8.9 Quake & Tsunami in JApan.

[TedA]

Terrible, terrible tragedy! Channel some positive energy toward Japan, please!

 

[mobri1130]

I picked up a book in Cuba last week that had a bunch of newspaper and magazine articles written by Hemingway. Interestingly, it included an article that he wrote in about the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923...it was 7.9 and killed well over 100,000 people. You can read it here: http://elbombon.wordpress.com/

 

[hannstew]

The USA lost many lives on 9-11-01 and now Japan has lost more lives on 3-10-11. Add the 2 dates together and you get 12-21-12. Thats crazy!

 

[notebook.fix]

A third reactor (reactor # 2) has lost it's ability to cool it's core...this is now a third core in danger...this is not counting the last two explosions on reactors 1 & 3.

This is definitely going to dent any trust in the nuclear industry's safety arguments.

In economic terms, apparently the area affected by this earth quake & tsunami only affects about 3% of Japan's GDP ..this is according to the opinion of some forecasters & specialists. So considering nature's part in this disaster, Japan can & will recover from these natural events as it has in the past....but now the biggest & most obvious pressing question is: what is the true economic cost of nuclear power to this country in the long term?

When you factor in the Internet & it's impact on transparency & general public awareness, boy are we humans in for some fundamental changes in the way that we run things in the next few years. My sympathies go out to the Japanese people who are now in shelters, those who have trusted their own industry & political leaders to make the best long term decisions.

 

[Amargo]

This is definitely going to dent any trust in the nuclear industry's safety arguments.

It was time! We are also guilty of this nuclear disaster due to our greed. We want to have all and as cheap as possible, including nori, Toyota cars and a other huge amount of junk we are made to believe we cannot live without. Poor Earth, poor our children.

 

[esllou]

a guy appeared on japanese TV the evening before the earthquake saying the series of tremors looked to be leading up to a big one. He was dead right. What time did he appear on the TV...just after ten past eight in the evening...or for those of you wanting precise details, the first question was addressed to him at 20:12

 

[notebook.fix]

Very interesting...was he a geologist? Just curious..do you have his name? I'm interested to read more about it. Thanks for the note.


Edit: Was his name Gerald Celente?

Pls forgive the dark humor.

a guy appeared on japanese TV the evening before the earthquake saying the series of tremors looked to be leading up to a big one. He was dead right. What time did he appear on the TV...just after ten past eight in the evening...or for those of you wanting precise details, the first question was addressed to him at 20:12

 

[perry]

This video tore me up with scenes of devastation unimaginable in my lifetime. May they rest in peace

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAE7GLE_cOc&feature=player_embedded#at=187

 

[esllou]

let's be thankful they are so well prepared. If this had hit somewhere like mexico, indonesia, etc, we would have been looking at 200,000 dead. It looks like it might only be 5-10,000, awful though that is.

 

[notebook.fix]

Yes agreed...but all is not clear yet with the Japanese company that runs these reactors....as highly disciplined as the Japanese may be there are quite a few nuclear specialists who are not happy with what they are seeing..there's too much zigzagging & there's no firm confirmation that those cores are stable yet. Some experts are getting more nervous as the hours go by...I just heard that we've now had a 3rd explosion.

THis is reactor number 2 that has been overheating & so far they say it should not have breached the containment casing.

On to the original earth quake details now, Perry & others were 'debating' on the subject of frequency & strength of recent quakes vs historical records etc....what I'm wondering about here is something that has been discussed on MSNBC a few hours ago,...and they brought up the fact that the pacific ring of fire has almost done it's full circle so to speak in total layman's terms..I know I'm being to simplistic in describing it but the issue they highlighted was that Chile, NZ, Japan have all had their plate movements leaving on part of that ring still to complete...and this part is the North Eastern part - LA/Seattle/Canada etc.

I know the St Andrea's fault is overdue now.... with great respect & sensitivity to our North American brothers & sisters....I dearly hope that you guys are preparing well for it now. I don't mean to alarm or scare anyone but this is starting to look a little scary.

How will we all be feeling in 12 months time?

Can anyone shed some light on what the situation is like up there in Western USA in regards to Earth Quakes & all the possible dynamics?
It would be interesting to hear your views, especially if you are from the region.

EDIT: Latest news at 12.38am Tues 15th - Hydrogen explosion on reactor number 4!
Like I suspected, this thing is getting out of control..now the Japanese Government is saying that the radiation levels have gone up high enough to become a health risk...this is the first time that they put out this announcement.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/03/15/3164151.htm
"Japan's prime minister has called for calm after the country's nuclear emergency took a dramatic turn for the worse this morning.
Radiation levels at the plant spiked to health-threatening levels after a "huge" explosion hit the Fukushima plant's overheated No. 2 reactor and authorities said they were assuming the reactor container had been damaged.
A hydrogen explosion has now occurred at Fukushima No. 4 reactor, Kyodo reports, following explosions at reactors 1, 2 and 3. Authorities earlier confirmed the No. 4 reactor, which contains spent fuel rods, had caught fire."

let's be thankful they are so well prepared. If this had hit somewhere like mexico, indonesia, etc, we would have been looking at 200,000 dead. It looks like it might only be 5-10,000, awful though that is.