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Japan 8.8 earthquake & Tsunami
- Thread starter Cestbon
- Start date
A worker moves part of a shipment of 240,000 bottles of water to be distributed to government offices around Tokyo as part of an emergency program to supply infants with uncontaminated water in Tokyo, March 24, 2011. Nearly two weeks after the earthquake and tsunami that battered the Fukushima complex and devastated northeast Japan, Tokyo's 13 million people were told not to give infants tap water where contamination twice the safety level was detected.
Children are pictured with bottles of emergency long shelf-life mineral water distributed at a nursery school in Tokyo March 24, 2011. Shops in Japan's capital ran out of bottled water on Thursday after a warning of radiation danger for babies from a damaged nuclear plant where engineers are battling the world's worst atomic crisis since Chernobyl. Engineers are trying to stabilise the Fukushima nuclear facility nearly two weeks after an earthquake and tsunami battered the complex and devastated northeast Japan.
Various type of fish are displayed at Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market on March 23, 2011.
Various type of fish are displayed at Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market on March 23, 2011. Japan detected abnormal level radioactive materials in the seawater near the Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) Fukushima nuclear power plant.
French Prime minister Francois Fillon delivers a speech on March 23, 2011 at the Japan's ambassy in Paris, as part of a ceremony to pay homage in the victims of the twin quake and tsunami disaster, Japan's worst crisis since World war II. France has urged the European Commission to impose 'systematic controls' on imports of fresh produce from Japan into the EU, amid fears of nuclear contamination, the agriculture ministry said the day before.
I dun understand, gov warning is not to let baby drink tap water? these are not babies, there are tots. Overkill man, japanese mother overkill. i bet the woman also drink mineral water now.
Earthquake so big and strong that UN aid worker run road
On March 11, just before 3 p.m., the largest earthquake in Japanese recorded history hit with a magnitude of 9. I was in Tokyo at the time visiting my wife’s family. As I sat at the kitchen table, happily posting pictures of Japan on Facebook, the room began to shake.
The quake started small, but with a sudden jolt. When the shaking didn’t stop I started to worry as the large cabinet rattled at my back and the light above me began to swing violently.
I moved to the middle of the room, away from anything that could fall on me. The preparation drills tell you to get under a table, put a cushion over your head, and open the door to make sure you have a way out if the house collapses. You are also supposed to shut off the gas to prevent a fire – too many tasks during a singularly frightening and dangerous moment.
All I knew was that I didn’t feel safe in the house with its paperthin walls and ceilings. I knew that my wife and I needed to get out of the house, but first we had to put on our shoes, a frustrating secondary step when you’re trying to flee a house.
We hit the road outside as the earth shifted beneath our feet, rolling in what felt like waves. Cars were stopped in the road and our neighbors came rushing out to join us; many crouched low to the ground trying to find some sort of stability as the earth rocked like a ship hit by a torpedo.
I tried to find the safest place and realized, in the Tokyo suburban sprawl that houses 33 million people, nowhere was truly safe. Above us the sky was blackened, not by smoke, but by a cat’s cradle of swinging electrical lines. Inside, outside, it didn’t matter; nowhere was really safe.
The quake lasted for almost three minutes. That is a very long time when the earth is moving under your feet. The country was hit with aftershocks reaching 7 that would have been massive if not compared to the original.
Alarm bells rang, the television beeped and binged as tsunami warnings flooded the airwaves. In a country used to earthquakes, this was something different. Lifetime residents of Tokyo remarked how it was the biggest they had ever felt, and we weren’t even at the center of the quake.
In Northern Japan, in Iwate and Fukushima Prefectures, the devastation was only just beginning. Soon after the first quake hit, while we sat glued to the television, our family gathered together as we watched in horror a 10-meter tsunami destroy the east coast of Japan.
Cars, buses and ships crashed into each other. Entire towns were swept away, houses ablaze as the tsunami waters flooded rivers and jumped dikes. We watch helplessly as Japanese news helicopters showed us live the wall of water advancing, overtaking unsuspecting people as they fled in their cars.
We sat, we watched, and we shook as more aftershocks hit one after the other.
We were fortunate. Our family and friends were safe, if not all with us due to the complete shutdown of Tokyo’s train system, which trapped millions of people in the city. I was to fly out and return to Kosovo on Saturday. I felt helpless having to leave when the need was so great. As an aid worker, I spend my life jumping from one crisis to the next. Now I was leaving this crisis and my family behind.
The next day an overburdened Narita Airport, I am feeling sick to my stomach at leaving my wife behind. As another earthquake hits us in the airport the steady shaking sends a women next to me into a panic and she tries to flee into multiple walls of people, each waiting to get to a check-in counter. Her husband is the only one to leave his line; he gently pulls her back, her face swollen from the frightened sobs that rack her body.
My journey across Tokyo was like a post-apocalyptic movie. It took me eight hours to navigate the labyrinth of closed train lines, bloated stations and swollen streets. Millions of people waited in patient lines, pressing into stations that had no outlet. People littered the hallways of the city’s underground shopping malls, sleeping, hugging and crying.
Throughout it all I was immensely impressed by the calmness of Japanese crowds, the straightness of the lines and the lack of pushing, shoving and anger that might have affected crowds in any other city in the world. The police funneled people to keep waves of people moving where they could.
When I finally got on a train moving towards the airport, we were packed in like sardines. Picture Tokyo at rush hour, times three, plus luggage. Except for the occasional outburst, everyone bore the pain and inconvenience with remarkable stoicism during the grueling three-hour ride. I, of course, missed my flight, but had my wife and family helping me to rebook as I concentrated on getting closer to the airport.
On March 11, just before 3 p.m., the largest earthquake in Japanese recorded history hit with a magnitude of 9. I was in Tokyo at the time visiting my wife’s family. As I sat at the kitchen table, happily posting pictures of Japan on Facebook, the room began to shake.
The quake started small, but with a sudden jolt. When the shaking didn’t stop I started to worry as the large cabinet rattled at my back and the light above me began to swing violently.
I moved to the middle of the room, away from anything that could fall on me. The preparation drills tell you to get under a table, put a cushion over your head, and open the door to make sure you have a way out if the house collapses. You are also supposed to shut off the gas to prevent a fire – too many tasks during a singularly frightening and dangerous moment.
All I knew was that I didn’t feel safe in the house with its paperthin walls and ceilings. I knew that my wife and I needed to get out of the house, but first we had to put on our shoes, a frustrating secondary step when you’re trying to flee a house.
We hit the road outside as the earth shifted beneath our feet, rolling in what felt like waves. Cars were stopped in the road and our neighbors came rushing out to join us; many crouched low to the ground trying to find some sort of stability as the earth rocked like a ship hit by a torpedo.
I tried to find the safest place and realized, in the Tokyo suburban sprawl that houses 33 million people, nowhere was truly safe. Above us the sky was blackened, not by smoke, but by a cat’s cradle of swinging electrical lines. Inside, outside, it didn’t matter; nowhere was really safe.
The quake lasted for almost three minutes. That is a very long time when the earth is moving under your feet. The country was hit with aftershocks reaching 7 that would have been massive if not compared to the original.
Alarm bells rang, the television beeped and binged as tsunami warnings flooded the airwaves. In a country used to earthquakes, this was something different. Lifetime residents of Tokyo remarked how it was the biggest they had ever felt, and we weren’t even at the center of the quake.
In Northern Japan, in Iwate and Fukushima Prefectures, the devastation was only just beginning. Soon after the first quake hit, while we sat glued to the television, our family gathered together as we watched in horror a 10-meter tsunami destroy the east coast of Japan.
Cars, buses and ships crashed into each other. Entire towns were swept away, houses ablaze as the tsunami waters flooded rivers and jumped dikes. We watch helplessly as Japanese news helicopters showed us live the wall of water advancing, overtaking unsuspecting people as they fled in their cars.
We sat, we watched, and we shook as more aftershocks hit one after the other.
We were fortunate. Our family and friends were safe, if not all with us due to the complete shutdown of Tokyo’s train system, which trapped millions of people in the city. I was to fly out and return to Kosovo on Saturday. I felt helpless having to leave when the need was so great. As an aid worker, I spend my life jumping from one crisis to the next. Now I was leaving this crisis and my family behind.
The next day an overburdened Narita Airport, I am feeling sick to my stomach at leaving my wife behind. As another earthquake hits us in the airport the steady shaking sends a women next to me into a panic and she tries to flee into multiple walls of people, each waiting to get to a check-in counter. Her husband is the only one to leave his line; he gently pulls her back, her face swollen from the frightened sobs that rack her body.
My journey across Tokyo was like a post-apocalyptic movie. It took me eight hours to navigate the labyrinth of closed train lines, bloated stations and swollen streets. Millions of people waited in patient lines, pressing into stations that had no outlet. People littered the hallways of the city’s underground shopping malls, sleeping, hugging and crying.
Throughout it all I was immensely impressed by the calmness of Japanese crowds, the straightness of the lines and the lack of pushing, shoving and anger that might have affected crowds in any other city in the world. The police funneled people to keep waves of people moving where they could.
When I finally got on a train moving towards the airport, we were packed in like sardines. Picture Tokyo at rush hour, times three, plus luggage. Except for the occasional outburst, everyone bore the pain and inconvenience with remarkable stoicism during the grueling three-hour ride. I, of course, missed my flight, but had my wife and family helping me to rebook as I concentrated on getting closer to the airport.
Japanese Quake Makes iPad 2 Even Harder to Find
March 23, 2011 09:40 PM EDT
Apple's iPad 2 is already one of the hardest gadgets to find, and it's going to get even harder. There are new concerns that the Japanese earthquake disrupted supplies of iPad components for quite some time to come.
Various Components of iPad Affected
Unfortunately for Apple, it's not just one part of the iPad 2 that is now difficult to obtain. Apple reportedly gets the iPad's NAND Flash memory, touch screens, image sensors, batteries and chipset resins from Japan according to CNNMoney. With the Japanese supply network in tatters after the March 11th earthquake and resulting tsunami, it's difficult to imagine that these components will be back in typical supply for the foreseeable future.
Already 4-5 Week Wait for iPad 2
Apple was already facing criticism for the fact that consumers in the US are waiting four to five weeks for delivery of their iPads, and this wait was established before the earthquake. Investors are growing more agitated with Apple, particularly because they are not delaying the international launch of the iPad 2 set for Friday. Apple's stock is falling, and it's not hard to see why.
Not Just iPad 2
For tech geeks, this is an issue that is going to resonate for quite some time. Japan is responsible for 35 percent of the world's NAND Flash production. NAND Flash is at the heart of many of the latest gadgets, so this is going to affect every part of the technology market for months to come.
March 23, 2011 09:40 PM EDT
Apple's iPad 2 is already one of the hardest gadgets to find, and it's going to get even harder. There are new concerns that the Japanese earthquake disrupted supplies of iPad components for quite some time to come.
Various Components of iPad Affected
Unfortunately for Apple, it's not just one part of the iPad 2 that is now difficult to obtain. Apple reportedly gets the iPad's NAND Flash memory, touch screens, image sensors, batteries and chipset resins from Japan according to CNNMoney. With the Japanese supply network in tatters after the March 11th earthquake and resulting tsunami, it's difficult to imagine that these components will be back in typical supply for the foreseeable future.
Already 4-5 Week Wait for iPad 2
Apple was already facing criticism for the fact that consumers in the US are waiting four to five weeks for delivery of their iPads, and this wait was established before the earthquake. Investors are growing more agitated with Apple, particularly because they are not delaying the international launch of the iPad 2 set for Friday. Apple's stock is falling, and it's not hard to see why.
Not Just iPad 2
For tech geeks, this is an issue that is going to resonate for quite some time. Japan is responsible for 35 percent of the world's NAND Flash production. NAND Flash is at the heart of many of the latest gadgets, so this is going to affect every part of the technology market for months to come.
Mothers receive bottled water at a healthcare center in Tokyo Thursday, March 24, 2011 as the Tokyo Metropolitan Government starts to distribute three small bottles of water each to an estimated 80,000 families with babies of 12 months or younger. New readings showed Tokyo tap water was back to safe levels Thursday but the relief was tempered by elevated levels in two neighboring prefectures of the cancer-causing element: Chiba and Saitama.
instead of LV bags, now japs shop for mineral water and instant noodles
South Korea travel industry takes big hit after quake crisis in Japan
SEOUL (Kyodo) -- South Korea's travel industry for outbound and inbound Japan tours has taken a big hit following this month's devastating earthquake and tsunami that sparked a nuclear crisis.
Travel industry officials say the number of South Koreans traveling to Japan has fallen sharply since the magnitude 9.0 quake struck Japan's northeast on March 11.
The operator of a ferry service that links the southern South Korean city of Busan with Tsushima in southwestern Japan's Nagasaki Prefecture has decided to suspend it from April 1 for at least six months.
Major travel companies have reported extensive cancellations of air tickets for Japan-bound flights and Japan-bound tour packages.
The number of Japanese travelers to South Korea has also shrunk since the disaster, which devastated coastal cities in northeastern Japan and left more than 24,000 dead or missing in addition to crippling the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex.
Daea Express Shipping Co., the South Korean operator of the Busan-Tsushima ferry service, says the number of passengers, mostly South Koreans, dropped sharply beginning March 12.
There were just about 10 passengers on some runs on the route, which is served by high-speed ferry boasts with a capacity for 300 passengers, Daea officials said in explaining the company's decision to suspend the service.
Daea has not decided whether to reopen the service after the six-month suspension.
According to South Korean media reports, the number of passengers traveling on ferry services linking Busan with Shimonoseki in Yamaguchi Prefecture and Osaka has dropped to just about 20 percent of the pre-quake level.
The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry said Tuesday the number of Japanese visitors to duty-free shops in South Korea dropped about 20 percent after the earthquake.
Japanese travelers to South Korea were seen loading up on bottled water, instant noodles and other emergency supplies before heading back to Japan, Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry officials said.
According to the Korea Tourism Organization, 1995 saw a 36 percent fall in the Japanese travelers to South Korea from the previous year after the Great Hanshin Earthquake struck the Osaka-Kobe area in January 1995.
Korea Tourism Organization officials say they expect a similar pattern of decline among Japanese travelers to South Korea after the March 11 earthquake.
South Korea travel industry takes big hit after quake crisis in Japan
SEOUL (Kyodo) -- South Korea's travel industry for outbound and inbound Japan tours has taken a big hit following this month's devastating earthquake and tsunami that sparked a nuclear crisis.
Travel industry officials say the number of South Koreans traveling to Japan has fallen sharply since the magnitude 9.0 quake struck Japan's northeast on March 11.
The operator of a ferry service that links the southern South Korean city of Busan with Tsushima in southwestern Japan's Nagasaki Prefecture has decided to suspend it from April 1 for at least six months.
Major travel companies have reported extensive cancellations of air tickets for Japan-bound flights and Japan-bound tour packages.
The number of Japanese travelers to South Korea has also shrunk since the disaster, which devastated coastal cities in northeastern Japan and left more than 24,000 dead or missing in addition to crippling the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex.
Daea Express Shipping Co., the South Korean operator of the Busan-Tsushima ferry service, says the number of passengers, mostly South Koreans, dropped sharply beginning March 12.
There were just about 10 passengers on some runs on the route, which is served by high-speed ferry boasts with a capacity for 300 passengers, Daea officials said in explaining the company's decision to suspend the service.
Daea has not decided whether to reopen the service after the six-month suspension.
According to South Korean media reports, the number of passengers traveling on ferry services linking Busan with Shimonoseki in Yamaguchi Prefecture and Osaka has dropped to just about 20 percent of the pre-quake level.
The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry said Tuesday the number of Japanese visitors to duty-free shops in South Korea dropped about 20 percent after the earthquake.
Japanese travelers to South Korea were seen loading up on bottled water, instant noodles and other emergency supplies before heading back to Japan, Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry officials said.
According to the Korea Tourism Organization, 1995 saw a 36 percent fall in the Japanese travelers to South Korea from the previous year after the Great Hanshin Earthquake struck the Osaka-Kobe area in January 1995.
Korea Tourism Organization officials say they expect a similar pattern of decline among Japanese travelers to South Korea after the March 11 earthquake.
Re: BIG in tokyo now - mineral water and instant noodles
Canandaigua, N.Y. — Seventeen miles below the surface of the Pacific Ocean and 80 miles east of the city of Sendai on the main Japanese island of Honshu, an earthquake along a fault in the Earth’s surface and a subsequent tsunami rocked the very foundation of Japan. It registered 8.9 on the Richter Scale when it struck on March 11 but has been revised to a 9 on the scale developed by Charles Richter in 1935 to measure the magnitude of an earthquake.
Previously, the highest recorded Richter Scale quake, a 9, happened in Chile in 1960. Now that the Japanese earthquake has been elevated to a 9, it will enter the record books but as the world knows, it is the devastation, not the number, which has captured our attention. As the Japanese prime minister reminded the world, this is the greatest disaster to hit Japan since the end of World War II.
Geologists fear that it is only a matter of time before the West Coast of the United States is struck, which was the case in Alaska in March 1964. But let’s say there is a quake, followed by a 50-foot wall of water that hits California. However devastating the impact on the land, infrastructure, population and economy of the region affected, the rest of the nation would not be shut down. But Japan’s land mass is very different. The entire series of islands are slightly less than the size of California. It is a tightly packed nation with 126.5 million people, less than half of the population of the United States with its 310 million. When one visits Japan, you are never far from the Japanese Sea of the Pacific Ocean. The earthquake moved this island nation 12 feet eastward and also caused a 6.5-inch shift in the rotation of the Earth.
The most pressing problem of Armageddon proportions comes from the possible meltdown of three or more nuclear reactors at the Fukushima site, which is located in Sendai, the city most affected. There has already been a “partial meltdown” of two of the reactors and more than 200,000 people have been evacuated from the surrounding area.
If the partial meltdowns can be contained and other nuclear plants do not start to have the same problems due to a lack of electrical power to cool the reactors, Japan will recover. However, it will not happen in a matter of months. The disaster had already taken a very heavy toll on the economy. With a GDP of $5 trillion, it is the third largest economy. What drives its growth is exports of cars, heavy machinery and electrical products. Fortunately, many of its major auto companies have factories overseas but the key components come from Japan. The Japanese know if they cannot get the situation under control as fast as possible, other nations could pick up a large portion of its market share. This happened to the United Kingdom in the wake of World War II.
Working in Japan’s favor is also the nature of its people who are highly disciplined and patient. There is no concern Japan will fall into chaos or the government will fall. The Japanese also know that they will not be abandoned by the world. Random acts of nature bring out the best in the human community. But if there are a series of successive meltdowns that cannot be contained, Japan and the world will be faced with challenges on a scale never before seen with the exceptions of the destruction caused by World War II in Asia, Europe and the USSR. We can only hope we have seen the worst of the disaster. For the Japanese, we are reminded of the words of Winston Churchill; the coming together of “all the terrible ifs.”
Canandaigua, N.Y. — Seventeen miles below the surface of the Pacific Ocean and 80 miles east of the city of Sendai on the main Japanese island of Honshu, an earthquake along a fault in the Earth’s surface and a subsequent tsunami rocked the very foundation of Japan. It registered 8.9 on the Richter Scale when it struck on March 11 but has been revised to a 9 on the scale developed by Charles Richter in 1935 to measure the magnitude of an earthquake.
Previously, the highest recorded Richter Scale quake, a 9, happened in Chile in 1960. Now that the Japanese earthquake has been elevated to a 9, it will enter the record books but as the world knows, it is the devastation, not the number, which has captured our attention. As the Japanese prime minister reminded the world, this is the greatest disaster to hit Japan since the end of World War II.
Geologists fear that it is only a matter of time before the West Coast of the United States is struck, which was the case in Alaska in March 1964. But let’s say there is a quake, followed by a 50-foot wall of water that hits California. However devastating the impact on the land, infrastructure, population and economy of the region affected, the rest of the nation would not be shut down. But Japan’s land mass is very different. The entire series of islands are slightly less than the size of California. It is a tightly packed nation with 126.5 million people, less than half of the population of the United States with its 310 million. When one visits Japan, you are never far from the Japanese Sea of the Pacific Ocean. The earthquake moved this island nation 12 feet eastward and also caused a 6.5-inch shift in the rotation of the Earth.
The most pressing problem of Armageddon proportions comes from the possible meltdown of three or more nuclear reactors at the Fukushima site, which is located in Sendai, the city most affected. There has already been a “partial meltdown” of two of the reactors and more than 200,000 people have been evacuated from the surrounding area.
If the partial meltdowns can be contained and other nuclear plants do not start to have the same problems due to a lack of electrical power to cool the reactors, Japan will recover. However, it will not happen in a matter of months. The disaster had already taken a very heavy toll on the economy. With a GDP of $5 trillion, it is the third largest economy. What drives its growth is exports of cars, heavy machinery and electrical products. Fortunately, many of its major auto companies have factories overseas but the key components come from Japan. The Japanese know if they cannot get the situation under control as fast as possible, other nations could pick up a large portion of its market share. This happened to the United Kingdom in the wake of World War II.
Working in Japan’s favor is also the nature of its people who are highly disciplined and patient. There is no concern Japan will fall into chaos or the government will fall. The Japanese also know that they will not be abandoned by the world. Random acts of nature bring out the best in the human community. But if there are a series of successive meltdowns that cannot be contained, Japan and the world will be faced with challenges on a scale never before seen with the exceptions of the destruction caused by World War II in Asia, Europe and the USSR. We can only hope we have seen the worst of the disaster. For the Japanese, we are reminded of the words of Winston Churchill; the coming together of “all the terrible ifs.”
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