Japan gets Hit By 8.9 Earthquake

[ktulu]

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

It's a long shot, but I'll see if my friends in Tokyo can help.

[February]

Geez, I just saw a story on the local news about a friend of Prince Charming (who has family that lives in my area) at Tokyo Disney who is trying to get home- airfare is 3600 dollars one way! Insane.

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news/ro ... 10314-wpms

Wish I knew how best to help, there has to be so many more like him too.

Can't see the news without crying. Just overwhelming.

Hobie, so glad you and your friends are all okay- anytime I hear news about the islands you know I think immediately of you.

~bru

(Have missed you guys. sorry been gone so long- two more surgeries since I was last here- 2 weeks post op on last (big) eye one- still have stitches/double vision/etc. Yow.)

[Main Streeter]

It's a long shot, but I'll see if my friends in Tokyo can help.

ktulu, you are always helping me!! You are WONDERFUL! Thank You. Thank you. I'm overwhelmed.

[February]

Mainstreeter I hope you get good news about your friend soon (sorry meant to say that in my last post, am pretty out of it at the moment)

xoxo
bru

[Freak]

Tokyo is reading higher than normal radiation levels... The evacuation zone has been increased to 30km... There's a possibility of a containment vessel breach in one of the reactors. This is a very not good sign. Prime Minister is warning residents within a 19mi radius to stay indoors.

Apparently there was also a third explosion at Reactor 2 near the suppression pool. Also, Reactor 4 is reported currently on fire. No bueno.

[DisneyMom]

Hugs to MS and Bru, and you Good Guys who are Helping
I cannot believe how horrible this is for so many. Hold those you love tightly.

[Big Wallaby]

February! So good to see you here.

Main Streeter, I know Cujo gave you the answer, but I don't think there is anything wrong with using this site to find someone in a case like this. Just to put that in type.

About the Chernobyl incident, there was a lot more going on there too. Did you know that, unknown to either side, the same test was done, successfully and safely, that same night, here in the U.S.? A big difference was the way they cool the reactors... here in the U.S. we use water. At Chernobyl they used graphite. They couldn't get the graphite back in fast enough and so had their meltdown and disaster... note that those are two separate things, though one often leads to the other in history. Here is hoping that is not the case in Japan. Fortunately, Japan, as they have been discussing on the news, uses water.

Reactors are an interesting thing. When I was in high school, I was doing a report on nuclear power, and so got to tour a working reactor. I stood right on the edge of the pool the reactor was in. To see it down there, glowing with no apparent light source... eerie.

About the scammers, if you get an e-mail from them, take a moment and send it my way, [email protected] and I will forward it on to some folks who will give it the proper attention.

[February]

Hi Wallaby, Disneymom! *squishy hugs* Have missed you guys!

Just an update to my post last night- the Friend of Prince Charming I saw on the news (I don't know him personally but you know the story got to me anyway...)Tweeted that they had a meeting early in the morning there and the company is apparently finally agreeing to do the right thing and sending the dancers home! He very relieved to be getting out of there- I have to think the media coverage helped. I don't generally watch our Fox affiliate but I really think this story must have given the company a nudge when they didn't want to send their entertainment contractors home. I wonder how many CMs we're talking here...

If they post an update story I'll let you guys know. Back to eye rest for me.

xoxo
bru

[hobie16]

Hobie, so glad you and your friends are all okay- anytime I hear news about the islands you know I think immediately of you.

Thanks! Maui came through with relatively mild damage. The Lahaina harbor is a mess but nothing like what's happening in Japan.

Get better and stop by more often.

[DragonFox98]

MainStreeter, I hope your friend is all right. I'm looking for my exchange sister, as well. Thank god for Cujo and the Google Peoplefinder! I hope you are able to make contact.

Freak, I agree, the much more devastating impact for me is the nuclear reactors. Look up where I live (Salem County, NJ) and you will see I live right next door to three (Salem 1 & 2 and Hope Creek) as well as surrounded by others. In addition, my grandfather and father helped to build the one in Salem as well as the one in Seabrook, NH. I find it very scary that, in my opinion, they are not evacuating the people far enough away.

I think it was Big Wallaby who said that the Chernobyl incident was due to different circumstances, and it was; however, all fail-safe systems have, well, failed. There were two back-ups to the primary and on top of the explosions, they are not in working order. And, unfortunately, with the radiation at its current levels, no one can get in there to fix it. The seawater helped, but not very much. Unfortunately, I think we're looking at a pretty significant disaster in addition to everything Japan has already faced.

My thoughts and prayers are with everyone over there. I hope everyone's friends and families are safe and away from harm.