropping gummy bears or something. That way they can feed everyone there for years.
Asherian Command wrote:
Supestanous Black Holes? Super Volcano? Air raid? Invasion?
Yeah lets hope to god that its a friendly air raid of dropping gummy bears or something. That way they can feed everyone there for years.
air raid and invasion aren't really natural disasters nor are black holes as such.
corpsesarefun wrote:I am now waiting on news that japan has been hit by an asteroid and a hurricane, after that they have no more natural disasters to go through.
Supestanous Black Holes? Super Volcano? Air raid? Invasion?
Yeah lets hope to god that its a friendly air raid of dropping gummy bears or something. That way they can feed everyone there for years.
air raid and invasion aren't really natural disasters nor are black holes as such.
I know one! Mega super ultra Power____ wait a sec. At least were not making fun of japan but of mother nature. Lets see what has happened since the last time I pissed off mother nature?
*sees news reports in chicago of the worst snow storm in its history.*
Wait I thought of one Snow Storm! Blizzard! Ice Storm! best of hope to japan though.
Asherian Command wrote:
I know one! Mega super ultra Power____ wait a sec. At least were not making fun of japan but of mother nature. Lets see what has happened since the last time I pissed off mother nature?
*sees news reports in chicago of the worst snow storm in its history.*
Wait I thought of one Snow Storm! Blizzard! Ice Storm! best of hope to japan though.
The volcano could cause an extended winter due to the ash clouds, it depends on its size and composition.
corpsesarefun wrote:I am now waiting on news that japan has been hit by an asteroid and a hurricane, after that they have no more natural disasters to go through.
Supestanous Black Holes? Super Volcano? Air raid? Invasion?
Yeah lets hope to god that its a friendly air raid of dropping gummy bears or something. That way they can feed everyone there for years.
air raid and invasion aren't really natural disasters nor are black holes as such.
I know one! Mega super ultra Power____ wait a sec. At least were not making fun of japan but of mother nature. Lets see what has happened since the last time I pissed off mother nature?
*sees news reports in chicago of the worst snow storm in its history.*
Wait I thought of one Snow Storm! Blizzard! Ice Storm! best of hope to japan though.
The volcano could cause an extended winter due to the ash clouds, it depends on its size and composition.
corpsesarefun wrote:I am now waiting on news that japan has been hit by an asteroid and a hurricane, after that they have no more natural disasters to go through.
Supestanous Black Holes? Super Volcano? Air raid? Invasion?
Yeah lets hope to god that its a friendly air raid of dropping gummy bears or something. That way they can feed everyone there for years.
air raid and invasion aren't really natural disasters nor are black holes as such.
I know one! Mega super ultra Power____ wait a sec. At least were not making fun of japan but of mother nature. Lets see what has happened since the last time I pissed off mother nature?
*sees news reports in chicago of the worst snow storm in its history.*
Wait I thought of one Snow Storm! Blizzard! Ice Storm! best of hope to japan though.
The volcano could cause an extended winter due to the ash clouds, it depends on its size and composition.
Hmmm. So no Super Volcanoes?
I don't think there are any in japan, fuji is close to that level of power though...
Hmmm, Fuji is equal in power? Or is just an awesome name to make up for the fact it might actually be a disappointing volcano that has its feelings hurt, in other news japan is getting tons of military people in that sector.
It is 03:11 here in benign South Yorkshire, though we felt an earthquake once, the house shook panes rattled and we thought it was the end of the world as we know it.
Hope you all have a safe evening and the night is not too brown. Take care all.
Disasters happen. Japan has earthquakes and tsunamis all the time, and are well prepared for them. If the double whammy of 8.9 earthquake+Tsunami hit any other country (Including the USA)a lot more people would be dead. If all of that happened in California the aquaduct, roads, and power grid would be out, and along wit the power grid goes internet and cell phone service. If it was a major use city in California like San Diego, LA/OC, or San Fran people the disaster would have been worse, and FEMA would be in charge of the disaster relief.
Natural disasters happen and what happened to Japan is about as bad as it gets, but the reduction in damage by the Japanese people makes the disaster as good as it gets when that type of disaster happens
Earthquake, tsunami, radiation and now a volcano. that's all 4 elements accounted for.
Let's just start calling this the Kobayashi Maru disaster.
as a major Star Trek nerd this made me chuckle for a long time.
I'm trying to project positive thoughts for all of the folks over there. My cousin and her family are living north of Tokyo (thought they were in Okinawa), and are thankfully fine. I really hope all of the people in the northwest get aid asap, they really need it!
every time we sit together for meals we have the radio on and when the news are up even my young kids are quiet and now they can say things like meltdown and earthquake...and they have a very grave expression in their faces....and they are both 5 and 3 years only old...
seems there were again major aftershocks in the last hours acording to our news...
i hope the needed suplies of the reliefteams arrive soon to easy some of the worries of the japanese
A lot of the stuff in the Western media is disaster porn for sure. Especially the volcano story in Kyushu. Some of what I'm getting from the outside seems to be rather dubious in some instances. Like the Japanese expert live in Studio in Beijing with a horrible Chinese-Japanese accent, etc.
Some good news though, they found a 4 month old girl alive and well in the rumble. There is still some hope out there for survivors. At least the weather hasn't gotten all gakky. But, now there is a run on toilet paper and other essentials.
Khornholio wrote:Some good news though, they found a 4 month old girl alive and well in the rumble. There is still some hope out there for survivors. At least the weather hasn't gotten all gakky. But, now there is a run on toilet paper and other essentials.
From my experiences in Tokyo's public restrooms, there was never any toilet paper in japan.
MY wife reports people are being rather selfish in the supermarkets.
She went out for food, tried three different shops, which were empty.
In the third shop they were baking a new batch of bread. People queued up. As soon as the new batch was put out, the people at the front of the queue took lots of loaves each and most people had to go without.
IMO shops should be rationing essentials so that everyone has a chance. They do it for videogames.
Nuke plant went bad. Real bad.
Radiation sickness happened among citizen,JSDF(Japan Self Defence Force) men,US army men.
JSDF men & US men are working at Nuke Plant. Hope they become OK.
Electricity condition are bad.Plant rolling blackout are going.
And Aftershock,magnitude 6.0 one happend at near Mt.Fuji.
I felt big shock.
The nuclear plants are definitely concerning, I agree. There has definitely been a significant radiation release, which has already been detected in the Tokyo area. In fact, the US Navy's 7th Fleet (the operational command responsible for the US Navy's ships in the Western Pacfic, headquartered in Yokosuka, Japan) has sent out the following press release:
[quote = 7th Fleet Facebook Page]At approximately 0700 local (Japan) time, sensitive instrumentation on USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (CVN 73) pier-side in Yokosuka, detected low levels of radioactivity from the Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Plant. While there is no danger to the public, Commander, Naval Forces Japan is recommending limited precautionary measures for personnel on Fleet Activities Yokosuka and Naval Air Facility Atsugi, including:
A. Limiting outdoor activities.
B. Securing external ventilation systems as much as practical.
These measures are strictly precautionary in nature. We do not expect that any United States Federal radiation exposure limits will be exceeded even if no precautionary measures are taken. We are continuing to analyze the situation and will update you as we learn more.
Please "Like" U.S. 7th Fleet to ensure you receive future updates in your news feed
.
(Yes, the 7th Fleet has a Facebook page...American tax dollars at work!).
So, the big question is, just how bad is this? Well, the fact of the matter is that while this incident is serious, it is still not on the same scale as Cherynobl, nor is it likely to become so based on the design of these plants. The radiation levels outside the exclusion zones are elevated, but not high enough to cause death or illness. This is obviously not true the closer you get to the reactors themselves, however. The most worrying part is that there is no sure way to predict exactly what the final extent of the damage and resulting radiation release will be, especially now that the operators have been evacuated from the site.
In the end, though, I believe the death toll from the earthquake/tsunami will be far greater than any deaths attributable to the radiation released from the stricken nuclear plants; even Cherynobl is estimated to have caused "only" 4,000 deaths.
According to BBC News, workers have been shifted after radiation levels spiked. The metaphorical gak being metaphorically flung by metaphorical monkeys at a metaphorical fan could metaphorically hit at some point.
We just had another 6.0 quake about an hour ago. There was one last night in Shizuoka city (close to Mt.Fuji). Yesterday was pretty quiet on the Earthquake front, but today isn't. If Fuji goes, we're all toast and archeologists will make plaster casts of our last moments a la Pompeii. I'm debating on Devil's horns or middle fingers. Maybe one of each?
there is no price gouging going on and stores are now limiting how much you can buy after the toilet paper fiasco of yesterday. Train service is back, but at 75% ish.
The Power plant...i heard they had stored spent rods on-site. They're going to have to ask the US military for help on this one. Maybe we'll get to see some new tech.
So far radiation limits where I live are totally normal at 1.5units of whatever it is. All the newbs, tourists and rookies are splitting the country. I'm going on vacation next week to Nepal, so I can wait until then to leave.
Chibi Bodge-Battle wrote:Do both on the same hand which will really baffle the archeologisists
The SHOCKER!
Here food is OK, but in some places the elderly are descending on shops like bicycle riding locusts buying everything they can get their hands on.
Me and the old lady are set for food for at least 6 weeks if it comes to that. There is no shortage of beer in any store that I frequent. Toilet paper was an issue yesterday, but everyhting is fine today.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Except in a power cut, of course.
Automatically Appended Next Post: The latest news from Mrs Kilkrazy is that you have to queue for about 30 minutes outside the supermarket. They only let 10 people in at a time.
Stuff is being rationed but people are still needing two baskets to carry their stuff to the till, so I'm not sure how tight the rationing is. The essentials seem to be available anyway, and the main problem is how to cope with panic buying.
This is in Kanagawa prefecture, southwest of Tokyo. Obviously conditions are far, far worse in places like Sendai which took a direct hit from the tsunami.
I do tech support and my company has a japan office. All out employees are okay and we are doing employee donation that our company is matching. We have been kept really up to date an this entire event.
The fallout should blow out to sea, but that's the kicker. Radiation may not dissipate in water as fast as in the air, that and the jet stream can carry it to California. The best outcome is if nothing happens, but I doubt that is possible now.
I have to say, ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, if fossil fuels are drying up, and this is what we have to look forward to from Nuclear power....maybe we should just go back to burning coal for everything. I prefer smog to nuclear plumes, and with the abundance of coal...seem like a more tolerable "lose/lose situation"
I genuinely hope things get better for you guys as quick as possible. I've overheard some pretty unsympathetic comments at work about the problems in Japan (which bothers me). I think its a shame that 75% of Americans in the southern states make the "we can take care of them, but we cant take care of our own people" comments.
Edit: took out unnecessary "venting" about my coworkers' comments about the situation.
i hope that all you people out in japan are ok as can be exspected mt thorts and prayers go out to you. i am keeping my fingers crossed that the nuke plant dont go in to full meltdown.
Killystar Guldakktica wrote:I have to say, ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, if fossil fuels are drying up, and this is what we have to look forward to from Nuclear power....maybe we should just go back to burning coal for everything. I prefer smog to nuclear plumes, and with the abundance of coal...seem like a more tolerable "lose/lose situation"
What are you smoking? I'm really curious to know, because man, no one could be this stupid without a LOT of help.
Ignorance this extreme deserves at least a couple good sentences of complete excoriation to make sure you never say or think anything like that again, but I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt that you're willing to learn, and not kick you when you're down.
Second, this forty year old nuke plant, that was scheduled for decommissioning anyways, has killed... how many people? And when you tally that up, note how many of those came after it make it through the 4th worst earthquake in recorded history. After which, it was struck by what you could accurately describe as 'the hammer of god,' which beat it up enough it started leaking at the seams.
Third, let's stroll on over to the Nippon oil refinery - but not too close! It's been burning ever since the earthquake. In fact, when the quake hit, what happened? It exploded, with enough force to immediately kill anyone within something like 200 meters. How many people was that? Dunno, it's still on fire, pouring toxic chemicals into the air in a plume visible from space. How many oil, natural gas, or coal disasters have we have had over the last twenty years, and what have their casualty tallies been, vs how many nuclear? I can think of two cities that were nuclear bombed, that are currently completely normal, metropolitan areas. Meanwhile, there's a ghost town in Pennsylvania situated above a coal mine fire that's been burning since 1962, and that's just in the US...
Fourth. let's look at the release of radioactive materials (unfortunately, this is where people are going to want sources sited, so links are going to have to follow as I research them). Although there are only trace amounts of radioactive elements in any given volume of coal, over the course of a year, so much of it is burned that a coal plant produce 15 times more radioactive waste than the same output nuclear plant. Worse, unlike the nuclear plant which produces solid waste, in a coal plant, it's burned, the nuclear waste released as ash and smoke.
Engineers have managed to lay a 1km power cable to Fukushima's reactor 2 in plans to restart the coolant pumps and start the process of properly cooling the the current rods and the spent ones.
I really hope the coolant pumps and pipes are in good enough shape to get the situation under control.
If this does work, the engineers still have to work out a plan for long term settlement of the reactors, since some of them have breached containment vessels.
of a freind keeps telling me that Tokyo is going to be nuked by that reactor, and that it fell into the ocean. Its not an old Soviet model, so it SHOULD be fine. Its probably off, but if anyone knows the condition of that reactor and can provide links it would be great.
