Japan Earthquake and Tsunami

[ST1]

Thank you for all your concern.

Here is a situation in Tokyo.

-Railway and subway is partly suspended. But mostly operational with some delay in the central part of Tokyo.

-Highway is partly closed. But mostly operational.

-In a town where I live, which is very close to downtown Tokyo, we've had some minor cracks in buildings and roads.

-Since people are stocking up supply, we have shortage of foods, drinks, and so on. But nothing serious I think. It is purely psychological. Stores are already receiving supply.

-It is almost impossible to get gas. Seems like no station is receiving supply.

-We still have some earthquakes. TV says that there is 70% possibility that we have another big one in the next three days and 50% in the following three days.

And my Evora is perfectly fine, but she is in desperate needs of fuel.

It took me almost eight hours to get home from one of my client last Friday. ( usually takes just an hour ) The first thing I did was to check if my Evora is all right.

Since I live rather close to Tokyo bay, I was a bit nervous.

[R33S GT]

Seeing the terrifying footage on TV here brings back some vivid memories of the 1985 Mexico quake which I was in, though the destruction left by the tsunami is just on an entirely different level.

I watched through the morning on sky news, and yes I did think the reporting was very sensationalist, publishing exact number of the dead but constantly reminding us that this number is set to rise. I didn't really pay attention online but can imagine that twitter, facebook and forums probably played events out in a far more dramatic way too. However as long as you take what you hear/read with a pinch of salt, which I am sure most people do, you have to admit that this sort of media and instant live reporting is good. The world knew instantly about this, individuals using twitter and google to inform loved ones of their location or that they are ok. If you compare this to Mexico 1985, there was a national media ban for 2 days where nothing official was reported. Our family in the UK knew we were in the heart of the city but didn't hear from us for a couple of days either.

[Kimbers]

They now say that the earthquake was a 9 rather than an 8.9. Doesn't sound like alot, but using the scale properly it means it was twice as powerful as they thought at 8.9

The seizmologist who was interviewed stated that it was so powerful it acually changed the worlds axis. Heres just one of the interviews, but Wow!

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/asia/Japans-Earthquake-Alters-Coast-Line-Changes-Earths-Axis-117857349.html

ST1. Good to hear you are ok and send all of our best wishes to your whole country.

[ramjet]

Well channel 7 here in Australia did it again. An expert on the news saying that this event could not be like Chernobyl at all due to design etc. And then the journo that runs the after news show saying Japan in crisis as nuclear power stations meltdown!

I don't know why I watch the news. Maybe I'm hoping that just one journo will think before being totally alarmist.

Depressing.

Good to hear you are ok ST1 and as Kimbers said our thoughts are with your country.

[ramjet]

And the good news story. A 60 year old man was rescued from the remains of the roof of his house after being adrift in the ocean for 2 days. 15km off the coast of Japan!

[Bibs]

http://video.l3.fbcdn.net/cfs-l3-snc6/81489/34/1605260179420_2624.mp4?oh=ac31b4d8738221641ba490396dc19636&oe=4D7F9F00&l3s=20110313100648&l3e=20110315101648&lh=0a6cfa5eeaecd6dc12abf

Terrifying.

[ramjet]

The word 'incomprehensible' springs to mind.

The ocean came onto the mainland 6km in places. That is not something I can even imagine.

[MPx]

I too hate the sensationalist reporting - and the constant attempts to make everything the worst it could possibly be. There appears nowhere left that sticks to factual reporting. I was interested to read the blog from the MIT prof cos it seemed calm and rational - tho he was saying how it would be, not knowing the actual facts. The issue for me with such articles is he's dealing with stuff that I know virtually nothing about and where I have even less experience. It was all going well until the following section.

Within the 8 hours, another power source had to be found and connected to the power plant. The power grid was down due to the earthquake. The diesel generators were destroyed by the tsunami. So mobile diesel generators were trucked in.

This is where things started to go seriously wrong. The external power generators could not be connected to the power plant (the plugs did not fit). So after the batteries ran out, the residual heat could not be carried away any more.

When you dont know about something its easy to believe what you're told - be they sensational disaster stories, or downplayed sensorship. But come on, we do know about basic power. Most large businesses have a disaster recovery plan that probably has in it, for some types of emergency, the arrival of generators on the back of a lorry. Part of the signoff of such plans is running a test - I've had to sign off on such things myself. They'd have spotted that the plug didn't fit ! But lets say they didn't spot it beforehand. In a situation of national security with lives at stake, they couldn't find an electrician to cut the plugs and sockets off each side and join the wires together. This could be a euphamism for the generators could only supply at the wrong voltage or were insufficiently rated for startup loads or something.....but not the right plugs. Please! Trouble is when you spot something not very credible - it inevitably downgrades all of the other info you were previously buying into.

[Bazza 907]

Agree with all the comments about only talking when you're in possession of all the facts but sometimes people are asked to give comment simply based on their experience/background andthe little information that is available.

We shouldn't forget that it's a human tragedy.

[Kimbers]

I can't open that link Bibs.

It does sound like the power plant is getting more serious now. With Fuel rods exposed it makes it extremely difficult to keep the temperature down. And they've asked for the help of the IAEA.

However chance of a meltdown is still very small.

The more I hear the more I feel terrible for the Japanese people. They don't have an exact figure on missing people but they just said that one town alone has 10,000 people missing. I hope they have just fled.

[Advantage]

I can't open that link Bibs.

Have a Youtube thingy instead:

Terrifying and awe inspiring in one.

[IanQ]

Watching the Youtube thingy was terrifying even at 12000 miles away. You cannot imagine what it must have felt like being there at the time. Reminds us we are just tenants on this planet....

Edited March 14, 2011 by IanQ

[comem47]

I cannot begin to comprehend the enormity of this. This is just the view of one town.(bad enough) Imagine the trillions of gallons of seawater destruction across the whole country !!! It will be hard to mobilize relief considering how widespread it is. (and I thought the US recession was bad...gives a new perspective)

As for the nuclear power thing: I am not anti nuke, but as pointed out it seems the disaster recovery plan was not thought out very well considering it's in a Tsunami area. (Generators should be on high ground, etc for future planning)

Edited March 14, 2011 by comem47

[wookiecj]

I realised from my (very) basic knowledge of the reactor process that the press were talking complete shite, with a high methane content, when they tried to tell me (with a diagram) that the core generated electricity!

I now have a much clearer idea of how the various containments operate.

Thanks for taking the time to explain it all to us.

I guess that in the future the external power hook-up points will be made to accept virtually every known connector arrangement ( if, in fact that was the actual problem) to ease the restoration of power or that the 'external' generators will be placed inside the outer containment to mitigate against the effect of tsunamis.

On a more human level, it would be easy to say "why not get an electrician to cut lines, remake connections etc?" but hanging around on the off-chance that you were needed may have been the last thing on the minds of people faced with a huge wall of water heading towards them and families in different locations to think about.... if they survived the water and debris onslaught in the first place.

[Kimbers]

Thanks Graham.

Just goes to show, no matter how great we think we are, mother nature is the boss!

[ramjet]

More tsunami vision

I just watched this and was amazed at bout 1:00 on. The water just does not stop and then it goes back on itself and just keeps on destroying things. Truly one of the scariest things I have seen.

[comem47]

The really sad part is how some people wait until the last second to leave their home and climb the hill (view of coming wave out behind the homes is obscured by them)I saw at least few people were caught and hope they were rescued

Edited March 15, 2011 by comem47

[molemot]

I have never seen anything quite so inexorable......the way the water just keeps on coming...and rising....and destroying. Intellectually, I have always appreciated the possibilities of a proper tsunami....but the reality is visceral. And terrifying. Desperate..... as for the plugs on the generators, I would have thought anyone involved with trying to make a nuclear power station safe would be able to connect a couple of wires, even without the proper connectors...so it probably isn't that simple. Might be a complicated set of connections needing to be connected in accordance with a particular procedure....

You just can't do anything once nature takes charge, can you?

[rogerch]

How do you provide emergency fresh water, food, shelter and sanitation on that scale ? No electricity, satellite communication only, it's a desperate situation. The magnitude is just incomprehensible.

[The Veg]

I too keep thinking of the human side. I vacationed in Japan in December 2007 and while my visit was limited to areas a good way south of the heart of the disaster, I still can't help but wonder how any of the people I passed on the street or did business with or took pictures of were affected. The pretty girls reading their fortunes at an ancient temple...the impossibly-cute schoolchildren who were visiting various historic and cultural sites...the cos-play kids...the distinguished, authoritative-looking businessman on the train who had a Hello Kitty charm hanging from his phone...the guy with the fake plastic Samurai hair who was selling trinkets...the old Sensei who lived across the street from the friend we stayed with...the nice couple who ran the tiny restaurant our friend took us to...the smartly-uniformed but very courteous official at Narita Airport...the people in a wedding procession at the Meiji shrine...the guy cutting big blocks of ice at the Tsujiki Fish market...the old man with the dog who we met while taking shelter from a downpour in a park...and countless more...

The thing that I remember about the people is that I saw smiles just about everywhere, and everybody just seemed to be basically decent. Nice folks. I wish I could have stayed longer.

I look back at some of the faces and hope that they're OK:

Sorry about that last one- couldn't help myself!

Edited March 16, 2011 by The Veg

[USAndretti42]

The ironic thing is that, whenever I have been to Japan, the place has always felt so safe. There is so little crime and the people are either friendly or keep themselves to themselves. Just read an article about why there is no looting. It's because they are generally so disciplined and have enough self-respect to not feel the need to show their worth by what they own.

[Scotty C]

before and after photos from above.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/events/japan-quake-2011/beforeafter.htm

[Bibs]

6 days from this...

to this...

Respect. Now that's efficiency.

[USAndretti42]

The things you can do when you have pride in your work and doing a good job.

[comem47]

As I asserted before. "less than optimal" (being generous) design planning considering the proximity to the coast and being in a Tsunami area:

reactor

It certainly has gotten much worse than originally anticipated. It does seem other nuclear plants worldwide are taking note and running a self evaluation.

Edited March 28, 2011 by comem47