7.9 and 8.8 Earthquakes in Japan

http://i.imgur.com/VtYwR.png

400 mSv measured at the ground zero epicenter of the 30km evacuation radius.

0.01 = "normal"

1Sv (1000 mSv) is about the point where people start showing symptoms of poisoning iirc

As of yesterday there was 1 casualty due to radiation, 1 casualty due to explosion, and 5 hospitalizations due to radiation so make of that what you will. Let me check the jp news to see if there's updates on the health of the first responders.

Still think four days on that the best coverage of this (in terms of info, timeliness, tone and colour) is the WSJ's Japan Realtime blog. Today's is: http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2011/03/15/live-blog-disaster-in-japan/

w/r/t first responder health: 1 death + 15 admissions as of 2 days ago

guys, if/when the apocalypse really DOES come, it's gonna read like this thread which is hella spooky to me

Well thats if the interwebs still work when that happens. According to Futurama all video got wiped out with the second coming of Jesus :P

(sorry, gallows humour helps me at times like this)

guys, if/when the apocalypse really DOES come, it's gonna read like this thread which is hella spooky to me

― I just want to give a shout-out to Buzzy Beetles (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, March 15, 2011 5:26 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

yeah earlier today i self-rejected posting 'i never thought the apocalypse was gonna start in japan'

Starting to feel spun around by variety of news sources...I know it sounds naive but right now all I want is one good source with reliable information...starting to get really tired of jumping between twitter, news sites and live blogs. And every different site has a different measurement of radiation and it is starting to bug me. Where's Murrow when you need him

Maybe it's time for bed

its weird, with this thing, but partly bcuz multiple members of my immed family have lived their recently, and in fact everyone in my immediate family but myself visited japan w/in the past 6 months!! but this is hitting me really hard

i actually woke up the other morning on some, wait, was that a bad dream/nightmare? type feeling. (when i was a kid i actually used to get we're-in-a-car-and-a-flash-flood-hits-us nightmares, which is weird cuz i dont think i ever saw something like that on movies/tv)

and i dont normally get that feeling, unless its, like, oh shit i cant believe i spilled food on my favorite shirt last night-type personal stuff

anyway, i feel really really sad about it

i hope that doesnt sound trite. because i mean, it makes me genuinely depressed hearing about this. (there are some other personal connection i dont want to discuss too)

this is a very well written article by someone who *seems* to know what they're talking about. the mass media have a lot to answer for in my opinion.

https://morgsatlarge.wordpress.com/2011/03/13/why-i-am-not-worried-about-japans-nuclear-reactors/

― sam500, Sunday, March 13, 2011 6:09 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

There was and will *not* be any significant release of radioactivity.
By “significant” I mean a level of radiation of more than what you would receive on – say – a long distance flight, or drinking a glass of beer that comes from certain areas with high levels of natural background radiation.

im going to go ahead and stop reading

― history mayne, Sunday, March 13, 2011 6:12 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

lot of people *seem* to know what they're talking about

there are absolutely no consequences for them if they're wrong, so they may as well double down and make silly categorical statements like the above

― history mayne, Sunday, March 13, 2011 6:14 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

history mayne otm.

Josef Oehman turns out to be a researcher at MIT's Lean Advancement Institute whose research expertise is in risk assessment in the supply chain. He's a mechanical engineer and has an MBA, does what I gather is industrial design.

Oehman's widely-linked, falsely reassuring article has been moved to a new site maintained by students in MIT's Nuclear Science & Engineering department. The article has been substantially edited, removing the Dewey Beats Truman punchline ("There was and will *not* be any significant release of radioactivity"). The original version has been removed, but is still mirrored at several links. Compare and contrast the original (mirrored at a climate denial site) with the current version.

The most recent story on the MIT student site republishes content from "World Nuclear News", an information site published by the World Nuclear Association, an industry lobby group. The MIT site had comments open, on that article and on the modified version of the Oehman article, until this evening. After the meltdown was confirmed, comments became (justifiably IMO) quite specific in their condemnation of Dr Oehman's article and the approach taken by these students. Comments were closed an hour ago, and all comments (numbering in the hundreds) have disappeared. Nice work, students!

THis is the problematic thing about unchecked internet news - its too easy for things to disemminate that just aren't accurate. It is very frustrating.

scam500

if anyone cares about trolly gal posted upthread, here is ~resolution~

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51gMdlBu53k

this is just...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/15/world/asia/15elderly.html?_r=1&hp

what a horrible world this is.

re: buzza's post, i think its more irritating that this is a 'troll' than that shes a jesus freak

christ that ny times piece

http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/14/pf/japan_earthquake_donations/index.htm
Earthquake aid totals $23 million - far less than Haiti

I just read that nyt thing - and on top of it, a personal account from a friend who's just visited the Cambodian killing fields - and now I feel sick and depressed.

im not sure that comparing these donations to those from the haiti quake makes sense--i doubt japan needs nearly as much money as haiti does

there hasn't really been a channel for donations either like there was for the haiti earthquake. the impression that I get is that Japan is largely relying on its own resources, and only a few outside relief orgs are sending in small teams... so far

its the third-largest economy in the world; it has significant infrastructure, etc. i dont begrudge people donating right now (i gave $50 to MSF!) but haiti was in a very different place when the quake hit

so here in HK we've already begun receiving chain sms's warning us not to venture outside if it rains for fear of 'radiation poisoning'

bunch of nudnicks, ugh

http://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/images/item/fnc-20110314-Shibuyaeggman.JPG

Goo goo g'joob'goo goo g'joob?

The fifty employees at the lastly struck plant have already been exposed to 400 mSv, whereas they normally are being exposed to 50mSv per year. This is not looking good.

Can't imagine what it must be like to be there, working, knowing all too well what you are being exposed to...

what a horrible world this is.

― by another name (amateurist), Tuesday, March 15, 2011 6:32 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

Call me a crazy optimist but that's not what I'm feeling at all. Sure there are some panicky people mentioned in the NYT times article, but also a lot of people doing what they can to help each other. There are, at this moment, hundreds of people risking their lives to try and do something to help the situation, just as there has been at every major disaster ever. Most people's response seems to be is there something I can do (even if it's just donating a few dollars). Is there something wrong with me?

Comment on this?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/14/fukushiima_analysis/

Analysis Japan's nuclear powerplants have performed magnificently in the face of a disaster hugely greater than they were designed to withstand, remaining entirely safe throughout and sustaining only minor damage. The unfolding Fukushima story has enormously strengthened the case for advanced nations – including Japan – to build more nuclear powerplants, in the knowledge that no imaginable disaster can result in serious problems.

Very challops article basically.

The fifty employees at the lastly struck plant have already been exposed to 400 mSv, whereas they normally are being exposed to 50mSv per year. This is not looking good.

― La descente infernale (Le Bateau Ivre), 2011年03月15日 星期二 下午4:58 (24 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

come on, this is pretty alarmist without meaning. what does it mean to be hit by 40 mSv?

xp that article is just trolling for hits, nothing to see here, move along.

come on, this is pretty alarmist without meaning. what does it mean to be hit by 40 mSv?

xp that article is just trolling for hits, nothing to see here, move along.

― dayo, dinsdag 15 maart 2011 10:23 (11 minutes ago) Bookmark

Didn't mean to put it here without context. And I'm no expert myself. But it means that people have been exposed to as much radiation as they normally are exposed to in a year. According to the people I heard about this (experts on radio), some in there will already experience radiation sickness (vomiting etc.), others will experience it the coming days.

I had what could be classed as 'radiation sickness' every two weeks, for two years of my childhood. Any idea what the exposure rate is for radiation therapy? I think that would give us a useful comparison here.

No, I don't, sorry.

This was early '70s so I'm guessing there was quite a bit of zap in my radiotherapy.

Well and people do get very ill from that anyway dont they :(

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12722435

Well, the BBC says that For comparison, radiation therapy for cancer typically involves several doses of between one and seven grays at a time - but these doses are highly controlled, and usually specifically targeted at small areas of the body.

by the way, I found a donation link:

http://www.google.com/crisisresponse/japanquake2011.html

donations go directly to the Japanese Red Cross.

good timing

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20042264-503544.html

if anyone cares about trolly gal posted upthread, here is ~resolution~

the footage of minami-sanriku here from about a minute in is just
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12735023

the worst videos are only emerging now i guess, ppl who were closest to minamisanriku

that last one is is awful

jesus

How many blasts have there been at the power station now? I'm getting confused.

the last shot is some proper apocalyptic stuff

xp 3 I think

However, I haven't seen any footage of the third one, which is kind of surprising given the blanket coverage (apparently the authorities have imposed a no-fly zone so maybe that is why there is no footage of the third explosion?).