Tohoku Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Disaster!!!

[AML]

Off the grid?

Here's something to keep in mind: Big disaster = no grid.
That includes in the city.

All the more reason to live off it!

Its a possibility these days with mini wind turbines, solar power, all electric housing, back up generators, LED lighting (to save power) and energy efficient house hold appliances.

And even all electric vehicles.

All you would loose is your phone line or internet line. But as we saw in the big quake, that was the last thing to go.

The power grid in Japan is not really capable of handling the demand being placed on it.

So the more people go off the grid, or better yet, start contributing to it, the better.

[Coligny]

It will be after you haven't eaten for three days. It's either that or the cats. Stock up on Calorie Mate ... your cats will thank you for it. ](And don't forget the cat food)[/SIZE]

Yeah, cats are part of the family, not the food chain...
But the #1 priority for feline is water, #2 is water and #3 is water...
after I put food and cat litter nearly at the same level of... neededness...

They might argue a bit for who get the first quibble, even if the young one after half a second of cockiness always give way, but for fresh water refill, even if the source never goes dry and they have one fountain and one bottle dispenser, it's always much more tense...

I know that anything is good when you're hungry, my "Korean Food Poisoning Tour" few years ago put me on edge, not allowed to eat or drink anything for days... But when you have the choice between soon expired calorimate and cheezburgers on normal everyday life... it's a bit more difficult...

This is so true. After the quake we were without water for 11 days (and then 5 more days after the big aftershock), so going round the corner with buckets and poly tanks to get water from Kato-san's well became a daily routine. But that was just daily life a few decades ago. At least we had a well to get water from ... can't count on that in the city.

We have a well in the house 10 min from the clinic (smaller concrete castle... haunted this one, as nobody has lived there at all for the last 20 years...) And I always asked mum to avoid using chemicals to get rid of wild herbs to preserve the well water... She always give me that "wtf are U talking'boot face"... seems to have forgotten that a well is quite a luxury...

[Greji]

For the livestock... ask Greji...

Grilled goat?

[matsuki]

It's either that or the cats.

Sauteed cat with white wine sauce....mmmmmmm

[Coligny]

Grilled goat?

wait... you'ze also into food-pr0n ?!

[Greji]

wait... you'ze also into food-pr0n ?!

What? You've never heard of the Galloping Goat Gourmet?
And you call yourself a Frenchman. Turn in your napkin and steak sauce. You're fired.

[Mike Oxlong]

At least being French he could be familiar with preparing, eating, and even enjoying offal, while the masses of displaced urbanites are searching for their Cup-ramen and One-cup.

[matsuki]

He mentioned food-pr0n, I take that to mean he'll make whoever gets him off being eye candy into food.

[Coligny]

What? You've never heard of the Galloping Goat Gourmet?
And you call yourself a Frenchman. Turn in your napkin and steak sauce. You're fired.

You unwashed barbarian, it's Bearnaise that you'ze treating of being vulgar steak sauce...

[Kuang_Grade]

Dood, not the same kind of building I think... Most structures were a pair of stories high, few concrete buildings and small reinforced concret bulding are quite strong even without quakeproofing in mind. But mostly wooden house that would have just missed a sail or a rudder to be safe... as they were seemingly quite seaworthy... For things absolutely not designed to even move...

Tokyo... You got all height of buildings, meaning different frequency of resonnance, meaning much more change to have one topling on another... plus umptennth level of highway bridge, rail bridge, everything packed together without any common sense... Even in case of fire I'm sure the great London Fire would look like a minor annoyance...

Yes, alot of the buildings on those videos are fairly small, and a smaller, squat building is likely to have a easier time in an earthquake than a larger taller building...but unlike Kobe, where it seemed that some parts of the city, god's hand came down and just smashed lots things (mainly older residential buildings), it seemed that most of the coastal towns weathered a long 6+ reasonably well.

I agree that building resonance issues will likely be prevalent in Tokyo, like they were in Mexico City in 1985. And likewise, I'm sure many modern buildings will survive a certain level of shaking but I wonder if those building were engineered to withstand an earthquake AND the 40 year old 6 story apartment block 2 meters away from said building falling on it at the same time (ie, buildings were engineered as they were standing in the middle of an empty field during an earthquake).

As various disaster planning supplies suggestions, I would add the following 2 things...shoes you can comfortably walk long distances in and possibly this little number (I'm not sure if they are available in Japan, but the are available in AU, US, and UK)
http://www.stanleytools.com/default.asp?TYPE=CATEGORY&CATEGORY=FUBAR%AE+UTILITY+BARS

Either of which should be helpful extricating yourself or others with jammed doorways and has added benefit of broadcasting a fairly strong 'don't fuck with me' vibe when carried.

[Mulboyne]

The Asahi has a piece today saying that the 233m Shinjuku Centre Building kept swaying for 13 minutes during and after the quake.

Source (Japanese)

[Taro Toporific]

http://twitter.com/Shogannai/status/60283637412798464

[Greji]

[legion]

Guy I work with came up with a long term solution for Fukushima. Turn the area around the plant into a big prison.

I think this is brilliant, they could concentrate the entire prison population of Japan into that part of the country, with prison farms where they could produce their own food. Visiting family members would bring money into the region. Young offenders could be sectioned further from the plant, with the option to be moved closer if they were naughty.

[Coligny]

[vitellus]

It will be after you haven't eaten for three days. It's either that or the cats. Stock up on Calorie Mate ... your cats will thank you for it. ](And don't forget the cat food)[/SIZE]

What's the big deal with Calorie Mate?

[Yokohammer]

What's the big deal with Calorie Mate?

Coligny prefers cheeseburgers.

[Coligny]

Coligny prefers cheeseburgers.

Guilty as charged...

[John Dillinger]

I'd like to get an update on how you guys and gals are managing, especially the folks like Yokohammer in the harder hit areas. How are you folks holding up?

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

I'd like to get an update on how you guys and gals are managing, especially the folks like Yokohammer in the harder hit areas. How are you folks holding up?

If I was hung like the real John Dillinger, I'd be holding it up to see for all and sundry...

[Mike Oxlong]

Arnie's back...

[vmo]22586794[/vmo]

[Mike Oxlong]

[Takechanpoo]

Ebbing wave exposes the bottom of sea

[Bucky]

"Worse than Chernobyl."



She seems to have many detractors.

[Takechanpoo]

although unconfirmed information, many Chinese arrived in the locations of disaster and are trying to occupy the lands hit by tsunami like Koreans in post-war confusion period.

[Tsuru]

"Worse than Chernobyl."



She seems to have many detractors.

Holy shit, don't eat European food? 40% of Europe is irradiated?

I don't own a geiger counter, but my bullshit detector is off the scale.

Anyway, the age for nuclear if definitely over now. I still think it's an elegant technology but to compound on the risks and the waste problem it's quickly becoming too expensive to build new plants simply looking at the cost per MW to begin with. Some solar technologies are already cheaper than nuclear now.

[Mulboyne]

although unconfirmed information, many Chinese arrived in the locations of disaster and are trying to occupy the lands hit by tsunami like Koreans in post-war confusion period.

The only guys mentioning it are the people this article and I think it's clear it suits their wider agenda to talk about "Asians" trying to take over Japanese land.

After World War II, people said that Koreans and Chinese falsely claimed land where the real owners were dead or had no proof of title because it had been destroyed. However, it was claimed that these Asians got on better with the Occupation, and so received favourable treatment because they spoke more English than the Japanese. I can't quite see how that supposed advantage is supposed to work in this situation where Japanese authorities will be making all the decisions. It's also difficult to believe that all records will have been lost as they were during the war. After all, visas are handled at a national level by the Ministry of Justice so there's a far longer paper trail than in 1945.

I think Isshiki and the Sakura TV crowd are just bullshitting. I don't doubt there will be a lot of false claims for compensation - we saw that after the 2005 Amagasaki rail crash and the 1995 Kobe quake - but it's highly unlikely that the scamsters will be foreign nationals.

[Typhoon]

"Worse than Chernobyl."



She seems to have many detractors.

Probably because she is completely nuts.

BBC: Is Fukushima as bad as Chernobyl?

BBC: How does Fukushima differ from Chernobyl?

[Coligny]

Holy shit, don't eat European food? 40% of Europe is irradiated?

I don't own a geiger counter, but my bullshit detector is off the scale.

.

Hummmm aboot that... there has been quite a lot of contamination after the accident. Animals had to be kept indoors a bit longer, problem with crops and more. There is still trace of radiation in southern France ( Corsica was most badly hit). More than a few case of thyroid cancer are also blamed on Chernobyl. Seriously, except in France where the coverup by Sarkozy was... immense. Nearly all other countries had a tense spring and summer that year.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster_effects#French_legal_action

[cstaylor]

Gov't eyes creating entity to help TEPCO pay damages over nuke crisis

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/04/86747.html