Japan gets Hit By 8.9 Earthquake

[Shorty82]

Shocking video showing the force of the tsunami that swept into the fishing port of Miyako, Iwate prefecture, and Kamaishi city.

Before and after aerial photos of Japan.

[Shorty82]

Now there's been a volcanic eruption in Japan.

Plus, they're still having a lot of problems with their reactors. They're fearing another explosion at the same plant but say the reactor can withstand it.

[Shorty82]

The Red Cross is accepting donations to help the victims of the earthquake and tsunami here.

Sorry for the triple post.

[JugglingFreak]

I've been looking for video of it, I saw it this morning. Actually nearly moved me to tears.

After the quake, the tsunami, and everything else, there was some radiation leakage so they has to evacuate people for there safety. What got me was, this woman and (I'm assuming) her little girl were in line to be checked with geiger counters and such to check for radiation. The little girl was about 3 or 4 and had a little stuffed Winnie the Pooh with her and after the tech checked her out he gave a quick scan to Pooh bear to re-assure the little girl.

Took all of a extra 2 seconds and probably meant the world to that little girl.

Little things like that restore my faith in humanity every now and then.

[CujoSR]

More amazing/horrifying footage. This Dude has some brass ones.
(facebook account needed)

[Freak]

I've been watching with much interest what's going on @ the reactors. People keep saying "its going to be another Chernobyl!" But I think what people fail to realize is how poorly that plant was built. Chernobyl had no containment vessels and unlike Fukushima Daiichi--which has gone into shutdown mode, a series of grave human errors (such as manually removing control/safety rods and hitting the scram button that started the whole thing and re-inserted all the rods)happened that gave way to the travesty that was Chernobyl. Chernobyl was basically ran into the ground and then it just blew the hell up due to the "test" they were conducting. Fukushima Daiichi is an entirely different case. This is decay heat that they're dealing with, not a reactor running out of control and having a huge power spike.

The radiation that has been detected were probably from the "venting" they were doing. Some of the steam they vented had some radioactivity. So far I've heard only a handful of folks have come into contact with the radiation -- which is a good thing. It is hard to get the full truth since it seems like Japan keeps denying anything serious is going on in the reactors, while many experts are saying the opposite. I've been trying to sort out as much as I can and have come up with all the information I could put together.

Fukushima Daiichi currently has two reactors (Reactor 1 and Reactor 3) that have exploded their building "shells" (for lack of better wording). These shells are just that, buildings ON TOP of the containment vessels. The explosions were of hydrogen, not because of nuclear explosions. While hydrogen is a by-product of something going awry (such as the fuel rods being "dry" without water for some time), it doesn't mean a bunch of radiation is escaping right now (at least not right now). Worse, a third reactor, Reactor 2, has had its water levels drop sharply twice, exposing the rods. They've managed to correct the issue as far as I've learned, but if the cooling issue isn't corrected, I'm sure the reactor would have a similar hydrogen fueled explosion tear it's "shell" off as well.

They're dumping seawater with boron into the cores. The seawater is HIGHLY corrosive and is usually only done as a last ditch effort due to the fact that the core will be corroded and destroyed after this. In a way, Japan is abandoning the Fukushima Daiichi reactors. But it is what it is. They need to cool the cores, and if seawater is the only way to do it, then that's what they're going to do. And that's where my information runs out. I've been unable to say if either reactor is "okay" since Japan says one thing, and experts are saying something quite different. But I think it's safe to say that when you have an explosion near/in/around a nuclear reactor, things probably aren't going well.

When more information becomes available, I'm sure we can assess the situation better.

It's a very sad situation though.

[hobie16]

No surprise here. Scumbags!

Criminals kick off Japanese disaster scams at record speed
by Gregg Keizer, Computerworld Mar 14, 2011 11:05 am

Criminals have jumped on Japan’s twin earthquake and tsunami disasters at record speed, security experts said Monday.

Scams range from links to fake anti-virus downloads and phony donation sites to classic online swindles that rely on greed.

“What’s surprising this time is how quickly they picked up on the news,” said Chet Wisniewski, a security researcher with U.K.-based Sophos. “We knew [scams] were coming, but they started appearing in record-breaking time, less than three hours after the earthquake.”

Facebook has been used by cyber-crooks to collect information when users click on a link posing as CNN video footage of the tsunami that struck the eastern cost of Japan Friday, said Sophos in a blog post Sunday.

A record 8.9 magnitude earthquake hit Japan mid-afternoon Friday, and a powerful tsunami struck its northeastern coast minutes later. The death toll may reach in the tens of thousands, according to recent reports.

Scammers are also flooding e-mail inboxes with messages asking recipients to donate money to relief efforts, said Eric Park, a Symantec researcher with the company’s anti-spam team.

“This is very typical, especially with disasters, because they can ask for donations or pose as a legitimate charitable organization,” said Park Monday. more...

[Main Streeter]

This may not be a fair post, if not, Mods plz delete & realize I'm reaching out. I'm trying to find a Hirotomo (Tomo) Oto in Tokyo. He was an exchange student in our home & the sweetest, funniest, kindest, most astute guy I've ever met. Tomo is 29 now. His brother is a policeman in Tokyo, & his parents also reside in the city. I don't recall what Tomo's Dad did. They were cool parents - even though I only met them once & we had a languge barrier. Thank You

[CujoSR]

This may not be a fair post, if not, Mods plz delete & realize I'm reaching out. I'm trying to find a Hirotomo (Tomo) Oto in Tokyo. He was an exchange student in our home & the sweetest, funniest, kindest, most astute guy I've ever met. Tomo is 29 now. His brother is a policeman in Tokyo, & his parents also reside in the city. I don't recall what Tomo's Dad did. They were cool parents - even though I only met them once & we had a languge barrier. Thank You

I tried checking Google's Person Finder. No luck there maybe you should try and create a anew profile for him.

[Main Streeter]

I tried checking. No luck there maybe you should try and create a anew profile for him.

Wow Cujo! You are more than AMAZING! Thank you so very much. Appreciate your effort.