Earthquake has hit Japan

[rancor]

I think one of my girlfriend's former classmates named Greg was living in Japan (could've been Korea too, I dunno). Did you happen to see if he had a large scar on his neck, it'd be an amazing coincidence if it were him.

I didnt notice as it was really cold and he had a coat on. He was really tall and skinny - not much hair, but he was witty with a quiet personality. haha.. sorry, thats my best description.

[t0yrobo]

I think one of my girlfriend's former classmates named Greg was living in Japan (could've been Korea too, I dunno). Did you happen to see if he had a large scar on his neck, it'd be an amazing coincidence if it were him.

I didnt notice as it was really cold and he had a coat on. He was really tall and skinny - not much hair, but he was witty with a quiet personality. haha.. sorry, thats my best description.

lol, I'm sure you had lots of other concerns as well. I don't think I said it before but I'm glad you and everyone else has survived intact, in a situation like this some sort of good news is always nice.

[ED-057]

Well, it`s good to hear that the situation in Tokyo didn`t get too chaotic. The tsunami on the other hand, with the amount of area it must have covered, is surely a disaster. Sadly, I guess there isn`t much that could have been done. Anyone who was there is just a victim of circumstance.

I just saw a post about electricity rationing being announced for the Tokyo area. I wonder what they`re going to do to restore their generating capability, with those reactors being knocked out.

BTW, I loved the self-righteous pundits on US TV demanding answers and spreading FUD about the reactor situation. Actually, I didn`t. US TV news is hooey.

[greg]

BTW, I loved the self-righteous pundits on US TV demanding answers and spreading FUD about the reactor situation. Actually, I didn`t. US TV news is hooey.

They have their agenda: to demonize nuclear power and to remove it entirely. They're hoping for another Chernobyl-style meltdown to prove once in for all that nuclear power isn't as safe and clean and efficient as it really is. They want us all to drive solar-powered cars with huge windmills mounted on top or whatever. Anyhow, if Skykid could rant about FDR (and I mostly agree with him), I should be allowed that little rant. US news is bloodthirsty. We only get news from other countries when lots of people get killed somehow, like the earthquake.

EDIT: My YouTube friend, thomasgotschalk, hasn't responded yet. I'm not sure exactly where he lived in the Tokyo area. We were gonna meet up on my trip to Tokyo in April. I'm a bit concerned.

[Randorama]

A random anedocte that hopefully will not offend anyone.

A friend of mine barely survived the Earthquake in my hometown (L'Aquila, 6-04-2009), flew away from Christchurch hours before the Earthquake, were he was from work, to Tokyo, again for work. He was unscathed but after talking with him, he is not in the best frame of mind, I'd say. Luckily he flew back to Italy. He works as a physicist/seismologist.

[LtC]

quake displaced earth axis by 10cm

Yes, and japan is also 6 feet closer to America now

What's the source of your information? I read about this originally maybe yesterday but as far as I know it ended up as a mistake from CNN in the calculations. As far as I know the only notable change was very minor change in the location of magnetic north pole.

I really hope they will get the situation with the nuclear plants under control safely. I'd really hate to see any more paranoia about nuclear power from people who know almost nothing about it.

When I heard about the earthquake I immediately thought it was the big quake they were anticipating to Tokyo area since decades ago but apparently this wasn't the case since it was caused by different tectonic plates.

Glad to see pretty much everyone here from Japan is doing allright.

[GaijinPunch]

In the vein of rancor I'll post my daily thing:
Cycled into work at about 7:30. Had a massive hard on from the beautiful Spring weather. Hopefully the displaced people up North are as lucky. Day went on as usual, but, as rancor said, most instant foods are sold out: cup noodles, tins of tuna, bread... fucking bread. Can't make sandwiches. I went to a French bakery and bought some fresh baked shit but they were out of sandwich bread.

Seems to be business as usual for the most part. The markets were fucking crazy today, to say the least. Dollar/yen didn't move that much, all things considered.

This jack ass I know says that if there is confirmed fallout, he will grab his bike and head to Osaka. My family is already out of town, so I guess I can follow him. He has a bike pump and knows the way, which is more than me.

[GaijinPunch]

A friend of mine barely survived the Earthquake in my hometown (L'Aquila, 6-04-2009), flew away from Christchurch hours before the Earthquake, were he was from work, to Tokyo, again for work. He was unscathed but after talking with him, he is not in the best frame of mind, I'd say. Luckily he flew back to Italy. He works as a physicist/seismologist.

My wife lived in Osaka for the Kobe quake, was in New York for 9/11, lived in Honolulu for their only earthquake in 50 years which caused a 12 hour black out, and now this. Disaster follows her. There's a shit husband joke in there somewhere.

[NTSC-J]

I went into work this morning and it felt strange carrying on with things in the face of all of this. I work at a school and graduation is this weekend and in preparation we all practiced singing the national anthem, which made it all the more dramatic.

I don't know about the rest of you here, but my phone has this pants-shitting alarm that goes off whenever an earthquake is about to happen, but it either goes off moments after it starts in order to increase the anxiety of the moment and accelerate the pants-shitting or it goes off and nothing happens. It also seems to be a "he's playing Muchi Pork, better ruin his run" detector.

[BPzeBanshee]

Well, I just saw A Current Affair's video on one town in Japan after the tsunami/earthquake/volcanogoingoffinthebackground and I gotta say it's a scary sight.

Living in Darwin, I'm well aware of 1974 when Cyclone Tracy hit us and made shredded cheese out of my hometown as it was then, but this video takes the cake. It's like seeing all the Cyclone Tracy footage all over again in HD, with less living plants and more mud.

It also seems to be a "he's playing Muchi Pork, better ruin his run" detector.

That would so piss me right off if I had to put up with that, but at least your Muchi Muchi Pork is in one piece and unlike RPG grinding you can always start again and make progress within the hour. My two cents of optimism.

[GaijinPunch]

but it either goes off moments after it starts in order to increase the anxiety of the moment.

Does your neighborhood feature those awesome mega-mega phones where you can't understand anything? I heard an announcement, then the fucking firebomb siren (loud), and then the aftershock hit. It was only a 7.1 I think, but coupled w/ the siren and the Charlie Brown teacher announcement (still don't know what they said) I really fucking panicked more than the first. I really thought that the aftershock was the big one and was about to fist me. And not the good way.

[moozooh]

What's the source of your information? I read about this originally maybe yesterday but as far as I know it ended up as a mistake from CNN in the calculations. As far as I know the only notable change was very minor change in the location of magnetic north pole.

This appears to be correct. Here, references 40 to 43.

For comparison, geophysical impact of Chile '2010 (8.8) and Indonesia '2004 (9.1). The effect isn't that profound when put into perspective with other large earthquakes, but high-definition maps need to be redrawn each time.

As for Fukushima, this time it's Unit 3, and the explosion is larger, shows a bright color flash (hydrogen explosion is basically colorless), is clearly aimed up (while hydrogen is more like a soap bubble), and seems to involve other elements than hydrogen. The remaining building frame looks mangled and covered with soot (comparison shot). EDIT: Satellite photo. Note the difference.

Japanese officials are being very secretive on the matter, and meanwhile Unit 2 is experiencing a cooling failure as well. Troubles just seem to pile up on these guys, and if it goes like this it's only a matter of time before things get out of hand. :(

[Skykid]

This jack ass I know says that if there is confirmed fallout, he will grab his bike and head to Osaka. My family is already out of town, so I guess I can follow him. He has a bike pump and knows the way, which is more than me.

If these nuclear power plants keep exploding left right and centre I'd definitely say fallout is the thing I'd be most concerned about as a resident of Japan (and probably neighbouring countries too, depending on the wind.)
When I was a little kid, my mum and the mum's in my primary school were worried about Chernobyl fallout all the way over in the UK!

[austere]

I found an interesting spreadsheet:

http://www.jaif.or.jp/english/news/2011 ... atus-1.pdf
http://www.jaif.or.jp/english/news/2011 ... atus-2.pdf
(and so on in the future, they're systematic so far.)

Apparently the fuel rods in Fukushima Daiichi Unit-2 are completely exposed over the coolant/control fluid level. Very likely that it's melting down, expect another explosion soon unless they've learnt something from the first two. Unit-3 is leaking so the coolant can't cover the entire fuel rods. I hope the primary containment in Unit-2 doesn't get breached. :(

Finally, anyone in the Tokyo region might want to view this 3 minute segment from RussiaToday:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVCWGc173ic#t=2m57

Some may characterise his position as alarmist but if you have small children with you, you may want to take small precautions for their sake, however small the risk is. Face masks should be sufficient (no idea if they make any for babies/very small children though) if they need to be outside and you may want to have them avoid any rainfall for the next few weeks.

[greg]

I finally heard back from my Youtube friend, Thomasgotchalk. Here's what he told me:

I am ok - but only just.
I was in Kinshicho Friday - it was a complete nightmare, I walked 9 hours through Tokyo to get home, and there was a real panic, people screaming and crying, people sleeping everywhere in the streets - litterally all over Tokyo - more than 20.000 in Shinjuku station alone. (I have no water in my apartment, and there is powerblackouts in my area - so I checked into a hotel for tonight.)

The following 24 hours we had aftershocks about every 10th. minute, today we had a new quake measure 7.1, and as im sure
you know, the nuclear reactors are about to melt down - so I planned to "escape" down to Kyushu on Wednesday.

One of my friends havent heard from her parents since Friday (the live in Sendai) so she is totally heartbroken.

This is indeed the worst experience of my life.

[Evilmaxwar]

quake displaced earth axis by 10cm

Yes, and japan is also 6 feet closer to America now

What's the source of your information? I read about this originally maybe yesterday but as far as I know it ended up as a mistake from CNN in the calculations. As far as I know the only notable change was very minor change in the location of magnetic north pole.

My source is not very good as it is recollection from listening to CNN the day before. After looking into the subject in google seems they are talking more about 8 feet. Probably my memory failing.
Anyway they said it came from the average readings from japan's GPS stations. Could all be a load of crap from all i really know, but i certainly suspect such a quake would have shifted the land masses a bit.
Continental drifting at work !

[TrevHead (TVR)]

The situation at the power plant is getting more worrying as time progresses and more info is available and especially since another big quake is due in a couple of days.

Some may characterise his position as alarmist but if you have small children with you, you may want to take small precautions for their sake, however small the risk is. Face masks should be sufficient (no idea if they make any for babies/very small children though) if they need to be outside and you may want to have them avoid any rainfall for the next few weeks.

Ild say this is sound advise, even though the risk is small it's better to be safe then sorry. From what I gather fission material on the skin can be washed off, it's when it gets inside the body thats its very dangerous.

Out of couriosity how fine does the filter need to be to stop the fission material? Will pulling up your cotton t-shirt (wet or dry) to your mouth be enough?

[Skykid]

Apparently the French nuclear authority (?) has now reassessed the risk as just being below Chernobyl and is offering advice to the Japanese government.
Also, just at the wrong time, the winds have apparently changed and begun to swirl and move inland.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

My wife lived in Osaka for the Kobe quake, was in New York for 9/11, lived in Honolulu for their only earthquake in 50 years which caused a 12 hour black out, and now this. Disaster follows her. There's a shit husband joke in there somewhere.

Christ! I thought that I was a unlucky person who is cursed by "sod's law" but your Mrs beats me hands down. Has she thought about hiring a priest or a miko to cast away all the evil spirits that must be haunting her

[austere]

Apparently the French nuclear authority (?) has now reassessed the risk as just being below Chernobyl

Won't be long until Japan does the same, raising the incident to level 5. Raising it to level 6 is a bit premature though. Chernobyl is level 7 and this incident will never become that disastrous.

Out of couriosity how fine does the filter need to be to stop the fission material

It's hard to tell how small the particles are until there is a full disclosure on the incident. Either way, you can't completely stop it, the idea is to reduce the exposure. There are chemical respirators which are extremely effective but you obviously don't want your child lugging that around. The best filter-only masks you can get will only let 1-6% of the particulates go through.

3M Filter
Cheaper one from the UK (probably just as good)

There should be equivalent products you can buy locally in Japan, no idea where you'd get them though.

[Skykid]

Apparently the French nuclear authority (?) has now reassessed the risk as just being below Chernobyl

Won't be long until Japan does the same, raising the incident to level 5. Raising it to level 6 is a bit premature though. Chernobyl is level 7 and this incident will never become that disastrous.

Out of couriosity how fine does the filter need to be to stop the fission material

It's hard to tell how small the particles are until there is a full disclosure on the incident. Either way, you can't completely stop it, the idea is to reduce the exposure. There are chemical respirators which are extremely effective but you obviously don't want your child lugging that around. The best filter-only masks you can get will only let 1-6% of the particulates go through.

3M Filter
Cheaper one from the UK (probably just as good)

There should be equivalent products you can buy locally in Japan, no idea where you'd get them though.

According to an English teacher in Japan who was Skyped on the news, folk are already walking around with damp handkerchiefs over their mouths and noses.

[austere]

I'm afraid that won't do anything for them, if anything the damp handkerchiefs will act as a collection point. Please tell anyone who is concerned to consider buying a proper filter.

By the way, I finally got to take a good look at the second explosion and moozooh is correct, the explosion was coloured yellowish. This is concerning as it means it wasn't simply a hydrogen explosion. This could possibly mean plutonium was burnt in the explosion, which means two things -- the reactor was involved and was breached in the explosion, explaining the leak. Furthermore, it means plutonium and other bi-products have possibly been ejected into the atmosphere.

That's IF plutonium was involved, even if it wasn't the leak needs to be addressed obviously. I'm not sure what contingency plan they have for repairing the leak, but I think this should be one of their top priorities in order to resume cooling the fuel rods. Since this was a MOX fueled reactor, operating near it is extremely dangerous, so it's far from trivial.

[brentsg]

It is unfortunate that when these things happen, the nuclear resources get really tight lipped. I really hope that this is to avoid unnecessary panic, and that they are much more open with international resources that could be of assistance.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

By the way, I finally got to take a good look at the second explosion and moozooh is correct, the explosion was coloured yellowish. This is concerning as it means it wasn't simply a hydrogen explosion. This could possibly mean plutonium was burnt in the explosion, which means two things -- the reactor was involved and was breached in the explosion, explaining the leak. Furthermore, it means plutonium and other bi-products have possibly been ejected into the atmosphere.

IIRC the 2nd explotion was the staff venting steam out of the reactor of which it did have radioactive material in the vented steam, although reportly only a small amount

[austere]

I really hope that this is to avoid unnecessary panic, and that they are much more open with international resources that could be of assistance.

The IAEA has offered its technical support crew and the US military is providing its resources but so far it's just TEP Co. running the show.

You can understand their decision to limit the flow of information though, panic is not good for the industry. As we speak the opportunist anti-nuclear lobbyist groups are asking Japan to shutdown all its reactors. I guess they'll have to live in mud huts then, huh? Nuclear power can be "inherently safe" if you avoid ancient designs like BWR.

IIRC the 2nd explotion was the staff venting steam out of the reactor of which it did have radioactive material in the vented steam, although reportly only a small amount

Hmmm, not entirely implausible but it does not account for the leakage in the primary containment.

[BulletMagnet]

They have their agenda: to demonize nuclear power and to remove it entirely. They're hoping for another Chernobyl-style meltdown to prove once in for all that nuclear power isn't as safe and clean and efficient as it really is. They want us all to drive solar-powered cars with huge windmills mounted on top or whatever.

That's taking it a bridge too far, methinks: you're treading a bit close to the "9-11 Truther" mindset, if you ask me.

[Skyknight]

And meanwhile, I've learned something worrisome about seismic activity in general. Basically, some parts of the ocean floor are crust thin enough (well, thin as the Earth's crust goes, anyway) that the weight of the water above actually has appreciable influence on seismic currents. The problem is that as mean temperatures go up, and more glacial ice melts into the ocean, the sea levels rise and those thin crust areas find themselves with even MORE aqueous pressure affecting them. End result, basically, is that the warmer the planet is, the more frequent and powerful seismic and volcanic activity will be. I can see how this balances itself out over the long-term--more volcanic activity means more volcanic haze, which ultimately cools the place down, reglaciates the caps, and lessens aqueous pressure on the crust. Of course, the haze settles down, allowing the planet to heat back up...(Meanwhile, we're still technically in an ice age, since we still have polar ice caps. So, if there were times that the planet was warm enough to have no ice caps...Let's just say I'd hate to see the kind of earthquake/volcano onslaught that must have been going on...) I'd just rather that this chain of earthquakes we've had doesn't wind up chaining to a supervolcano like Yellowstone...

I get the feeling that this sort of warmer world=more powerful seismic activity situation might help explain the disaster that preceded the Triassic era (the one that (a) doesn't seem to have been helped along by a comet or meteor, never mind that an impact from THAT long ago would probably have been scoured away by now, and (b) nearly obliterated all Earthly life)--aqueous pressure causing a powerful enough volcanic shock that the Earth was heavily shrouded by volcanic ash, and unlike the Cretaceous-ending meteor, this was chronic, not acute. The ash KEPT COMING. {sigh} Never mind the Medea Hypothesis which claims that multi-cellular life is inherently self-destructive. It seems like the pre-biosphere planet ITSELF is inimical to life (Apsu Hypothesis?). Is life, in the end, just a monstrous heresy in the eyes of the cosmos at large...? There must be a way to prove otherwise, preferably before the Sun swallows the Earth...

[Ex-Cyber]

BTW, I loved the self-righteous pundits on US TV demanding answers and spreading FUD about the reactor situation. Actually, I didn`t. US TV news is hooey.

They have their agenda: to demonize nuclear power and to remove it entirely. They're hoping for another Chernobyl-style meltdown to prove once in for all that nuclear power isn't as safe and clean and efficient as it really is. They want us all to drive solar-powered cars with huge windmills mounted on top or whatever.

I think you're reading in a lot of stuff that isn't there. AFAICT, US news media doesn't have an anti-nuke bias so much as a pro-drama/suspense bias. Whether or not nuclear power is safe and efficient doesn't matter; what matters is that they can find talking heads to put the picture of Chernobyl 2 in our heads and thus keep eyeballs on the screen.

[Skyknight]

I will own that I was exasperated to see one headline in a local newspaper refer to an "explosion"--then for the main article to say that meltdown had NOT occurred by printing. {grumble} At least be a little more specific, or be more careful about the communicated nuance?

[trap15]

Earthquake -> Global warming -> Gaia theory -> "Logical" conclusion (shouldn't exist when all lifeforms take away the life force from gaia)