9.0 Earthquake/Tsunami/Fukushima

[ArmandV]

The term is accurate. It is also why Disneyland had to close. These were regions built on either reclaimed land or outright landfills.

I first heard the term back in 1994 immediately following the Northridge Earthquake. Elizabeth is correct.

 

[Glenski]

All right, all right. If you are talking about liquefaction of the ground, that's acceptable. Just to say "houses damaged by liquefaction" is just a bit unnatural and without proper context. Sorry. It's the proofreader in me. Carry on.

 

[undrentide]

All right, all right. If you are talking about liquefaction of the ground, that's acceptable. Just to say "houses damaged by liquefaction" is just a bit unnatural and without proper context. Sorry. It's the proofreader in me. Carry on.

I'm sorry I'm using your language not very accurately, but English is not my native language, and I'm trying to post here to give information related to Tohoku earthquake as best as I can.
I'd be grateful if you can translate the articles from Japanese to English if possible because many latest news are available only in Japanese. I cannot guarantee that my translation is 100% accurate.

 

[Steve Red]

We are all very grateful for everyone's altruistic sharing of time and energy, and we hope the sharing will continue forever. :12:

 

[Glenski]

undrentide,
You can read English articles online in many sources.
The Japan Times
Daily Yomiuri
Mainichi Shinbun

Just saw one article from the DY yesterday, and it referred to "soil liquefaction", which is a much more accurate way of stating the issue.

 

[undrentide]

undrentide,
You can read English articles online in many sources.
The Japan Times
Daily Yomiuri
Mainichi Shinbun

Just saw one article from the DY yesterday, and it referred to "soil liquefaction", which is a much more accurate way of stating the issue.

Thank you Glenski, I'll try to remember that "soil liquefaction" is a much more accurate translation of the word 窶ｰtﾂ湘ｳ窶ｰﾂｻﾂ（ﾅ陳ｻﾂ湘崢） used in this context.

I'm not insisting that my usage of the term "liquefaction" or any other English translation I made is correct.
As I stated in my previous post, I'm not a native speaker of English, and there can be errors in my translation. Many mistakes, perhaps.
The reason I'm not quoting the English version of articles from Japanese media and trying translate from Japanese ones is simply because they appear days later after the Japanese news come up.

If my poor attempt simply does not make sense, or is very much misleading and giving the impression very much opposite to what I intended to convey, your pointing out the errors and suggesting are very much welcome. But ignoring the contents of the article I've posted - this is the thread about the earthquake/tsunami and not "learning English" I believe - and just pointing out the mistake (which seems to be understood by other members) by quoting the definitions from dictionaries as if it is a glaring error is not very encouraging.

-------

An article on the compensation money to be paid to those affected by the nuclear plant problem.
http://mainichi.jp/select/jiken/news/20110429k0000m040109000c.html
ﾅ陳ｴﾅｽq窶氾坂?伉ｹﾅ?Q窶昶?ｦﾂ焦ｾ窶｢'窶侏?審ﾂ債ｸ窶ｰﾃｯ (Nuclear Plant Indemnity Adjustment Committee???) of MEXT formulated the primary guideline of indemnity which is to cover the mental distress as well, unlike the criticality accident case by JCO in 1999 where they had no compensation for the emotional distress caused by the accident.

(I hope someone will translate it into English or find an English version article and post it here.)

 

[Hiroyuki Nagashima]

National Geographic Witness Disaster in Japan Part 1-3 Parte 1-3

National Geographic Witness Disaster in Japan Part 2-3 Parte 2-3

National Geographic Witness Disaster in Japan Part 3-3 Parte 3-3


The movie that this compiled an earthquake of March 11 and the disaster of the tsunami.
I relived the day.
In Tokyo, a train stopped on that day and I took four hours to the home and returned.
I did not think that a tsunami was generated in Tohoku at the time.
I want to express my gratitude to all the people in the world who are supporting Japanese.

 

[Annne]

Terrible. I also read an article about the animals in the Fukushima danger zone. Most of them continue to eat contaminated food and water. There are currently no measures to help these animals =(

 

[Nieves and Co]

Pobre animales... They kill themselfs over.

 

[Annne]

I heard that some organisations are taking measures to help the animals. Hopefully all goes well. :shiver:

 

[Blob]

I was upset to see the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. However I am fascinated by how much sympathy the Japanese are getting as compared to say the Haitians who a few months earlier suffered far more casualties and homelessness, and they had nothing to begin with. I've driven up that road from Tokyo to Sendai and some areas are poor as ****, just like a lot of Japan but pound for pound, Japan is a rich country, people have insurance, they are getting compensation from their government, japanese houses are built to rebuild every 5-10 years anyway, the amount of wealth in Tokyo, just next to the disaster zone is staggering, if some of those monks at the famous shrines sold of an LHD mercedes or two I'm sure they could help a lot of people. Not to mention the hundreds of thousands of rich entrepreneurs and business people in Tokyo. I mean Japan isn't exactly helpless now is it? I mean they can help themselves. Yet every where I turn, its Japan relief CD this, Japan relief fundraiser that (here in Canada). This just didn't happen for any other disaster in my lifetime. Surely we should help the people of Haiti, or Iran last year, or China the year before that, or the far more numerous victims of the Asian tsunami, before we help Japan? Japan has almost the lowest rate of personal charitable giving in the World (anyone that has been to Shibuya station will know that the charity collectors there target foreigners, Japanese wont give), so why are we helping them so much. I think I know the answer, Japan has a good image worldwide, and its government is generous to world causes and the disaster was caught on camera, this brought it home for a lot of people. But is this really the right reason to give all of your charitable donations to Japan? Are they really most in need? Consider this before you give to Japan and not to another, possibly more worthy cause.

ps, this should not apply to residents of Japan, by all means, help and support your adopted country!

 

[FrustratedDave]

Scary experience. This guy was lucky to escape.

 

[undrentide]

On 11th May, JP government announced that TEPCO is to start the temporary payment of compensation (partial payment) to small and medium-sized enterprises, fishermen and farmers affected by the nuclear plant accidents within May.
Temporary payment to the evacuees by TEPCO has already started in April, and based on the framework of support to TEPCO (to be set up today, 12th May), the payment is extended to business operators.

Fishermen and farmers are to claim the payment through their unions or local municipalities. As for small/medium-sized enterprises, a committee consists of chambers of commers, Fukushima prefectural government and the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency shall be set up to discuss how the payment is to be made.

Since the situation of Fukushima No.1 Plant is still unstable, it is expected to take a long time until the total amount of compensation would not be finalized. Compensation for the damages beyond the official shipping restriction or those after lifting the restriction shall be included in the second guide-line.

Source: an article from Sankei News
http://sankei.jp.msn.com/life/news/110512/trd11051201510000-n1.htm
ﾂ【窶｢ﾃｺﾅｽﾃ銀?拿ﾋ彝窶堙ｪﾂ】窶啜ﾅ椎ｽ窶吮??窶堙俄?堙?窶昶?ｦﾂ焦ｾ窶ｰﾂｼ窶｢ﾂ･窶堋｢窶堙鳴 ﾅ陳ｴ窶敖ｭﾅｽﾃｼ窶｢ﾃ凪?堙娯?拈窶ｰﾃ??堙｢窶ｹ邃｢窶ｹﾃ?ｽﾃ停?堙

 

[undrentide]

To anyone who is (still) interested in Tohoku Earthquake/Tsunami and Fukushima Nuclear Plant Accident, I'd like to recommend to watch some videos by Daniel Kahl who's been living in Yamagata, Tohoku region in Japan.
His "Stop the Hysteria" videos (now the series is up to No.9) are worth to watch.
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheDanielKahl?feature=mhsn#p/u/11/tH7JYAphuTE

I am relating a message from the people of Japan to new services around the world -- STOP THE HYSTERIA. You are causing panic amongst the foreign community in Japan by exaggerating the situation at the Fukushima #1 Nuclear Power Plant. Listen to your own nuclear experts, and get back the job of reporting on the humantarian crisis evolving in North Japan.

 

[Yukiko chan]

Thank you! I'm going to share the video on facebook. My brother told me that a friend of his in Japan said the same thing, that some news channels were exaggerating the situation in Japan, and picturing the Japanese government as if it were hiding something and lying to the people.

 

[undrentide]

Thank you! I'm going to share the video on facebook. My brother told me that a friend of his in Japan said the same thing, that some news channels were exaggerating the situation in Japan, and picturing the Japanese government as if it were hiding something and lying to the people.

Thank you, Yukiko chan, I hope more and more people will see what the actual situations are like in Japan.

I think that the programme "Fallout: The Legacy of Chernobyl" by BBC Radio 4 is also interesting.
BBC Radio 4 - Fallout: The Legacy of Chernobyl

Events in Japan have reignited controversy around the safety of nuclear energy, reviving memories of the world's worst nuclear accident, at Chernobyl. But just how bad was the worst? What were the real health consequences of Chernobyl? On the 25th anniversary of the disaster Nick Ross travels to Ukraine, to the ruined plant itself, to meet survivors and to talk to scientists and doctors to try to unravel the truth.
Has Chernobyl turned out to be the health catastrophe that anti-nuclear campaigners claim?
How much of our fear of radiation is rational and how much is based on myth and propaganda surrounding the Chernobyl accident?
Producer: Brian King
An Above The Title production for BBC Radio 4.

You can listen to it at the BBC website quoted above.



It is very important "to fear it right" - not getting panicked and fear-mongering oneself based on incorrect information or underestimate the risk of radioactivity, but taking necessary precaution based on the correct information and understanding without over-reacting.
"Team Nakagawa", Professor Nakagawa and his team of Department of Radiology of Tokyo University Hospital established a blog on 15th March 2011, and they're conveying the information to the public, giving explanation so ordinary people can easily understand as far as possible, and reporting the data they've got and studied.
Pity it is beyond my ability to translate it into English but it really is a great blog.
team nakagawa

 

[Elizabeth]

Thank you! I'm going to share the video on facebook. My brother told me that a friend of his in Japan said the same thing, that some news channels were exaggerating the situation in Japan, and picturing the Japanese government as if it were hiding something and lying to the people.

Are you listening to Japanese news ? The national reporting is playing up the radiation story much more than foreign media outlets. If the government is lying to the people, it is because TEPCO is lying to the government. Even top government spokesman Yukio Edano said yesterday he was unaware of the latest information that the cooling system at the plant was shut down manually and asked for a fuller explanation.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/politics/news/20110517-OYT1T00822.htm?from=main2

 

[Elizabeth]

"Team Nakagawa", Professor Nakagawa and his team of Department of Radiology of Tokyo University Hospital established a blog on 15th March 2011, and they're conveying the information to the public, giving explanation so ordinary people can easily understand as far as possible, and reporting the data they've got and studied.
Pity it is beyond my ability to translate it into English but it really is a great blog.
team nakagawa

That is interesting, undrentide-san. I hadn't followed Cabinet activities in detail other than the controversial decision to raise the official limits of radiation exposure for children in Fukushima Prefecture and not to outlaw outdoor school activities which will force 20 mSv of radiation exposure per year, approximately 20x the accepted international standard.


Some more analysis of the initial response :

很抱歉，wsj.tkm7.com网站上不存在这个页面！
http://jp.wsj.com/Japan/node_237921/?nid=NLM20110519

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Nuclear plant workers suffer internal radiation exposure after visiting Fukushima

"Nobuaki Terasaka, head of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, told the House of Representatives Budget Committee on May 16 that there were a total of 4,956 cases of workers suffering from internal exposure to radiation at nuclear power plants in the country excluding the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, and 4,766 of them involved workers originally from Fukushima who had visited the prefecture after the nuclear crisis. Terasaka revealed the data in his response to a question from Mito Kakizawa, a lawmaker from Your Party."

Full story;
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110521p2a00m0na021000c.html

Workers enter another reactor building at crippled Fukushima plant

"TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Workers trying to restore the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on Wednesday entered the building housing the troubled No. 2 reactor for the first time since an explosion occurred inside the building in the early days of the nuclear crisis."

Full Story;
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110519p2g00m0dm074000c.html

TEPCO documents reveal chaos at Fukushima nuke plant after quake, tsunami

"If there is one word to describe events at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant in the immediate aftermath of the March 11 quake and tsunami -- with cooling systems failing and the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl brewing in its reactors -- it would be "chaos."

Full Story;
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110517p2a00m0na010000c.html

Jesus Christ "sigh" -.- ...

 

[Elizabeth]

Whether the fax was withheld or not, how on earth can you FORGET about SPEEDI in a crisis ? Didn't the Japanese government just spend billions of dollars on development of a simulation system that is basically only used in nuclear situations ? I think it can safely be said that leadership is not about controlling the facts, it is about taking positive, decisive, and proactive measures in the face of the facts. In this case, Kan would have been better off staying in the dark than attempting a premature, morning-after visit to the plant without data that actually delayed emergency measures and added to the disaster.


http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110520p2g00m0dm080000c.html
The government crisis management center was not informed about data on the predicted dispersal of radioactive substances caused by the nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, top government spokesman Yukio Edano said Friday.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano told a news conference that the premier's office received a fax of the computer-simulated estimates about the dispersal of radioactive materials in the early hours of March 12, a day after the powerful earthquake and tsunami that triggered the nuclear crisis, but this remained in the hands of an official at the office and was not passed on to him or Prime Minister Naoto Kan.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

March 22 2011
Signs of big quake emerged in February
Seismic activity began increasing in mid-February in an area about 50 kilometers north of the epicenter of the March 11 magnitude 9.0 earthquake, and shifted southward before the big quake, a study has found.
Full Story;

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110521p2a00m0na020000c.html

TEPCO releases photos of manned mission into Fukushima nuke reactor building
The world has been granted a glimpse of the heart of the nuclear disaster now unfolding at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant with the release of photos of workers inside the No. 2 reactor building there.
Full Story;
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110520p2a00m0na010000c.html

Workers succeed in entering buildings of 3 troubled reactors: TEPCO
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant said Thursday workers have entered the buildings housing three troubled reactors to check what happened inside them after hydrogen explosions took place in the early days of the nuclear crisis.
Full Story;
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110520p2g00m0dm022000c.html

Photos show tsunami slamming into nuke plant;
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/photospecials/graph/plant/index.html

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Whether the fax was withheld or not, how on earth can you FORGET about SPEEDI in a crisis ?

Everything was in chaos, and while there is a lot of focus on Fukushima right now there are also other plants in a state of crisis. There was no emergency plan for a natural disaster this scale. I believe people acted as quickly as they could, but its difficult to act speedily when a whole prefecture is in disorder. Easier said than done.

Didn't the Japanese government just spend billions of dollars on development of a simulation system that is basically only used in nuclear situations ?

What use though is a similation system if it doesn't similate this type of disaster? Fukushima was a triple whammy;
1. Power supplies knocked out by earthquake
2. Back up power generators damaged by earthquake
3. Freshly laid electric cables and supplies then destroyed by the no.1 reactor hydrogen explosion.

All in the midst of tsunami & earthquake aftershocks, thousands of people dead, dying or missing, transport & communications for hundreds of miles severly damaged or knocked out etc etc.

The main issue i have with TEPCO is the positioning of the power plants in the first place and their long history of poor safety records and cover-ups. This nuclear crisis came about because of a long series of screw-ups which started before there was even a earthquake tsunami.

I think it can safely be said that leadership is not about controlling the facts, it is about taking positive, decisive, and proactive measures in the face of the facts.

Hmm well this is an epic scale diverse disaster that is actually worse now than what is was before when it first happened.

There IS a major controlling of the release of facts and both TEPCO & the government are in on it. But releasing all the facts may just cause further chaos & fear amongst the general public in Japan than what can be handled. You can evacuate people but then where do you put the refugees? You can tell people you have a serious nuclear crisis but if it cannot be resolved for many months if not years is it really wise to cause "unecessary" fear & panic? I believe the government is trying to control the release of information to try and help reduce the flow chaos it is trying to deal with (especially with full blown recession now happening).

The government is just trying to maintain its leadership & restore order, which is why there is so much dodgey stuff going on. But i don't agree with all their decision making and personally want a lot more answers on whats going on- if anything people distrust the Japanese government more than ever (and quite rightly so). For me (and i'm sure many other people), ignorance is not bliss.

 

[lotusloveskansai]

Osaka is OK

We had interview with some foreign visitors about Japan after the earthquake at Dotombori in Osaka.
We are spending our daily life as usual now in Osaka.
Actually disaster area has been severly damaged still now,
but other areas in Japan is OK.
Please come to Kansai area!

 

[thomas]

I would like to share an interesting article from the German weekly DER SPIEGEL on the unhealthy relationship between Japan's nuclear industry, their so-called watchdogs (NISA) and the bureaucracy. While a lot of facts surrounding that coterie have surfaced in recent weeks (and have also been mentionned in this thread by many posters) I wasn't aware of how grave the situation actually was. As someone who has made Japan his home these issues do worry me. Read the article in English or German:

Atomic Industry Too Close to Government for Comfort (German version: Der Atomstaat)

Also, the extent to which news coverage is curtailed by the government and the nuclear lobby who have been grooming complaisant media and a compliable scientific community for years is depressing. Did you know that popular news progammes such as "News 23" (TBS), "Mezamashi TV" (Fuji) and "Hodo Station" (TV Asahi) were/are heavily subsidised by TEPCO? Independent media, critical organisations and scientists are frequently ostracised, excluded or flouted (like for instance Greenpeace whose press conference on water contamination around Fukushima last Thursday was ignored by the mainstream press).

It's good to see that independent (anti-kisha club) journalism still exists: Free Press Association of Japan Takes on the Information Cartel

Link: Free Press Association of Japan (FPAJ)

And a few artists seem to be have jumped on the anti-nuke bandwagon, too:

[youtube]b1DlOG5p9C4&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

I like RankinTaxi's piece, I really do.

 

[Elizabeth]

Everything was in chaos, and while there is a lot of focus on Fukushima right now there are also other plants in a state of crisis. There was no emergency plan for a natural disaster this scale. I believe people acted as quickly as they could, but its difficult to act speedily when a whole prefecture is in disorder. Easier said than done.
What use though is a similation system if it doesn't similate this type of disaster? Fukushima was a triple whammy;
1. Power supplies knocked out by earthquake
2. Back up power generators damaged by earthquake
3. Freshly laid electric cables and supplies then destroyed by the no.1 reactor hydrogen explosion.
All in the midst of tsunami & earthquake aftershocks, thousands of people dead, dying or missing, transport & communications for hundreds of miles severly damaged or knocked out etc etc.
The main issue i have with TEPCO is the positioning of the power plants in the first place and their long history of poor safety records and cover-ups. This nuclear crisis came about because of a long series of screw-ups which started before there was even a earthquake tsunami.
Hmm well this is an epic scale diverse disaster that is actually worse now than what is was before when it first happened.
There IS a major controlling of the release of facts and both TEPCO & the government are in on it. But releasing all the facts may just cause further chaos & fear amongst the general public in Japan than what can be handled. You can evacuate people but then where do you put the refugees? You can tell people you have a serious nuclear crisis but if it cannot be resolved for many months if not years is it really wise to cause "unecessary" fear & panic? I believe the government is trying to control the release of information to try and help reduce the flow chaos it is trying to deal with (especially with full blown recession now happening).
The government is just trying to maintain its leadership & restore order, which is why there is so much dodgey stuff going on. But i don't agree with all their decision making and personally want a lot more answers on whats going on- if anything people distrust the Japanese government more than ever (and quite rightly so). For me (and i'm sure many other people), ignorance is not bliss.

I'm sympathetic to the breadth of the disaster and high radiation levels making it difficult for company officials to provide accurate on the ground verification of the the reality of the situation until recently. A crisis of this magnitude is going to provoke disorientation and panic no matter how well responders know the plans or are comfortable with making critical decisions with limited and conflicting information.

But TEPCO unfortunately delayed its initial reaction to the disaster due to concerns over damaging valuable power assets and by initial passivity on the part of the government. Public safety/order wasn't even on their radar. Japanese government in turn delayed evacuations/ nuclear emergency measures to protect TEPCO profits and minimize economic fallout.

Typical Japanese management response of everyone's head in the sand so no one gets blamed for a negative outcome. Wait as long as you can before doing something, and then apologize for not doing something sooner.

Non-Japanese experts probably need to be brought in to get this all in gear. It is basically a culture problem of process and effort over results. No one wants to tell their boss bad news, no one wants to set realistic dates for cleanup, etc. Communicating the risks of low-dose radiation exposure and other technical matters in the aftermath of a disaster is also very difficult for so risk averse a management style, especially when the science is still so controversial. There is some indication that dangers of low-dose exposure MAY be overestimated in the science, for instance. It is therefore alright to raise permissible limits and let farmers/fishermen get back to their land without subsequent testing as may be happening through back channels because cancerous tumors are "down the road"?

I just hope that a decent level of soil decontamination is possible. The more community pressure the better - preferably directly by the groups getting most screwed (nuclear workers, Fukushima evacuees, families, businesses etc). I'm personally more on the side of action being taken and it being de-politicised as much as possible. Because like bureaucrats everywhere, local officials are going to be more interested in protecting the local economy and saving their budgets than in protecting their people.

Of course there will always be limitations on citizens as well as government responders, no matter how well prepared, when a truly catastrophic event occurs. But I do think it is safe to say that for a variety of reasons the Japanese people are incredibly unprepared for uncertain and unanticipated disasters that break the mold of established systems and scripted warnings.