Surprised

[artme]

Just surprised that there has been no comment on the situation in Japan.:no:

Surely we can't ignore this!!

Apart from the loss of life and the massive destruction there is the possibility of a neuclear disaster. Grim indeed!

[Ironwood]

I was wondering the same thing.
This morning on the radio (ABC news), they said the authorities were expececting the death toll to exceed 10,000 . A sobering thought.
The neuclear situation is apparently being played down by the Japenese authorities. Other reports are sounding like a different story. Hopefully things will not be as bad as feared.

[wheelinround]

Japan battles nuclear crisis - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/03/13/3162802.htm)

seems their web page has a bit.

Has anyone heard how Stu from Japan is ???

[wheelinround]

I was wondering the same thing.
This morning on the radio (ABC news), they said the authorities were expececting the death toll to exceed 10,000 . A sobering thought.
The neuclear situation is apparently being played down by the Japenese authorities. Other reports are sounding like a different story. Hopefully things will not be as bad as feared.


Media in Australia sucks the 10,000 (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1365569/Japan-earthquake-tsunami-10-000-people-missing-Minamisanriku-aftershocks-hamper-rescue-efforts.html)are from a town devastated by the Tsunami waters not the plant.

I hate just sitting around doing nothing and watching well meaning people who are trained, no one is trained for these sorts of disasters. Time is wasted by bureaucracy :~.

[mic-d]

Media in Australia sucks the 10,000 (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1365569/Japan-earthquake-tsunami-10-000-people-missing-Minamisanriku-aftershocks-hamper-rescue-efforts.html)are from a town devastated by the Tsunami waters not the plant.

I hate just sitting around doing nothing and watching well meaning people who are trained, no one is trained for these sorts of disasters. Time is wasted by bureaucracy :~.
That's a bloody badly worded sentence, but I don't think the intention was to link the deaths to the radiation. It's an absolute tragedy unfolding. A dam also burst in Fukushima province, wiping out scores of houses and an oil refinery exploded and burned for hours also killing many and spewing toxic gas and liquids into the air and ground.

Cheers
Michael

[BobL]

For us we are reliving the close shave of the Kobe quake. We were living in Tokyo at the time and had planned to be in Kobe on the day of the quake. After booking our train tickets for and accommodation in Kobe SWMBO said can we go a day later because she wanted to go to a traditional clothing market which was only operating one day a month. So after a few hassles I managed to change the arrangements. Early on the morning of quake I was in the lab when the main quake went off. I didn't feel it but SWMBO did. Minutes later we set out for Kobe not knowing the scale of the disaster and it was only when we got to the Yokohama bullet train station did we sense there was a problem because the trains were not running to schedule. Eventually I managed to call my host in Kobe who repeated over and over, "Not come Kobe".

The hotel we had booked was pancaked. Now SWMBO can go shopping any time she likes :2tsup:

We were very impressed with the scale of their preparations for these things, evacuation drills, fire drills, tsunami warnings on TV, the engineering of the evacuation centres and tall buildings etc, but if a quake happens relatively close to shore their systems are still not fast enough to warn people to get away.

[Groggy]

Stu from Japan is ok. There is another thread (http://www.woodworkforums.com/f43/may-off-topic-132585/) where this was mentioned.

[wheelinround]

:2tsup:

[Enfield Guy]

I'm feeling a little bit of disaster overload at the moment. What with the floods in Brissy, friends in Townsville for the cyclone, friends in Vic affected by flood, Friends in Christchuch affected by the earthquake, Friends in Japan affected by the horrors over there. I was booked to go to Christchurch the weekend after the quake, naturally I cancelled that trip.

Not good. There is a heap of volcanic activity going on around as well.

Cheers
Keep smiling.

[rrich]

Did Australia receive any damage from the Tsunami?

Northern California did have some minimal damage but in Southern California the coast more or less parallels the direction of the Tsunami so damage was nil.

[artme]

No damage here Rich. We are well shielded by the islands to the north and north east of us.

Seems as if the nuclear problem could eventually be worse than the quake and tsunami.:oo::C

[mic-d]

Seems as if the nuclear problem could eventually be worse than the quake and tsunami.:oo::C

Please think about how you might quantify that. I've been reading another forum's thread on the earthquake and tsunami that quickly degenerated into an argument about nuclear power. Let's not go the same way here. Two tragic event of epic proportions have occurred. The unfolding nuclear situation is anything but clear.

Cheers
Michael

[Groggy]

Don't forget the fourth estate has the right to spruke misleading information in the interests of sales and ratings. Save yourself some heartbeats and don't believe the media, they really should be sued for culpable reporting.

Here is a link with some good explanations (http://bravenewclimate.com/2011/03/13/fukushima-simple-explanation/#more-3970).

[mic-d]

Don't forget the fourth estate has the right to spruke misleading information in the interests of sales and ratings. Save yourself some heartbeats and don't believe the media, they really should be sued for culpable reporting.

Here is a link with some good explanations (http://bravenewclimate.com/2011/03/1...ion/#more-3970).
That links not working for me. Here's one I have (http://bravenewclimate.com/2011/03/12/japan-nuclear-earthquake/)
Cheers
Michael

[Groggy]

Fixed (http://bravenewclimate.com/2011/03/13/fukushima-simple-explanation/#more-3970)

[artme]

The fourth estate comments are cogent Mic.

I was thinking ahead to the worst case scenario as per Chernobyl. Two explosions so far and the Japanese PM is distinctly worried.

Immediate loss of life is not the main concern here. The release of radiactivity that could drift across to continental Asia hardly bears thinking about. The long term effects could be profound both in Japan and on the continent. Can you imagine the political argy bargy arising from this on top of the other consequences??

[AlexHW]

Yes how devastating, my wife has been crying for days.(lots of Japanese friends)

I can't watch the news anymore, too horrible.

[jimbur]

I suspect that the reason that a response to the Japanese earthquake/tsunami was so slow on this site was the same as mine. The scale of the disaster just takes you aback. That this can happen to an advanced industrial nation, one that has been prepared for generations for earthquakes, is mind-numbing.
Whether or not you agree with the use of nuclear power for electricity generation the fact is inescapable that sufficient safeguards were not in place for this eventuality. The apologists have already started to excuse it by claiming that the worst problems come from forty year old reactors. Why then were not the lessons learned in the past forty years and the safeguards built into more recent reactors retro-fitted? You don't leave the same set of tyres on a car for all its useful life.
Even worse, media reports have not been able to mitigate the impact of the disaster by bringing up such concepts as the "Aussie spirit", or in the case of Christchurch, the Anzac spirit.
I believe we all feel less safe and more likely to ask, "but what if?"
Cheers,
Jim

[cookie48]

Gentlemen. Thankyou for these very interesting articles. I have found them to very good in my understanding of what is happening. But I am still concerned for what can happen.
Once again thankyou.