7.9 and 8.8 Earthquakes in Japan

i missing presumed dead in Crescent City CA, docks also got hit hard.

the docks of Brookings Oregon were destroyed, around 300 boats destroyed or damaged.

4 people almost died in Gold beach but were rescued

tales of crowd stupidity in Santa Cruz here:

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_17595398?nclick_check=1

http://grab.by/9qJy

this little girls is all so you just left me huh

lol at the Santa Cruz 'surge' surfers. Actually when I heard Hawaii was in the line of fire I said to Mr Veg, if I hear the words "Laird" and "Hamilton" in any news stories about the Hawaii tsunami I will throw the radio out the window. Luckily 12 ft is puny by his standards.

I mean, I love watching the docos on big wave surfers and part of me thinks it's kinda cool but I'm such a safety sam, it just goes against everything I was ever taught about safety at the beach

Japan media proclaiming meltdown imminent.

14k people in a 10km radius ordered evacuated.

fucking hell

From ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corp website)

UPDATE: Kyodo and NHK are reporting that radioactive cesium has been detected near Fukushima nuclear plant 1.

@tokyoreporter: NTV says that Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Reactor is possibly melting down (that's literal translation).

@TimeOutTokyo: Reports: cesium detected around nuclear reactor1(Fukushima), which is one of the elements that gets released in a meltdown

so, is this stuff just seeping out into the air? there was no huge explosion or anything right?

as a Civilization player I appreciate how aggravating this must be

I think so, but a "normal" meltdown isn't exactly an explosion--the nuclear core just starts literally melting into the ground underneath it, and tunnelling into the earth, leaking out all sorts of hideous toxic crap as it does so.

xp

ah ok

i pretty much know jack shit about how nuclear plants work, personally

they won't be able to build on those squares for at least 20 turns

dicklp Richard Lloyd Parry
Four other Fukushima nuke reactors are struggling with similar problem. If multiple meltdown begins, it will be uncontrollable.

dicklp Richard Lloyd Parry
If there is full scale Fukushima meltdown current evac zone 10km is inadequate. 30km at least needed.

wsj guy trying to get to sendai and logging it http://twitter.com/#!/daiwaka

Moments before reports emerged that Fukushima may be experiencing nuclear meltdown, the plant's operators said they did not believe a meltdown was happening.

The water levels are recovering, said operator Tokyo Electric Power, according to Jiji.

A TEPCO spokesman told AFP that "we believe the reactor is not melting down or cracking. We are trying to raise the water level."

Kyodo News agency moments later said radioactive caesium had been detected near Fukushima plant, citing the nuclear safety commission.

(AFP)

there are some serious heroes at this moment inside that plant

heartbreaking image... feel cruel posting it (fyi: it's work safe), almost like i'm "exploiting" the woman within...but it's really photographs like these that put people in check. the number of #godzilla/#pearlharbor tweets today is infuriating.
http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lhwm6c05vM1qa04wlo1_500.jpg

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/12/japan-quake-pressure-idUSTKG00707620110312

(Reuters) - Japan's nuclear authorities said on Saturday that radioactive pressure was successfully relieved at the No.1 reactor at Tokyo Electric Power's Fukushima Daiichi plant by opening valves.

kelpolaris: http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90782/7056679.html

http://nightline.tumblr.com/post/3802065974/the-best-case-at-this-point-would-still-be-the-worst

“This is extremely serious. We are in uncharted territory. It is possible that this can be contained and we would have a very bad nuclear contamination event. But if the water levels continue to drop and the rods are exposed further it could lead to a core meltdown. The core would melt through the steel holding structure and plunge in a burning, molten mass into the concrete containment structure. If the structure is sound, it could contain the mass, if it has been structurally damaged, then it, too, could breech and we would have a massive, radioactive release.

The best case at this point would still be the worst incident since Chernobyl.”

16:18pm
Peter Hayes, a nuclear expert, tells Al Jazeera "it's still possible that the reactor workers can stabilise the situation" at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant "if power is brought back, if coolant is brought into the reactor", but "we're really right at the precipice of a massive nuclear crisis".

thats 4:18 so less than 20 mins ago

"Kyodo News agency said on Saturday that radioactive caesium had been detected near the plant, citing the Japanese nuclear safety commission.

A state of emergency has been declared for five nuclear reactors at two different sites in Fukushima, located about 250 kilometres northeast of greater Tokyo.

Steam containing low-level radiation were released to relieve pressure and tens of thousands of residents have been evacuated from surrounding areas.

LIVE BLOG

Radiation 1,000 times above normal was detected in the control room of one plant, although authorities said levels outside the facility's gates were only eight times above normal, spelling "no immediate health hazard"."

all those interviews posted 20 minutes ago don't sound like they've heard that latest Reuters link, which keeps getting pushed off the top of google news feeds by increasingly hysterical aggregates of earlier news

radiation is already escaping the plant and we'll see how much. further comparisons to Chernobyl still sound like hyperbole -- Chernobyl didn't even have a containment field, let alone 5 or 6 backup plans -- it was just a core that exploded straight up into the air, and the latest Reuters link says that Daiichi has managed to avert core meltdown

Japanese engineers are ridiculously competent and level headed people and I think the time's come for me to turn off the computer for the night

March 12 | Sat Mar 12, 2011 1:39am EST

March 12 (Reuters) - Japan's nuclear authorities said on Saturday that radioactive pressure was successfully relieved at the No.1 reactor at Tokyo Electric Power's Fukushima Daiichi plant by opening valves.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan declared the emergency. He announced the evacuations after visiting the plant.

I don't know if it's a wise decision to let yr PM go to a power plant in an emergency but you got to say that that shows some kind of leadership.

sleeve that was posted -- fwiw i thought that when they relieved the pressure, that was when they realized the caesium was in the air which meant a meltdown had begun?

I don't know if it's a wise decision to let yr PM go to a power plant in an emergency but you got to say that that shows some kind of leadership.

japan's gone through so many PMs lately they're probably like "eh, what's one more to lose"

also he just flew over in a helicopter iirc

Several people appear to be injured at Fukushima nuclear plant - NHK
by Reuters_TonyTharakan at 2:03 AM

so there was an explosion at the plant an hour ago?

Outer structure of building that houses reactor at Fukushima plant appears to have blown off - NHK
by Reuters_TonyTharakan at 12:12 AM

no, just now

http://www.twitvid.com/LICNU

video of explosion. looks bad.

jesus

Tepco says explosion may have been hydrogen used to cool Fukushima plant - Kyodo; Tepco says 4 people taken to hospital after reported explosion, no word on condition - Jiji
by Reuters_TonyTharakan at 2:20 AM

Tokyo fire department sending special nuclear rescue team to Fukushima - TV
by Reuters_TonyTharakan at 2:17 AM

NlHK was just airing nuclear safety measures

TV channels warned nearby residents to stay indoors, turn off air-conditioners and not to drink tap water. People going outside were also told to avoid exposing their skin and to cover their faces with masks and wet towels.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/world/view/20110312-325016/Shaking-smoke-at-quake-hit-Japan-nuclear-plant

this is not good

i pretty much know jack shit about how nuclear plants work, personally

same - really hoping that a lot of what i'm reading is the western media coming through with the hysterical hyperbole again :/

looks like it isn't hyperbole for once. shit has just gotten real.

From NHK: 'Explosion "heard" at quake-hit nuclear plant: Tokyo Electric Power Company says an explosion was heard at one of its nuclear reactors in quake-hit Fukushima Prefecture. It says several workers were injured."

oh lord

http://i.imgur.com/yQGkS.jpg

ooohhhhhhh lord

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pg4uogOEUrU

from BBC live blog: Japan's NHK TV showing before and after pictures of the Fukushima-Daiichi plant. It appears to show that the outer structure of one of four buildings at the plant is no longer there.

I am shitting my pants here. :-( THis is fucking surreal. My parents. :-((

(I mean of course I fear for everyone, but I think of my parents first.)

Arrrgh ABC News 24 stop showing repeats of old current affairs shows