Earthquake/tsunami in Tohoku, North East Japan (11th March 2011)

[IwateKen 0]

Nearly 6 months. How time flies.

We felt it here of course quite strongly but no real damage and I don't live by the coast and so just looked on in horror at what was happening.

 

[SnowJapan 178]

Hello folks just been informed of an charity event in Hakuba this coming weekend with all the money going to kids in Tohoku who were affected by the disaster.

 

There's a line up of Australian entertainers as well as some Japanese groups.

 

For more information:

 

http://www.materock.com/

[TJ OZ 0]

Originally Posted By: SJ-David

Hello folks just been informed of an charity event in Hakuba this coming weekend with all the money going to kids in Tohoku who were affected by the disaster.

There's a line up of Australian entertainers as well as some Japanese groups.

For more information:

http://www.materock.com/

Thanks David. Jimmy Barnes and the Angels headed by Dave Gleeson is a brilliant line up if you love live rock. It should be a great day.

[BagOfCrisps 24]

A bit far for me.

[BagOfCrisps 24]

Are quakes gradually getting less and less then folks?

[big-will 7]

Yes. Touch wood, even in eastern Tohoku they seem to be much less now. Still little ones going on, but not as many every day.

[Tubby Beaver 209]

I saw that Hokkaido got hit yesterday, not often I see quakes up there getting a mention on the news

[muikabochi 208]

Funny one that, shindo 5 but it seemed very localised. Shidno 5s usually spread out much more than that.

 

 

Not felt anything recently here. I hope that continues!

[big-will 7]

Some before and after images from the Tohoku coast

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnew...-hit-Japan.html

[muikabochi 208]

Quote:

Japan's prime minister at the height of the nuclear crisis has said he feared the country would collapse, and revealed that Tepco had considered abandoning the Fukushima Daiichi power plant after it was hit by the 11 March tsunami.

In candid interviews with Japanese newspapers, Naoto Kan, who resigned this month, said that at one point he believed the disaster could become many times worse than Chernobyl.

"It was truly a spine-chilling thought," he told the Tokyo Shimbun, adding that he foresaw a situation in which greater Tokyo's 30 million people would have to be evacuated, a move that would "compromise the very existence of the Japanese nation".

In the first week of the crisis Tepco played down speculation that fuel rods had melted after the quake and tsunami crippled the reactors' cooling systems. "The power was totally lost and there was no cooling capacity," Kan said. "I knew what that meant and I thought, 'This is going to be a disaster'."

His unease grew when his trade minister, Banri Kaieda, told him that Tepco was considering pulling its staff out of the plant and leaving it to its fate. "Withdrawing from the plant was out of the question," he said. "If that had happened, Tokyo would be deserted by now. It was a critical moment for Japan's survival. It could have been a led to leaks of dozens of times more radiation than Chernobyl."

Kan demanded an explanation from Tepco's then president, Masataka Shimizu, but "he never told me anything clearly".

Kan was also critical of Tepco's failure to immediately obey his order to vent one of the overheating reactors, prompting him to view the plant by helicopter the day after the tsunami.

"I went because we were not receiving accurate information," he told the Asahi Shimbun. "I felt I had to go there in person and speak to the people in charge or I would never have known what was going on."

Kan, whose handling of the crisis drew widespread public criticism, said Washington had also grown frustrated with his government's response.

"We were not told straight out, but it was obvious that they questioned whether we were really taking this seriously," he said.

Kan defended the gradual widening of the exclusion zone, and his conversion to a non-nuclear energy policy: "If there is a risk of accidents that could make half the land mass of our country uninhabitable, then we cannot afford to take that risk."

[7-11 2]

Summary: He was shitting himself.

[NoFakie 45]

For the supposed leader of the country, it sounds like he was pretty powerless.

[Tubby Beaver 209]

bet he was really sorry though

[Tubby Beaver 209]

 

haven't seen this vid before

[LordSalt 0]

Doesn't lose it's impact does it.

[Saitaman 1]

I well up every time I see images and videos like that.

[grungy-gonads 54]

Originally Posted By: LordSalt

Doesn't lose it's impact does it.

It doesn't.

[norcal 5]

I have a feeling that the old man at :28 didn't make it...that cut away at :34 makes me think that he or some others got sucked away & they didn't want to show it. Sad times.

[fukdane 2]

Another 15 minutes and it will be 6 months.......

[pie-eater 207]

Six months hey. And here we are.

 

[SnowJapan 178]

It still gets a lot of traffic and may well still stay close to the top, but I think it might be time to un-pin this topic now we have reached 6 months. What you reckon?

[igloo 3]

Quote:

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yoshio Hachiro described municipalities around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant as "towns of death," after a visit to the area Thursday.

"To my dismay, there were no people in city centers or towns and villages around the plant. They were like towns of death," Hachiro said Friday, following a Cabinet meeting.

Hachiro accompanied Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on a visit to municipalities near the plant Thursday in the no-entry zone around the nuclear power plant and met with leaders of municipalities affected by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and the subsequent nuclear crisis.

"I feel Japan's rebuilding will be impossible without the reconstruction of Fukushima [Prefecture]," he also said.

Not very bright some of these pols are they.

[igloo 3]

Japan's new trade minister has quit after calling the area around the tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear plant a "town of death", media reports say.

 

Yoshio Hachiro is also reported to have rubbed his jacket against a reporter, saying "I will give you radiation" after visiting the plant on Thursday.

 

Mr Hachiro's comments were widely seen as insensitive and prompted calls by opposition parties for him to resign.

 

PM Yoshihiko Noda, who appointed him, later said they were inappropriate.

 

"Sad to say, the centres of cities, towns and villages around it are a town of death without a soul in sight," Mr Hachiro said at a news conference on Thursday.

 

On Friday, Mr Noda said the remarks were inappropriate and that he wanted Mr Hachiro, who was appointed on 2 September, to apologise, which Mr Hachiro did.

 

Tadamori Oshima, vice-president of the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party, condemned Mr Hachiro, saying: "It is a remark that deprives disaster-affected people of hope and is worthy of disqualifying him as a minister."

 

Embarrassment

In a news conference late on Saturday, Mr Hachiro said Mr Noda had accepted his resignation, with Mr Hachiro apologising again several times.

 

He said with his remarks he had been trying to convey the seriousness of the situation.

 

His departure is viewed as a major embarrassment for Mr Noda, who only took office last week and was due to tackle the recovery effort from the disaster, correspondents say.

 

Mr Noda is Japan's sixth prime minister in five years after his predecessor, Naoto Kan, resigned.

 

It is almost exactly six months since the devastating tsunami and earthquake hit Tokyo and north-eastern Japan, killing some 20,000 people and triggering the nuclear crisis at Fukushima.

[muikabochi 208]

Decent idea David, it will probably stay up near the top anyway.

It can't stay pinned forever!

[Tubby Beaver 209]

agree....horrible as it is, Japan has to (and is) marching on. Same argument I have about 9/11, lets move on