Japan: 9.0 Earthquake-Tsunami-Nuclear Reactor Developments #1

[Adrienne37]

They've evacuated a 12 mile area now.

<snip>
Edano said the radiation around the plant had not risen after the blast, but had in fact decreased. He did not say why that was so.
The evacuation zone was doubled in size from 6 miles to 12 miles, Japanese broadcaster NHK reported.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42044156/ns/world_news-asiapacific/

 

[Daisyjane]

IMO the govt is downplaying the effects of the nuclear reactor failure at this point. Thats normal. Afterall, we are still downplaying Three Mile Island. Atleast they did evacuate people in a 6 mile radius.

Short term, the death rate will be very high I am afraid. Long term, from the effects of the radiation leak, I fear the death rate will grow.

They are instructing people within a certain radius of the nuke plants to stay indoors with mouth & nose covered, and not to drink tap water. In same breath, they state that there's no leakage or danger.

Last night I saw an interview on the news with an American in Japan. He said there's no sense of fear or panic, and people are not really talking about this. I'm wondering whether that's from shock? Or from being overwhelmed by their immediate needs (childcare, obtaining food & water, contacting extended family, trying to salvage possessions etc)? Or is there simply a mass denial of this nuclear threat?

 

[SuziQ]

Oh man, I went to bed last night after reading a report somewhere that a blast like Chernobyl could NOT happen at these plants in Japan. This is horrible to wake up to. Not that I slept well anyways. I had nightmares of a video I watched right before bed. A helicopter was doing a flyover of a town of 71,000 people that was washed away. They showed a before and after pic. The pilot kept asking where are all the people? Where are they? In my nightmare they never found a single soul. 71,000 people all gone.

 

[SuziQ]

Saying reactor is safe despite blast. Not sure I believe that. The problem at the power plant will be resolved. Sounds like it's being downplayed bigtime, IMO.

http://www.cnn.com/video/flashLive/live.html?stream=stream/3&hpt=T1

 

[not_my_kids]

Good morning .

As of right now, CNN is saying that they have rescued about 3000 people. That's just since they were able to start full scale rescue efforts, and that was what, yesterday evening for us?

I know the death tolls will be enormous, but I feel better every time someone is pulled out.

ETA: 900 confirmed dead. 6500 missing.

118 recorded aftershocks. Plant still being watched after the roof collapse and explosion (which I also believe is being heavily downplayed.)

 

[not_my_kids]

HOLY CARP! The JApanese mainland moved about 2.4 meters. The entire mainland...

Certainly puts it in perspective the sort of power that we are talking about here. For all that we do as people, and all the things that we think give us power, it would certainly behoove us to remember that we can't do that. We aren't that strong. In fact, when nature gets pissed, all our technology, all our knowledge, all our armies, mean nothing.

 

[daisy7]

I don't know if anyone posted this yet - It has a lot of good info and maps.

http://www.google.com/intl/en/crisisresponse/japanquake2011.html

 

[tehcloser]

Reports from an Italian institute estimated that Japan earthquake shifted Earth on its axis by as much as 4 inches, CNN said.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...-4-inches-on-its-axis/articleshow/7686549.cms

 

[Trident]

HOLY CARP! The JApanese mainland moved about 2.4 meters. The entire mainland...

Certainly puts it in perspective the sort of power that we are talking about here. For all that we do as people, and all the things that we think give us power, it would certainly behoove us to remember that we can't do that. We aren't that strong. In fact, when nature gets pissed, all our technology, all our knowledge, all our armies, mean nothing.

Japan doesn't actually have a mainland, it is composed of Islands. Now you've got me wondering what exactly did move, the tectonic plate? The bedrock the main island was resting on? I know I heard it moved 8 feet, I think, but that was on TV. Do you have a link for this?

 

[tehcloser]

Japan doesn't actually have a mainland, it is composed of Islands. Now you've got me wondering what exactly did move, the tectonic plate? The bedrock the main island was resting on? I know I heard it moved 8 feet, I think, but that was on TV. Do you have a link for this?

They talk a little about it in my last link. I'm with you what exactly moved?

 

[tehcloser]

"The entire coast of Japan moved eastward by about 8 feet at the most," said Dr. Ken H8udnut of the U.S. Geological Survey.

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=weather/earthquake_center&id=8009020

 

[Quiche]

Thank you guys for updating through the night. I slept terribly too, Suzi... but I knew I could get right up to speed on this thread. Thought about it every time I tossed and turned.

I'm not comfortable with the explanation about the blast. How can that reactor have any infrastructure left to keep the core cooled? One of the articles stated quite plainly, the explosion was due to the pumps. Uh, well.... those are the same pumps keeping us from a meltdown. It's going to be a frightening weekend...

 

[Trident]

Reports from an Italian institute estimated that Japan earthquake shifted Earth on its axis by as much as 4 inches, CNN said.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...-4-inches-on-its-axis/articleshow/7686549.cms

The thing that scares me about this is the bird/fish/animal die-offs we've been reading about. There was some conjecture an axis shift/change in magnetic poles could be having some effect. Now this, a large axis shift.

What really worries me is that the axis, which has shifted before, has become unstable...and I'm off topic and scaring myself.

Thanks for the info.

 

[tk71texas]

Japan doesn't actually have a mainland, it is composed of Islands. Now you've got me wondering what exactly did move, the tectonic plate? The bedrock the main island was resting on? I know I heard it moved 8 feet, I think, but that was on TV. Do you have a link for this?

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/12/japan.earthquake.tsunami.earth/index.html?hpt=T1#

 

[tehcloser]

mr. teh and I were talking about the axis shift this morning. I'm sure over the thousands of years this has happened many times, but I have to admit, when ya start talking about the "rock" shifting, it's worrisome. The crazy weather, the birds and fish, tsunamis, earthquakes, nuclear crap.....ugh. I think Mother Nature is getting tired of us.

 

[not_my_kids]

Thanks tk, I was looking for that.

Everything that I'm posting is coming off TV, so if anyone asks me for a link, be aware it'll take me a few minutes to find one.

 

[Trident]

Thanks tk, I was looking for that.

Everything that I'm posting is coming off TV, so if anyone asks me for a link, be aware it'll take me a few minutes to find one.

No problem, and I don't mean to be a pain, I'm just trying to understand.

Actually, it was the main Island that shifted, which could mean it went along with the plate, or the bedrock shifted, not sure which. Any scientists here?

 

[peeples]

wiki has some good updated info this morning


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_I_Nuclear_Power_Plant#References
this is from plant1

an announcement of TEPCO indicated that the gamma ray radiation recorded on the main gate was increased from 69 nanogray/hour (nGy/h) (4:00 local time, 12 March) to 866nGy/h 40 minutes later and reached the peak of 385.5&#956;Sv/h at 10:30am local time.[36]

 

[not_my_kids]

This link here says that there will be an imperceptible shortening of the day, due to the shift in axis, but it is actually smaller than the shift caused by the Sumatra earthquake in 2004.
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/2010872/japan_quake_changed_earths_rotation/

I;m just trying to understand the whole thing too. This is one of the things that I was never very good at, the scientific angle is not my strong suit, but I'm getting a crash course.

 

[belimom]

How terrible...

bbm

In the town of Minamisanriku, 9,500 people are unaccounted for, Japan's Kyodo News Agency reported, citing local officials. That figure is about half the population of the town, which is located on the Pacific, the news agency said.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/12/japan.quake/index.html?hpt=T1&iref=BN1