Tohoku Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Disaster!!!

[2triky]

[Yokohammer]

Things are getting pretty judgmental around here.
Quite a few broad, sweeping condemnations with not much to back 'em up.

Not good in itself, and not a productive environment for discussion.

Time to take a break and get on with life, I guess.

[FG Lurker]

Things are getting pretty judgmental around here.
Quite a few broad, sweeping condemnations with not much to back 'em up.

Not good in itself, and not a productive environment for discussion.

Time to take a break and get on with life, I guess.

I don't blame the people of Tohoku for this disaster. They trusted the Japanese govt to safely manage nuclear power and ended up getting fucked. Now people are being asked to trust that the same Japanese govt is safely managing the food supply. I don't find it at all surprising that a lot of people are finding it pretty difficult to do that.

[MrUltimateGaijin]

[matsuki]

[2triky]

[2triky]

Japan Red Cross says whole year wasted in post-tsunami

By Tetsushi Kajimoto

TOKYO (Reuters) - The Japanese Red Cross said on Wednesday an entire year has been lost in rebuilding tsunami-ravaged areas of the country because the central government and local authorities had failed to agree on a "master plan."

It also said that the slow pace of reconstruction was deepening mental suffering and called for intensified efforts to bring the region back to life.

A year after the magnitude 9.0 earthquake on March 11 unleashed a tsunami that killed about 16,000 and triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl, about 326,000 people are still homeless. Nearly 3,300 remain unaccounted for.

"The central government has proposed different scenarios, but they were met with strong opposition from local governments and also people affected directly by the earthquake and tsunami," Japanese Red Cross President Tadateru Konoe told Reuters alongside a press event marking the anniversary.

"Without reaching any agreement on a master plan for rehabilitation and reconstruction, it's very difficult to even start a reconstruction process. I think the first thing is to hasten this process, then they can mobilize...

"I think that should be the very start of everything. So one year has been wasted in that sense because they haven't been able to reach any consensus."

Hopes that the triple disaster would jolt Japan out of longstanding economic and political torpor have so far proved unfounded.

Government debt accumulates, while key decisions keep being postponed and politicians have reverted to skirmishing in a deadlocked parliament. Public mistrust of officials and politicians has risen.

The Red Cross has raised 400 billion yen ($4.95 billion) over the past year in donations from Japan and abroad, providing 290 billion yen in cash payouts to affected residents.

It said Red Cross activities had shifted over the year from attending to the urgent medical needs of survivors, many of them elderly, to long-term support - including help in building temporary and permanent health facilities.

PSYCHOLOGICAL BURDENS

Uncertainty, it said, was deepening a sense of isolation felt by many survivors, adding to huge psychological burdens.

"The slow pace of reconstruction along Japan's devastated northeastern coastline is contributing to survivors' stress, as there is little clarity on how long they will have to remain in cramped temporary housing," it said in a statement.

Patrick Fuller, communications manager at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said people in affected areas were isolated -- they had lost their homes and were separated from relatives forced to earn a living elsewhere.

"Just bringing a sense of well-being to people is really important. Even a year on, there's a lot of emotional scars the people are still dealing with," he told Reuters. "How do the people view their future? Is it sustainable to remain in some of these towns where life is coming back very slowly?"

Communities close to the Fukushima nuclear plant, crippled by the disaster, have to cope with additional stress and anxiety over long-term effects of radiation released after reactor meltdowns at the station, the Red Cross said.

"Mothers won't let their children outside to play. They are living in an information vacuum," Konoe said in the statement.

The Japanese Red Cross plans to hold a conference in Tokyo in May to help set guidelines on helping people cope.

"The legacy of such disasters has taught us to do more to help people prepare for such eventualities," Konoe said in the statement.

Source

[CrankyBastard]

[dimwit]

I find it interesting that most of the sentences use the past tense, giving the impression that it's already in the past. I believe there's still an immediate danger.
If the storage pool at #4 gets shaken much more there's a danger that things could get much worse!
Diverting attention to preparing for the "Big One in Tokyo" doesn't alleviate my fears of what can still happen in Fukushima, either!!

Well speaking from a geological point of view it is unlikely that there will be another big earthquake in the Tohoku region for a large number of years as the last earthquake released a huge stress. Smaller quakes are possible but they are not likely to do anymore structural damage that has not already been done.

[Coligny]

Well speaking from a geological point of view it is unlikely that there will be another big earthquake in the Tohoku region for a large number of years as the last earthquake released a huge stress. Smaller quakes are possible but they are not likely to do anymore structural damage that has not already been done.

Disclaimer: Post brought to you by 'Statistics(tm)', any links with real life events are purely accidental.

[2triky]

I find it interesting that most of the sentences use the past tense, giving the impression that it's already in the past. I believe there's still an immediate danger.
If the storage pool at #4 gets shaken much more there's a danger that things could get much worse!
Diverting attention to preparing for the "Big One in Tokyo" doesn't alleviate my fears of what can still happen in Fukushima, either!!
This problem didn't happen a year ago. It started a year ago.

I don't disagree that there is still a potential for danger given the languishing situation in Fukushima, but perhaps addressing that issue was beyond the purview of the paper. Just a thought.

It's distressing that an organization like the Japanese Red Cross is sitting on nearly 5 billion dollars in cash and hasn't been able to mobilize that vast sum of money more effectively, due to government ineptitude and whatever other reasons.

[Bucky]

Well speaking from a geological point of view it is unlikely that there will be another big earthquake in the Tohoku region for a large number of years as the last earthquake released a huge stress. Smaller quakes are possible but they are not likely to do anymore structural damage that has not already been done.

I am not sure who AIR Worldwide is, but they produced a detailed report discussing just exactly the issue of stress and potential for another BIG ONE.

The risk of Japan suffering another major earthquake has increased since the M9.0 Tohoku quake of March 2011 according to research from risk modeller AIR Worldwide. In a report published yesterday AIR discuss the way the energy released by the massive quake last year has put stress on other areas of fault lines throughout the country changing the risk of earthquakes in many areas. Some area have seen stress released from their faults and so earthquake risk lessen, while others including Tokyo have increased.

The Japanese seismic landscape has changed significantly since the M9.0 event last year. AIR staff conducted a detailed analysis of whether and where the stresses relieved by the Tohoku earthquake have been transferred to other neighbouring faults under and around Japan.

Some areas close to where last years quake occurred have seen significant reductions in stress levels according to the report and as a result are less likely to see a major quake, however other areas further from the epicentre of Tohoku have seen increases in stress levels on faults and as a result increased probability of major quakes.

[matsuki]

The Japanese Red Cross said on Wednesday an entire year has been lost in rebuilding tsunami-ravaged areas of the country because the central government and local authorities had failed to agree on a "master plan."

Business as usual in Japan? Act busy and make it look like you're making an effort when nothing is really getting done? (other than you getting paid) I don't see this changing til the next big one hits and Tokyo becomes the disaster area...maybe, just maybe then we'll see some change.

[dimwit]

Disclaimer: Post brought to you by 'Statistics(tm)', any links with real life events are purely accidental.

Yes it is statistics, which may shock you to learn in the basis of all science, as opposed to subjective scaremongering like the Fukushima Diary or whatever you want to base your views on.

When one looks at the historical data (I can't think of a single time when a magnitude 8+ earthquake on a plate boundary was followed up by a another within 20 years) , measures of strain along the faultline and the looks at the fact that the quake submerged a large area of the coastline, there are pretty good indices that there is unlikely to be another biggie anytime soon.
There is however, an increased threat to areas adjoining the faultline which is one of the reasons people are focusing on Tonankei and Tokyo.

[2triky]

Business as usual in Japan? Act busy and make it look like you're making an effort when nothing is really getting done? (other than you getting paid)

As many have said before, despite the extraordinary circumstances there hasn't been an extraordinary (in the fullest academic sense of the word) response...unless one characterizes what has happened thus far as an extraordinarily inadequate one.

[Coligny]

Yes it is statistics, which may shock you to learn in the basis of all science, as opposed to subjective scaremongering like the Fukushima Diary or whatever you want to base your views on.
.

Nope...

Statistics are based on observation of science. They are what you use when you need an answer but still miss bits of the 'science part' called parameters. These day they are like a streetlight for a hobo... to provide support instead of enlightment. When a statement is based on statistics, you are not doing science, your are doing politics.

They are the epitome of "garbage in, garbage out". In fact... mostly like Fukushima diary...

While, the same earthquake happening at the same point seems defacto unlikely. There are just way too many unknown parameters for any honest scientist to say that the situation in daiichi can't be made worse by another earthquake.

You want to know why ?
The buildings of the plant are now extremly weakened with makeshift cooling systems build without any quakeproofing in mind. Most seems to agree by your beloved stats that chance for a huge one hapenning in Tokyo are hight.
Do you honestly think 9.0 around Tokyo won't also shake the remnant of the plant to rubbles ?

[Coligny]

Business as usual in Japan? Act busy and make it look like you're making an effort when nothing is really getting done? (other than you getting paid) I don't see this changing til the next big one hits and Tokyo becomes the disaster area...maybe, just maybe then we'll see some change.

As we say in consulting, it's not because you are no part of the solution that there is no money to be made from the problem.

[matsuki]

[2triky]

[matsuki]

The priorities are well placed, as per usual. </sarcasm>

Sanzaru come to mind, in terms of refusing to acknowledge obvious problems.

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to 2triky again.

[2triky]

Crippled Japanese Reactors Face Decades Of Work

NPR Reporting (audio) 3 min 58 sec

[2triky]

[FG Lurker]

"There is little to suggest that the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl"

Also the world's only nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

[Coligny]

D00d... Tokaimura... at least...

[matsuki]

There is little to suggest that the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl has brought substantially new thinking to nuclear regulation in Japan or stronger urgency to improving safety at its 54 reactors. Regulators are still part of the trade ministry, which promotes nuclear power, rather than the environment ministry, as the government proposed months ago.

I'm still surprised we haven't seen any people grossly affected by all this try to attack the J-gov or TEPCO. As complacent as most Japanese are, losing your home, family, etc., can make anyone snap and seek some vigilante justice.

[2triky]

:rolleyes: I'm still surprised we haven't seen any people grossly affected by all this try to attack the J-gov or TEPCO. As complacent as most Japanese are, losing your home, family, etc., can make anyone snap and seek some vigilante justice.

So far all we got is a shareholder suit against TEPBLOWZ.

[matsuki]

So far all we got is a shareholder suit against TEPBLOWZ.

Yeah, I was more expecting to see some d00d who lost everything go and slay the TEPCO team or gov regulators.

[2triky]

Yeah, I was more expecting to see some d00d who lost everything go and slay the TEPCO team or gov regulators.

To go "postal" as the term goes...

[IparryU]

:rolleyes: I'm still surprised we haven't seen any people grossly affected by all this try to attack the J-gov or TEPCO. As complacent as most Japanese are, losing your home, family, etc., can make anyone snap and seek some vigilante justice.

that is why nothing changed... they held all these "demos" (more like a fucking parade) and nothing was done but fuck up traffic and business hours...

me bets that if a few people got killed or at least held hostage some things will change.

[2triky]

Yeah, I was more expecting to see some d00d who lost everything go and slay the TEPCO team or gov regulators.

I was thinking about this again...and it reminded me of the Michael Douglas movie, "Falling Down." The protagonist totally loses his shit in this flick.