Earthquake in Japan

[Greeny_Musicchild]

I was about to quote the same BBC article RABun has to you worm.

Yes, the airwaves are full of sensationalist journelism. Yes, people like Sky and CNN have been running with headlines like "MELTDOWN IMMINENT". That's all too far at the moment. But saying this is all just a preventative meassure or standard proceedure is wrong. The radiation levels are getting very dangerous, if only for Japan right now, and the authorities are taking action.

[rabid]

what's standard?

they've just had the biggest earthquake known to them, followed by an enormous tsunami, which has caused 3 seperate explosions (some are saying 4) leading to dangerous levels of radiation being leaked into the atmosphere

standard procedure...

[rabid]

one would hope so

[lost]

if they were expecting disasters of this scale to happen, how come the situation is as it is?

[Greeny_Musicchild]

I thought some might be interested in this. The other forum I post on is a gaming forum. A number of the people who post there work in Japan all year round, many of them are there right now but luckily mostly less Tsunami hit areas such as Tokyo. Anyway, one of them posted this today.

Briefing at the embassy today (sometime this afternoon), I friend of mine (we both play for the British Embassy football team) got it from his friend (Steve King evidently) who was at the briefing. It's 100% legit IMO.

Notes from a friend whho attended the British Embassy briefing on the Fukushima situation, Q&A with British nuclear experts:

These are direct quotations as far as I could jot them down from the Briefing. All in all, very reassuring indeed:

"Do we have any immediate concerns for human health? Yes, we do, but only in the immediate vicinity"

"Unequivocally no issue. The problems are in the immediate vicinity of the reactor. 30km is a very sensible limit"

"Those of you who are living in Tokyo, the radiation levels are trivial in terms of their health effect"

"8 times or 20 times normal radiation levels is nothing. That's like going on holiday in Cornwall. 100+ times, would be cause for concern"

"They can't conceal the radiation levels. If you're paranoid as to whether the Japanese government are hiding the levels, we're getting the info from international authorities. They can't hide the levels, they're monitorable from anywhere"

"When can we relax? Don't know. I was surprised there was another explosion this morning.... perhaps another 10 days?"

"There is no reason to do anything other than normal activities in the Tokyo area.... don't even think about going up to the area near the reactor to do voluntary work"

"the people who will get the biggest dose will be the brave people working on the reactor. They will be treated thoroughly under procedures very familiar to those in the nuclear industry. They will undergo very significant decontamination. They are not going to be walking into their neighborhood bar."

"If there is any dangerous rain, it will be in the 30km zone"

"for people volunteering in the Tohoku area, radiation is well down the list of potential dangers provided you are out of the exclusion zone"

Props to Steve King for taking these notes.

[worm]

I was about to quote the same BBC article RABun has to you worm.

Yes, the airwaves are full of sensationalist journelism. Yes, people like Sky and CNN have been running with headlines like "MELTDOWN IMMINENT". That's all too far at the moment. But saying this is all just a preventative meassure or standard proceedure is wrong. The radiation levels are getting very dangerous, if only for Japan right now, and the authorities are taking action.

Edited March 15, 2011 by worm

[worm]

what's standard?

[diddly-dee]

I thought some might be interested in this. The other forum I post on is a gaming forum. A number of the people who post there work in Japan all year round, many of them are there right now but luckily mostly less Tsunami hit areas such as Tokyo. Anyway, one of them posted this today.

"8 times or 20 times normal radiation levels is nothing. That's like going on holiday in Cornwall. 100+ times, would be cause for concern"

[llcoolphil]

one would hope so

do you think the situation they're in now has been rehearsed before?

if they were expecting disasters of this scale to happen, how come the situation is as it is?

[bunique]

Not sure I understand the Cornwall comparison. Is Cornwall radioactive?!

[chappiepunk]

Not sure I understand the Cornwall comparison. Is Cornwall radioactive?!

[MrZigster]

I thought some might be interested in this. The other forum I post on is a gaming forum. A number of the people who post there work in Japan all year round, many of them are there right now but luckily mostly less Tsunami hit areas such as Tokyo. Anyway, one of them posted this today.

[Gre]

I was thinking the same, but didnt want to ask haha

[worm]

good to see the standard procedure has got it all under control....

[Peter Dow]

Japanese deference is a poor defence against disaster

BBC: Japan Earthquake

One week after a large earthquake and resulting tsunami in Japan, the estimated numbers killed is in excess of 15,000 - so far.

The earthquake is a natural event and no-one's fault.

The consequential deaths arise not only from the earthquake but also from the limitations of any disaster preparations.

For example, if the Japanese authorities had prohibited the building of towns, villages and houses in low lying coastal land, especially where no massive sea-walls or dams to hold back any tsunami have been constructed to defend the land, then many lives could have been saved.

So the deaths are indeed someone's fault, the fault of those responsible for the failings of limited disaster preparation, the fault of the authorities who in Japan are ministers of a "constitutional" monarchy where the constitution in question was designed and still is today, to some extent, overseen by the U.S.A.

The influence of the USA has been to mitigate this human disaster even if the US was not able to help the Japanese to defend against it entirely.

It could have been much worse.

Compare and contrast the human death toll in the Haiti earthquake which although nominally a republic, in practice has suffered dictatorship and had much less US input and much less true democratic republican influence in recent generations. US forces left Haiti in 1934 but arrived in Japan in 1945.

The earthquake in Haiti was about one hundred times weaker though killed about 10 times as many people.

It is a testimony to the strength of the Japanese economy that an earthquake of this magnitude could well lead to a strengthening of the value of the Japanese Yen!

Few, and not me anyway, would dare to try to tell the Japanese how to make cameras or integrated circuits or motorbikes or cars or hundreds of other consumer goods which they sell throughout the world.

I do say however, that republicans could reasonably advise the Japanese people and nation not to be so trusting and deferential towards their own Japanese government, state and emperor. The Japanese should question more, protest more.

If Japan had had Japanese republican freedom and robust debate instead of traditional Japanese deference and politeness towards the Japanese government then disaster preparations might have been better and might have saved many lives this week.

Emperors and monarchs and the attitudes of deference they promote are lethal for the people and should be opposed.

Therefore as

• Prince William visits Christchurch to be seen to sympathise over the earthquake deaths there and so boost his popularity for his own selfish reasons of wanting to defend his royal privileges and

• the Japanese Emperor Akihito goes on TV to be seen to sympathise over the earthquake deaths there and so boost his popularity for his own selfish reasons of wanting to defend his royal privileges,

then republicans the world over should identify those royals correctly as a significant cause of the number of deaths that could have and should have been avoided, even though the earthquakes could not have been prevented.

Yes, blame the royals, blame the kingdoms' governments, protest and try to make sure that the next people to have a building collapse down upon them or the next to be drowned are those evil, selfish royals instead of the people they subject themselves upon.

So there is indeed much merit in bombing the forthcoming royal wedding and collapsing the cathedral down upon their royal heads.

If the nations of the world really wanted to protect the likely victims of future earthquakes in the kingdoms and dictatorships of the world then this is the sort of robust republican revolutionary action which freedom fighters of the nations would plan and carry out to protect the people from these royal disasters.

Ending this post on a wry note, I have suggested a new word definition for the Urban dictionary.

fukushima

to fukushima

- to further break or to utterly destroy something while ineptly trying to fix it

fukushima'd / fukushimaed / fukushimad

- further broken or utterly destroyed as a result of inept attempts to fix it

As in,

"my mobile phone's screen was dirty so I put it in the washing machine but I am afraid I totally

fukushimaed

it."

tags: botch, bungle, bodge, mess up, screw up, f**k up, fubar, wreck

[worm]

is it still a spit on a barbecue?

[The Nal]

And we're off again......

7.4 magnitude, tsunami warning in place......

[The Nal]

Anyone see the show on C4 last night about it? the amateur footage one? Terrifying.

Check this out if you haven't seen it.

[Steve P]

Anyone see the show on C4 last night about it? the amateur footage one? Terrifying.

Check this out if you haven't seen it.

[The Nal]

We watched that last night, the guy that just sat in his car filming whilst being washed away was just amazing - how could anyone be that calm?

As with all these things the bit that really gets me is the guilt that those that survived are left with.

Edited December 12, 2011 by The Nal

[Paul ™]

Yeah watched it, really good programme with some of the footage unbelievable.

Annoyed me when they did the silly 'flashback' bits though where it showed shots of the Tsunami/Person/After scenes.. looked daft.

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

We watched that last night, the guy that just sat in his car filming whilst being washed away was just amazing - how could anyone be that calm?

As with all these things the bit that really gets me is the guilt that those that survived are left with.