Jesus Christ! An 8.9 Earthquake struck near Japan, 10m Tsunami followed

[Cal_kashi]

Here's a link to an article for anyone who was oblivious:
8.9 earthquake and 10m Tsunami

What do you say to something like that besides thank God the epicenter wasn't on land, or in a big city. Worst Quake evar for Japan.

I live in CA, as does much of my family.


My dad was just trying to get to Dana Point harbor to watch and it's completely closed by police. He said he couldn't get to a beaches (on his way to work) when he tried.

My brother lives a block or two from Mitchel's cove in Santa Cruz. I talked to him maybe 40 minutes ago and he said he was gonna head over to the beach to check things out, but he wasn't expecting to see anything. Also, he told me that if he did see anything of note that he would call me and tell me about it, as he hasn't I expect there wasn't much to be seen in Santa Cruz.

[Kraco]

The videos they showed on TV news with whole buildings, crewless ships, and hundreds of cars floating in the tsunami water were crazy. The property damages will be huge.

[Lucifus]

What do you say to something like that besides thank God the epicenter wasn't on land, or in a big city.

I echo those sentiments right there. The videos truly make this out to be one hell of a disaster.

[rockmanj]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12709598 that video is insane. Its like something out of a disaster flick. Luckily, all of my japanese and hawaiian friends are safe.

[RyougaZell]

Mexican TV says there are 1000 reported deaths and lots of missing.

I was seeing Japanese TV through USTREAM here (mind you its a webpage from Peru... but the video is in Japanese so... whatever):
http://noticias.universia.edu.pe/en-...enes-vivo.html

[Cal_kashi]

Mexican TV says there are 1000 reported deaths and lots of missing.

I was seeing Japanese TV through USTREAM here (mind you its a webpage from Peru... but the video is in Japanese so... whatever):
http://noticias.universia.edu.pe/en-...enes-vivo.html

I've heard that there is even a whole passenger train missing. That's terrifying.

[Death BOO Z]

they say there's a cruise ship with 100 passengers missing as well.

the videos are frighting.

[Inazuma]

Now it's up to 2000 dead, a lot more missing, hospital overrun and even refusing people that are not in critical condition.
I've learned that some French Areva Nuclear experts have been called for backup in order to stabilize some plants.
There is no public transportation working, ten of thousands are homeless.

In short, Japan is fucked up pretty good and the damages are already counted in billions

[sl00ke]

according to the japanese news its 12500 people missing or dead, my fiancees friend died,
I was sitting at the 7th floor yesterday and it was shaking like hell here in Tokyo.
I heard about a family that got evacuated, but there was no time to bring their dogs that were leashed in the yard.. so they all died
this shit is crazy, half of tokyo is without electricty and a powerplant exploded so there is warning about radioactive materials in the air

[animus]

The anime Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 came to mind when I first heard about this.

[Animeniax]

It's been a little frustrating but the news programs keep showing the same 5 images/video of property damage and cars floating away. Why don't they show more of the human side, the coping, the sadness, the shock, the efforts to recover and organize?

[Ryllharu]

The anime Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 came to mind when I first heard about this.

I thought of 51 Ways to Save My Girlfriend. Just like with the nuclear bombs at the end of WWII, it isn't the event itself that causes the most suffering, it is what happens in the days/weeks afterward. It's when people are at their most desperate that they can become their worst.

@Animeniax: You can find them, but you've got to scroll thought dozens if not hundreds of photos. Start at this one and you'll find some. Also, news programs like CNN, MSNBC, and FOXnews, love disasters, but not the recovery. They only get good ratings on bad news. A feeling of relief doesn't keep viewers watching.

[shinta|hikari]

I thought of 51 Ways to Save My Girlfriend. Just like with the nuclear bombs at the end of WWII, it isn't the event itself that causes the most suffering, it is what happens in the days/weeks afterward. It's when people are at their most desperate that they can become their worst.

I'm just glad it's not as bad as either scenarios.

[Inazuma]

Can someone confirm, I saw on tv that a Volcano is going active.
Also, is that Nuclear plant near Tokyo really going to go off ?

[Sapphire]

From what I undestand from SC:

No, there is no meltdown. The release of irradiated material was due to pressure-relief efforts (releasing some of the steam from the pressure vessel), and it was this released steam that caused the subsequent explosion above the rector. Water cracked into hydrogen and oxygen by the heat, which was mixed with water vapour and a tiny quantity of radioisotopes in the steam, recombined explosively.

And that makes the most sense to me. I think they are still trying to figure out how to cool the reactor cores. A lot sounds like media-terror hype. The possibility that is completely self-destructs is minimal, according to them.

[Ryllharu]

And that makes the most sense to me. I think they are still trying to figure out how to cool the reactor cores. A lot sounds like media-terror hype. The possibility that is completely self-destructs is minimal, according to them.

Yes, it sounds like very much a Three Mile Island sort of event, though certainly slightly less successful. Anti-nuclear activists will be having a field day with this despite that Japanese plant being one of the oldest in the world still in operation (constructed in 1966).

What should be lauded as a testament to how much worse things could have been considering the circumstances will unfortunately be used by certain organizations to their advantage. When the world finally gets over their stigma of nuclear power, and we can finally build much safer reactors where this couldn't even occur in the first place, but by that time, it will be disgustingly more expensive. Sadly, we'll all pay the price.

The Japanese nuclear engineers should be proud, so far they've done a spectacular job while the media spreads fear, uncertainty, and doubt. My favorite so far was celebrity-scientist Dr. Michio Kaku pouring bottled water on a red plastic brick on ABC. Really educating the public there...

[KitKat]

Yes, it sounds like very much a Three Mile Island sort of event, though certainly slightly less successful. Anti-nuclear activists will be having a field day with this despite that Japanese plant being one of the oldest in the world still in operation (constructed in 1966).

What should be lauded as a testament to how much worse things could have been considering the circumstances will unfortunately be used by certain organizations to their advantage. When the world finally gets over their stigma of nuclear power, and we can finally build much safer reactors where this couldn't even occur in the first place, but by that time, it will be disgustingly more expensive. Sadly, we'll all pay the price.

The Japanese nuclear engineers should be proud, so far they've done a spectacular job while the media spreads fear, uncertainty, and doubt. My favorite so far was celebrity-scientist Dr. Michio Kaku pouring bottled water on a red plastic brick on ABC. Really educating the public there...

I agee. Baseless ignorant anti-nuclear propaganda is one of my pet peeves. The only reason we get stuck with these antique nuclear reactors is because the anti-nuclear activists incite fear among the population, resulting in budget cuts to nuclear programs, so instead of building new reactors with state-of-the-art safety features, we have to make do keeping the old reactors running way past their estimated lifespan. Taking them offline isn't an option because then there would be an energy deficit. I know this is the story in Ontario at least.

People have a tendency to freak out about radiation, but really, it's naturally present everywhere. Heck, on average, smokers receive a radiation dose that's 10X the maximum allowed dose for nuclear workers in a year, due to radioactive elements in tobacco. In modern nuclear reactors, it's virtually impossible to make them explode. And no, this is not a baseless internet rumor I'm quoting. I have actually studied nuclear engineering under some of the top nuclear engineers in Canada.

I say, kudos to Japan, they're doing awesome. My prayers are with those engineers especially, fighting not only broken equipment but public disgrace and widespread fear mongering.

[RyougaZell]

It seems several losers are celebrating the Tsunami because its vengence for Pearl Harbor --> http://i.imgur.com/wbiJh.jpg

I can't beleive people can be like that.

[darkshadow]

That's pretty damn stupid, I guess they forgot how the US massacred 2 entire cities in that same war.

[Buffalobiian]

The safety concerns I have with nuclear energy is not the plant blowing up, but the storage and disposal of nuclear waste that results from it. Concern at a reasonable level that is, as opposed to the said propaganda.

I learned that I can actually benefit from Japan's crisis. Just walked past a foreign currency exchange booth and learned that I can now sell my JPY for 85:1 instead of the previous 90:1. That's a big difference considering I'm holding onto 100K+ JPY in notes that are useless in Australia.

The buy rate hasn't changed all that much though.

edit:hmm, wait.. that means JPY actually went u compared to AUD.. what the?