Japan Earthquake And Tsunami

[Chinahand]

Thoughts go out to the people caught up in the events in Japan.

 

The pictures are mesmeric and almost incomprehensible as the wall of wreckage takes out whole hamlets.

 

You watch the cars fleeing the flood and hope they make it to higher ground.

 

Horrific.

[tribz]

The video on the bbc website of the wave is quite astonishing.

[Chinahand]

You can see the wave moving across the Pacific from the data buoys used by DART.

 

Link

[pongo]

is it 8.9 on the old richter scale or have they measured it on the new scale ?

 

Nuclear alert btw according to Guardian blog.

[Silentbob]

I must admit to openly commenting "Fuck me" when I saw the BBC footage this morning; almost not really suitable for morning telly with kids about etc.

[Mr. Sausages]

Fire at a nuclear plant, and the cooling system has failed.

 

Wave reported to be higher than some Pacific islands.

 

It's doing more damage than Godzilla.

[Chinahand]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4coi8rgULZ4&feature=player_embedded

The power of nature.

[manshimajin]

Have been in touch with Japanese friends in Tokyo. One was also in the Kobe 'quake. She likened the Kobe 'quake as like being in a washing machine spinning round whereas the current one was more like riding a roller coaster with sharp up and down motion. Another friend was on the 36th floor of an office block and her description was 'like being in a boat in rough sea'. Thank goodness they and their families are safe but they say that the casualty list could be very high (upper 5 or even 6 figures)as so many people have been washed away in the tsunami all along the Pacific Coast.

 

As with much of Japan the area along the coast is mostly a low plain up to a steep sided mountain chain - the low lying areas are quite intensively populated as they are both easier to build on and easier to farm - which makes them vulnerable to such a massive tsunami. The transport corridor also makes use of the same area which may be a problem - I gather 4 trains are missing presumed washed away.

 

The images are horrific and numbing.

[Chinahand]

Exploding nuclear power stations can now be added to the consequences of the earthquake.

 

Frightening.

 

Wonder what this will do to the reputation of nuclear power as a solution to CO2 etc.

[Bombay Bad Boy]

Tremor Follows Blast At Nuclear Plant

[pongo]

Wonder what this will do to the reputation of nuclear power as a solution to CO2 etc.

 

The nuclear industry is out on the media in force speculating that the lack of a meltdown shows that nuclear power is safe. But most people would rather live near an oil refinery than a nuclear plant.

 

All of the nuclear experts seem to be industry insiders which is worrying.

[manshimajin]

Just heard from another friend who was in a supermarket in Tokyo when the earthquake happened. Her description of bottles flying off the shelves and the smell of alcohol filling the air is at first reading humourous but second time round frightening - people fleeing from the aisles to avoid being crushed or badly cut, everyone getting down on the floor and holding onto one another because it was impossible to stand.

 

My impression from other comments that I have received is that amongst my friends in Japan most are a bit cynical about how much truth is being told about the Fukushima nuclear plant - the Japanese nuclear industry has been 'economical with the truth' in the past and people think they may be repeating their practice this time.

 

In the total scale of things for the Japanese this is just another issue that has to be dealt with along with the massive destruction caused by Mother Nature - the recovery exercise is going to take years. The comments that this shock was 8,000 times more powerful than the Christchurch one is sobering.

[jimbms]

I think maybe the americans should learn from this, the san andreas could very well be next and I would hate to think the consequences of that.

[gazza]

the plants are doomed to be honest,

 

And the jap gov have not been telling the truth,

The reactor core has been exposed to the air, hence the reason the building exploded, add in that particals of radation were found outside the plant that could only come from an exposed core,

 

no3 is is going the same way,

 

and a new plant has started leaking radation up the coast,

[gazza]

The reactor core has been exposed to the air, hence the reason the building exploded, add in that particals of radation were found outside the plant that could only come from an exposed core,

I don't think that's quite true. According to most experts it is only likely that the external cooling system exploded (cooling water split into O2 and H and the H exploded), and the reactor core is still intact and not exposed.

 

But I take the point that there is a lot of misinformation flying about.

 

thing is the only way the the 02 h can be separeted is from the meteal in the core,

if this has happined then that means the water lvl in the reactor has dropped,

 

And the radation type that was found outside the plant could only come from the rods, no other way it can have been made,

 

 

worse is the no3 reactor that has the MOX fuel in it