- 18 Oct 2004
- 2,497
- 110
I first heard the term back in 1994 immediately following the Northridge Earthquake. Elizabeth is correct.
The term is accurate. It is also why Disneyland had to close. These were regions built on either reclaimed land or outright landfills.
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,
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.
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.
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.
You can listen to it at the BBC website quoted above.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.
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.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.
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."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
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.
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.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.