2011 Sendai Earthquake & Tsunami

[Bunkertor]

Several fatalities due to radiation ( Expressen Sweden )

" Fem ( ger:Fünf;engl:five?) personer döda (ger:tot;engl:dead) vid kraftverket "

Germany has shut down two nuclear plants on tuesday. One more shutdown is in progress. One will follow today or tomorrow. eek

[Aquawind]

Bunkerator.. Is this a problem in Germany? Shouldn't we have another thread and some links to these reports? Your post is confusing..

[somethingfunny]

The European media has been running with reports that two people died at the nuclear power plant in one of those explosions. They've actually been reporting it for several days, but I haven't seen any confirmation of it and Japanese/British/American sources deny it. Germany is also shutting down all of their plants that are more than 30 years old, presumably to retrofit them before a 9.0 earthquake strikes Germany again.

[Bunkertor]

No. It´s not a problem. Just wanted to share these astonishing developments. Our guvment is under pressure and it´s "super election year". Some of the plants are from 1977, but the only errors that have occured were minor ones.

[Bunkertor]

before a 9.0 earthquake strikes Germany again.

This

[Crostorm]

NEWS ADVISORY: Gov't mulls moving some evacuees far from quake-hit areas: Edano (11:20)
NEWS ADVISORY: Miyagi Gov. to ask quake victims to leave pref. due to housing shortage (11:19)
NEWS ADVISORY: Evacuation advisories by other nations 'natural' to protect citizens: Edano (11:16)
BREAKING NEWS: Significance of G-7 working together 'very big': Edano (11:15)
NEWS ADVISORY: Temperatures at No. 5, 6 reactors up, pose no immediate danger: Edano (11:15)
NEWS ADVISORY: No. 3 reactor must be most focused: Edano (11:14)
NEWS ADVISORY: Edano welcomes G-7 accord on concerted currency intervention (11:14)
NEWS ADVISORY: Fukushima's radiation levels posing no immediate health risks: Edano (11:10)
NEWS ADVISORY: Cooling efforts at No. 1 reactor also eyed: Edano (11:09)
NEWS ADVISORY: No. 3, No. 4 reactors are more urgent than No. 1 reactor: Edano (11:08)
NEWS ADVISORY: Tokyo fire trucks to spray water onto No. 1 reactor: Edano (11:07)
NEWS ADVISORY: Fri. morning's work at plant focused on restoring power: Edano (11:06)
NEWS ADVISORY: Cooling efforts on reactors to continue Fri. afternoon: Edano (11:02)
NEWS ADVISORY: IAEA chief Amano to meet with Kan at 2:15 p.m. (10:52)

http://english.kyodonews.jp/

[Crostorm]

BREAKING NEWS: Japan's nuke safety agency raised accident seriousness level to 5 from 4

[Chacor]

For context, a 5 is identical in level to Three Mile Island in 1979.

[angelwing]

Underwater mics catch sound of quake


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwzTTFy_gk8&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

[SaskatchewanScreamer]

Japan news agency withdraws rescue story http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011 ... tion=world


Japanese news agency Kyodo has withdrawn an earlier story that reported rescuers had found a young man alive in the rubble of the Miyagi prefecture, in the north-east of the country.

The report said the man had been pulled from his partially collapsed home in the earthquake and tsunami devastated town of Kesennuma eight days after the country was hit by a devastating earthquake and tsunami.

The Self Defence Forces identified the survivor as Katsuharu Moriya, who is thought to be in his 20s, but it now appears he had returned to his house a day earlier after spending time in an evacuation centre.

Television pictures showed him being carried into a hospital on a stretcher, conscious but reportedly unable to speak because of shock.

The man was found trapped on the second floor of a house and had wrapped himself in a blanket, Kyodo news agency said. He was conscious and his blood pressure and pulse were stable.

He was found a day after authorities said they had ended the rescue phase of the post-earthquake operation and would be concentrating on clearing rubble and restoring limited services.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/ma ... ma-tsunami

[Chacor]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=6234412

PEORIA, Ariz. -- Ichiro Suzuki has donated 100 million yen ($1.24 million) to the Japanese Red Cross for earthquake relief efforts in his native country, the Kyodo News reported Friday.

Ichiro's management company BowPlanning told the Kyodo News of his donation, but the player declined to comment.

The Seattle Mariners will also dedicate their first six home games of the upcoming season to raising money for the victims of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan.

The Mariners will make a donation to the Red Cross that matches all contributions from front office employees and fans during the homestand against the Cleveland Indians and Toronto Blue Jays April 8-13 at Safeco Field. The team guaranteed a donation of $100,000 from the club's charitable arm, Mariners Care.

Also, Nintendo Co., Ltd. of Japan, the parent company of Nintendo of America, Inc., the majority owner of the Mariners, is donating $3.7 million to disaster relief.

The Mariners have strong ties to Japan through their ownership and business partnerships, Ichiro and a large fan base in Japan.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

[Chacor]

NHK World TV reports that two survivors have been found in Miyagi prefecture, nine days after the quake. An 80 year old woman and 16 year old boy are said to have responded to rescuers' calls.

Elsewhere, Kyodo is reporting that cooling systems have been successfully activated at reactor 6 at Fukushima Daiichi.

[Crostorm]

Grayish smoke seen billowing from Fukushima No. 3 reactor building
TOKYO, March 21, Kyodo

Grayish smoke was seen billowing from a building that houses the No. 3 reactor of the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station on Monday, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.

After the smoke was spotted at the southeast of the building around 3:55 p.m., TEPCO said it had temporarily evacuated its workers from the site as it assessed the situation.

The amount of smoke later decreased, TEPCO added.

Following a magnitude 9.0 quake and ensuing tsunami on March 11, cooling functions of the No. 3 reactor were lost and its core is believed to have partially melted.

At present, coolant water is pumped into the reactor and a pool for spent nuclear fuel. The roof and upper walls of the building that houses the No. 3 reactor were blown off by a hydrogen explosion last week.

On Sunday, pressure in the No. 3 reactor's containment vessel temporarily rose, but it later stabilized.

==Kyodo

[angelwing]

RSOE EDIS ALERTMAIL

Situation Update No. 1

Posted:2011-03-14, 04:32:48 [UTC]

Ref.no.: NC-20110314-29943-JPN

Situation Update No. 1
On 2011-03-22 at 18:17:18 [UTC]

Event: Nuclear Event
Location: Japan Ibaraki Prefecture Tokai II. Nuclear Power Plant Tokai

Situation:
Please visit the following url: http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/nstc.php
This is an simple monitoring site which showing the Tokai Nuclear Power plant's background radiation data. We update this information manually, becouse we don't have got online data access. What is the background radiation? You can visit the Wikipedia's website. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Background_radiation)

[Category 5]

Watching this unfold has been surreal. And I've concluded this.

This is by far, the worst natural disaster in my lifetime.

Damage total north of 300 billion dollars, 15,000+ dead despite the best tsunami warning systems on the planet, nuclear meltdowns, a world power absolutely crippled. The scope of this disaster is astronomical, and unmatched.

As for Hawaii and the west coast, that was a warning shot. I can only hope that this has made other countries in the pacific rim take notice and step up preparedness. Because this was the worst case scenario for Japan, but there are potential even worse disasters lying on the worlds fault lines.

[vbhoutex]

Watching this unfold has been surreal. And I've concluded this.

This is by far, the worst natural disaster in my lifetime.

Damage total north of 300 billion dollars, 15,000+ dead despite the best tsunami warning systems on the planet, nuclear meltdowns, a world power absolutely crippled. The scope of this disaster is astronomical, and unmatched.

As for Hawaii and the west coast, that was a warning shot. I can only hope that this has made other countries in the pacific rim take notice and step up preparedness. Because this was the worst case scenario for Japan, but there are potential even worse disasters lying on the worlds fault lines.

Not one thing you said can I argue with. Indeed I pray that everyone, especially those located on the "ring of fire" have taken notice and are making changes and preparations as needed. Truly a global wake up call!!

[MGC]

The worst natural disaster I can recall in my lifetime was the 1970 cyclone that hit Bangladesh killing nearly 500,000 people. Second is the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake killing nearly 250,000. Lives are not replaceable but stuff is. As bad as Katrina was down here it was nothing compared to most disasters. America is lucky that it suffers few major disasters compared to the rest of the world......MFC

[Chacor]

I'd agree with MGC that this is simply not comparable to the 2004 tsunami, simply because of the scale of the devastation in 2004. This one hit one very prepared nation. 2004's hit a number of not so well off ones.

[angelwing]

Latest I got (I did hear on the news on the way in about the voluntary evacuation, IMHO it should be mandatory)

RSOE EDIS ALERTMAIL



Situation Update No. 60

Posted:2011-03-11, 12:38:52 [UTC]

Ref.no.: NC-20110311-29877-JPN

Situation Update No. 60
On 2011-03-25 at 11:31:30 [UTC]

Event: Nuclear Event
Location: Japan Fukushima Prefecture Fukushima Nucelar Power Plant


Number of Deads: 2 person(s)
Number of Injured: 36 person(s)
Number of Missing: 2 person(s)
Number of Evacuated: 170000 person(s)


Situation:

Residents living between 20 and 30 km from the wrecked Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant are being urged to "voluntarily evacuate" amid difficulties in obtaining daily necessities and the possibility of further radiation leaks, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Friday. While stressing that current radiation levels in the area do not necessitate immediate evacuation, Edano said notices have been sent out to municipalities asking them to be ready to work closely with the central and regional governments in the event an evacuation order is issued.

"With the lack of business and logistics, people's lives are becoming increasingly difficult within the 20 to 30 km radius, and we cannot rule out the possibility that more radioactive material might leak and an evacuation order be issued," he said. "Based on this situation, municipalities need to expedite their living support and voluntary evacuation of residents, as well as prepare for a scenario in which an immediate evacuation order is issued."

Three workers battling to stop a nuclear meltdown in Japan have been rushed to hospital with radiation poisoning after tainted water got into their suits. The men, two in their 20s and one in his 30s, were exposed to double the safe limit of radiation at the Fukushima plant’s number three reactor. A government spokesman said yesterday: “They were standing in irradiated water.” The country’s death toll stands at 9,811, with 17,541 missing.

[RobWESTPACWX]

On the voluntary evacs around the nuclear site, I love how the Japanese Govt put out across the news today,

"residents are strongly being urged to leave the region, but they will be safe if they remain in side there house."

I'm sorry but that don't sound to comforting to me. Any how been talking to friends back in Japan. Lots of them been saying they are just nervous. For example when returning home from work many of them take showers and wash there cloth. (just from the fear) Rolling black outs still are in effect all over japan and I read from NHK that it looks like they will continue for another year.

I do want to let the Staff here know I do plan on writing a fairly long account of the work going on out here and the efforts that are going in to the relief. Hopefully I can collaborate something with James (typhoon hunter) who is heading back up to Japan this coming week. Good luck man!


FYI, if you do not know, military members in the Kanto area have all been issued voluntary evacuations. I did put my wife and son on a plane a few days ago, they are now in Florida. If anything a little break from the stresses of Japan for them.