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Earthquake in japan


Murphy

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My god, U.S. news just reported that Japanese officials are expecting a death toll of over 1000. I hope they are wrong and that rescue crews can help. I'm sure the world will help Japan ASAP. To all of our friends there in Japan, stay safe and warm if you are still without heat.

Chris

Edited by Dobber
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I just got home an hour ago. I got stranded in Yokohama... I was riding the subway when the quake struck, the train car was wobbling so bad I thought it would turn over. Pretty scary stuff. Had to wait till the trains began working around 11 PM. I was out all day and with minimal online access, the company's BB had signal but seems they were limiting the bandwidth so to not crash the system.

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My god, U.S. news just reported that Japanese officials are expecting a death toll of over 1000. I hope they are wrong and that rescue crews can help. I'm sure the world will help Japan ASAP. To all of our friends there in Japan, stay safe and warm if you are still without heat.

Chris

Last I saw was that there were tens of hundreds of people missing. At least one passenger train (with passengers!) disappeared in the tsunami. It may be too early to say exactly, but if the missing people were sucked out to sea, or are simply unable to get dry clothes and a source of heat, prospects are not good.

Edited by sketchley
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I've been following this closely since yesterday and it's truly unfortunate to say the least. I could not believe the airport in Sendai was literellay submerged. Hopefully the US military stationed in Japan will finally earn their keep during the relief effort as I'm sure there is many in need now.

This must be pretty crushing for HLJ who has not only been hit hard by the economy but now with damaged stock. At least they've said their employees are safe and that's something to be thankful for.

I'm supposed to be in Japan in about two weeks not sure how that's going to go now.

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I'm supposed to be in Japan in about two weeks not sure how that's going to go now.

Why's that? Were you planning to go to the places that have been hardest hit by the earthquake and tsunami? Baring any further large events, it's a safe bet to say that Tokyo will be sorted out by the end of the weekend.

Aside from the Tohoku region, the rest of Japan is pretty much the same as before.

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Glad everyone here is ok, at least. Saw the BREAKING NEWS on CNN.com last night right before I went to bed when they initially reported it as a magnitude 7. Woke up and found out it was much worse. :(

Are they saying anything about the damaged nuclear reactor on Japanese news? MSNBC and CNN keep going back and forth on it. One minute it is getting better, but the next minute the pressure is rising along with the radiation level.

Edited by HoveringCheesecake
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Glad everyone here is ok, at least. Saw the BREAKING NEWS on CNN.com last night right before I went to bed when they initially reported it as a magnitude 7. Woke up and found out it was much worse. :(

Are they saying anything about the damaged nuclear reactor on Japanese news? MSNBC and CNN keep going back and forth on it. One minute it is getting better, but the next minute the pressure is rising along with the radiation level.

my friend in Tokyo is saying they have the reactor under control. But I wonder how much of that is BS just to keep people from freaking out.

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Was just watching MSNBC and President Obama was giving a press conference & said that the US Marines and US Navy are on the way, as well as the forces stationed in Japan for immediate support. Possibly the USS Ronald Reagan as well for air support and any needed evacuations. The carrier is news via Yahoo.com

Again its good to see alot of MW members checking in and you guys are ok over there!!

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my friend in Tokyo is saying they have the reactor under control. But I wonder how much of that is BS just to keep people from freaking out.

As I understand it, the reactor is holding but the cooling units are offline due to the loss of power. If they can't get the cooling units online, then they'll have to release pressure.

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I certainly hope everything is status quo in a few days Sketchley. I had seen some reports of damage even in Tokyo like some to Disneyland but hopefully when everything is finally assessed thoroughly damage will indeed be minor.

I had seen it reported the US military had shipped reactor coolant to Japan? Who knows what's true though.

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But,,, is Shoji Kawamori ok?? *come on guys, you have to try make light of what happened just a little*

No

Edit** not when 200 or more people have perished!

Edited by Snail00
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As I understand it, the reactor is holding but the cooling units are offline due to the loss of power. If they can't get the cooling units online, then they'll have to release pressure.

Pressure=Radiation? What kind of damage are we talking here?

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My god, U.S. news just reported that Japanese officials are expecting a death toll of over 1000. I hope they are wrong and that rescue crews can help. I'm sure the world will help Japan ASAP. To all of our friends there in Japan, stay safe and warm if you are still without heat.

Chris

Last I saw was that there were tens of hundreds of people missing. At least one passenger train (with passengers!) disappeared in the tsunami. It may be too early to say exactly, but if the missing people were sucked out to sea, or are simply unable to get dry clothes and a source of heat, prospects are not good.

official kyodo news agency is reporting that about 88,000 people are missing.

japanese police have now confirmed that between 200 and 300 bodies have been found on the beach near sendai, the closest city to the epicentre.

nhk television said the victims appeared to have drowned.

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I certainly hope everything is status quo in a few days Sketchley. I had seen some reports of damage even in Tokyo like some to Disneyland but hopefully when everything is finally assessed thoroughly damage will indeed be minor.

I believe the areas most effected in Tokyo are built on landfills. Not sure what the cause of the fire in the Odaiba building was, but what happened at Tokyo Disneyland is clearly liquefaction.

I had seen it reported the US military had shipped reactor coolant to Japan? Who knows what's true though.

BBC news reported that, too. But more in the sense of transferred from an in-Japan facility to the facilities most in need of the coolant.

As the reactor had largely disappeared from the TV news at around 23:00, I'd say that either it's under control, or that it's situation is unchanged.

It's interesting that CNN et al are focusing more on the reactor situation, as the news here was focused more on emergency shelters and Tokyo commuters struggling to get home.

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Glad any MWers in the country appear to be okay. I have a couple of contacts in Japan - in fact, I'm due to fly out and meet them in three weeks, will have to see what happens between now and then - and they've reported they're okay if a bit shaken. There is one person I'm quite worried about, though, who lives in Sendai...

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Pressure=Radiation? What kind of damage are we talking here?

No. Pressure in the heavy water used for cooling within the reactor vessel. If it builds up too much heat, turning into steam, there's a possibility it could rupture the reactor vessel, potentially spilling radioactive material into the facility, and possibly beyond.

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Really happy to hear that all our MW members in japan are reporting in safe. At work with the Red Cross and we're getting all sorts of inquiries about how the general public can help. Immediately, it is difficult to provide any assistance that can make an impact.

The local Japanese government and disaster relief agencies like the Japanese Red Cross need to assess their ability to handle and cope with the disaster and then they put out a call to the international Red Cross society for international aid.

When it is safe, and we are requested, then we can send out an international disaster relief support team where needed and use donor dollars to help the relief operation.

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Our business trip to Aomori has been cancelled as just announced by our boss. There is no power in Aomori due to the power plant shutdown. My other co-workers reported to be ok on the Marshall Islands and in Hawaii.

The amount of power unleashed by these super quakes are unimaginable. The largest quake I have ever experienced was 7.3 in 1992 at Southern California. It was impossible to walk without falling down. So an 8.9 quake, about 160 times more powerful, is almost incomprehensible.

Even though I wish for the best outcome for Japan and other countries affected, it is difficult to ignore the terrible reality of this event. All I can say is to be prepare for emergencies at all times and help others in need when a crisis does occur.

Do your best everyone.

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Images of the destruction and video recorded by various people.

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/03/earthquake-in-japan/100022/

http://gizmodo.com/#!5780964/the-japan-earthquake-seen-by-millions-of-digital-cameras-updating-live/gallery/1

Lots of large aftershocks all over the place it seems...

HLJ's warehouse btw,

post-10165-0-16994800-1299870999_thumb.jpgpost-10165-0-33373200-1299871002_thumb.jpg

Edited by shiroikaze
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This is terrible, I read this on the bbc site this morning. Good to see the lads on here are safe, just hope others are just as lucky. I wouldn't worry too much about the nuclear stations. The reactors have many fail safes and precedures incase of loss of power.

Edited by MadCatChiken
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From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12307698 (ignore the middle east part, they just haven't changed the link yet)

All times GMT.

1851: More on the troubled nuclear plant: Japan's trade minister, Banri Kaieda, says authorities are nearing a decision to release radioactive steam from the Fukushima nuclear reactor in a bid to ease a build-up of pressure, AFP reports. Thousands of local residents have been evacuated.

1847: ABC's Christiane Amanpour tweets: "Coolant for compromised nuclear plant in #Japan is simply water. Diesel generators sent in to get water pumps running."

1841: The situation at the nuclear reactor at Fukushima seems to be worsening. Japanese authorities are now to release radioactive vapour to ease pressure, AP news agency reports. Engineers are trying to fix the cooling system to the main reactor, damaged in the quake.

1803: President Barack Obama says the US is ready to give Japan any assistance it needs to stabilise the nuclear reactor in Fukushima. Officials have said pressure is rising after a cooling system failure.

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Biggest quake to hit Japan in 1200 years, as reported from BBC

" The 8.9-magnitude earthquake which struck Japan on Friday was the strongest in the area in nearly 1,200 years, David Applegate, a senior science adviser at the US Geological Survey, tells the Associated Press. He says the quake ruptured a patch of the earth's crust 240km (150 miles) long and 80km (50 miles) across. "

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Biggest quake to hit Japan in 1200 years, as reported from BBC

" The 8.9-magnitude earthquake which struck Japan on Friday was the strongest in the area in nearly 1,200 years, David Applegate, a senior science adviser at the US Geological Survey, tells the Associated Press. He says the quake ruptured a patch of the earth's crust 240km (150 miles) long and 80km (50 miles) across. "

did you see that video of the giant whirlpool that formed after the quake?

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