Japan hit by 8.9 quake and following tsunami

[BuddhaRhubarb]

Not to quibble re: tragedy, but I think a 7.whatever quake  a month qualifies as a new quake. But yeah wow that really bites. I fear for Japan, and my friends there.

[Caliga]

I dunno how/if the magnitude figures in to deciding if a quake is an aftershock, but distance in time from the primary quake doesn't matter.  There are still aftershocks occurring every year in Missouri and Arkansas from the New Madrid Quake of 1812.

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

I dunno how/if the magnitude figures in to deciding if a quake is an aftershock, but distance in time from the primary quake doesn't matter.  There are still aftershocks occurring every year in Missouri and Arkansas from the New Madrid Quake of 1812.

An aftershock is any earthquake smaller than the main shock that originates in the stress zone of the displacement caused by the main shock.  The activity pattern follows a fairly well-established exponential decay curve.  How long, in time, the decay lasts depends on what the normal level of background activity is.

[jimmy olsen]

Another big aftershock, 7.1 this time.

[CountDeMoney]

I had a dream this morning that I flew to Japan to buy some model trains I couldn't get here in the US, and was smitten in the airport by a business suit-wearing almond-eyed honey with the most incredibly adorable short hair cut.
Then it started to devolve into a Max Payne/Wanted thing, because that's what was on TV earlier in the evening.  Weird.

[Tonitrus]

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTy8bWOaqEw&feature=related

[KRonn]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/04/12/japan.nuclear.reactors/index.html?hpt=T1

Japan nuclear disaster tops scale

Tokyo (CNN) -- Japan's prime minister vowed to wind down the month-long crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant "at all costs" Tuesday after his government officially designated the situation there a Chernobyl-level nuclear accident.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan said he wants the plant's owner, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, to produce a timetable for bringing the disaster to an end, "and they will be doing that soon." And a day after his government warned that thousands more people would need to be evacuated from the surrounding region, he pledged to provide jobs, housing and education for those uprooted by the accident.

"The government will not forsake the people who are suffering because of the nuclear accident," Kan told reporters in a Tuesday evening news conference.

Japan declared the Fukushima Daiichi crisis a Level 7 event on the international system for rating nuclear accidents Tuesday, putting it on par with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in the former Soviet Union. The top-scale designation was based on the massive release of radioactivity since the accident began, particularly in its early days, and classifies Fukushima Daiichi a "major accident" requiring long-term countermeasures.

"At all costs, all the reactors and the spent nuclear fuel pools must be brought under control so that we can prevent a further expansion of the damage," Kan said.

Tetsunari Iida, a former nuclear engineer-turned-industry critic, told CNN the declaration has no immediate practical impact on the crisis. But it's a sign that Japanese regulators have rethought their earlier assessments of the disaster, said Iida, who now runs an alternative energy think-tank in Tokyo.

Tokyo Electric's president, Masataka Shimizu, issued a new apology for the disaster and the "enormous anxiety" it has caused after the Level 7 designation Tuesday.

"We would like to stabilize the situation as soon as possible, and we are working on the measures and steps to cool the reactors and prevent the spread of nuclear substances," he said. "While continuing to ask for the support and cooperation of the government, the ministries, and the municipalities, we would like to maintain close communication with them, and we will make the utmost effort to bring the situation to an end."

Scientists believe the amount of radiation released is only a tenth of what was released at Chernobyl, said Hidehiko Nishiyama, the chief spokesman for Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency. But the levels for radioactive iodine and cesium that have been spewed into the air, water and soil around the plant are in the thousands of trillions of bequerels -- 15 times higher than the threshold for a top-scale event, according to figures released by the safety agency Tuesday morning.
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RELATED TOPICS

    * Fukushima Daiichi
    * Tokyo Electric Power Co. Inc.
    * 2011 Japan Disaster

The crisis began with the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that devastated northern Japan. The tsunami knocked out the plant's cooling systems, leaving operators with no way to keep the three operational reactors from overheating after they shut down.

Engineers are now pumping hundreds of tons of water a day into the damaged reactors to keep them cool, but Tokyo Electric said long-term solutions must wait until it can get the highly contaminated water out of the basements of the units' turbine plants. In addition, more water is being poured into pools housing spent but still-potent fuel rods in units 1-3 as well as unit 4, which had no fuel in the reactor at the time of the quake.

The work has been complicated over the past five days by a series of powerful aftershocks that have forced workers to clear out of the units and seek shelter.

Monday, Japan ordered new evacuations for towns around the plant, including some outside the 20- and 30-km danger zones drawn in the early days of the accident, and warned others to stand by. But after Tuesday's declaration, both Nishiyama and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano tried to draw distinctions between their crisis and Chernobyl.

"What's different here from the Chernobyl accident is that we have not yet seen a direct impact on the health of the people as a result of the nuclear accident," said Edano, the Japanese government's leading spokesman on the crisis. "The accident itself is big, but we will make, as our first priority, our utmost effort to avoid any health impact on the people."

And Nishiyama said that unlike the Chernobyl disaster, the reactors inside the badly damaged buildings at Fukushima Daiichi remain largely intact, "although there are some leaks being seen."

"In the case of Chernobyl, the radioactive material release made it very difficult to enter the facility itself," he said. "It had to be left alone for a very long time by itself. But it in the Fukushima Daiichi case, day and night, workers are there trying to salvage the situation."

Thomas Breuer, a researcher for the anti-nuclear group Greenpeace, told CNN that Japanese authorities were "too slow" to respond to the crisis at first -- but they have stepped up their efforts in recent days due to pressure from local officials, outside critics and their own people. Now, he said, they have to step up their plans to evacuate towns that have been dusted with large quantities of longer-lived radioactive particles.

"There are still a lot of measures to be done, but they have to do it now," said Breuer, who has studied the aftereffects of Chernobyl.

Breuer said Greenpeace, which called for evacuations in towns outside the 30-km radius in late March, believes the accident will end up being "worse than Chernobyl" because it has occurred in a more densely populated area.

Evacuation orders have so far covered about 85,000 people inside the 20-kilometer (12.4-mile) zone, while another 62,000 within 30 kilometers have been told to stay inside, Fukushima prefecture officials told CNN. Japan's government said it had no estimate of the number of people who would be covered by the new directives.

Nishiyama said Tuesday's designation was made "provisionally," and that a final level won't be set until the disaster is over and a more detailed investigation has been conducted. The previous event level of 5, equal to the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, was also a provisional designation.

Three Mile Island involved a partial meltdown of the radioactive core of one reactor, with only a limited release of radioactivity, according to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

At Chernobyl, an explosion and fire at a nuclear power plant resulted in the permanent evacuation of a 30-km radius around the plant. There were 32 deaths among plant workers and firefighters, mostly due to radiation exposure, and the International Atomic Energy Agency estimates another 4,000 will or have died of related cancers.

CNN's Kyung Lah, Whitney Hurst and Junko Ogura contributed to this report.

[jimmy olsen]

Must have been a breathtaking sight.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2011-04-24-Japan-record-tsunami-waves.htm

Japan's tsunami waves top historic heights
By Dan Vergano, USA TODAY

Posted 32m ago |

Tsunami waves topped 60 feet or more as they broke on-shore following Japan's earthquake, according to some of the first surveys measuring the impact along the afflicted nation's entire coast. Some waves grew to more than 100 feet high, breaking historic records, as they squeezed between fingers of land surrounding port towns.

The tsunami was born when the magnitude-9.0 earthquake struck March 11 about 45 miles off Japan's coast. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake lifted and then dropped a slab of seafloor 50 miles wide and more than 180 miles long. The force shifted the seafloor nearly 80 feet westward above the quake center.

Within a half-hour, the waves arrived on Japan's coast, plateaus of water that surged up to six miles inland and unleashed much of the devastation that killed about 14,300 people, with another 12,000 still missing. The new estimates on wave heights from the United Nation's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, gathered from Japanese university surveys, show the biggest waves hit the hilly harbor towns north of where the quake was centered. The surge grew in between inlet hills to 124 feet high at the fishing port of Koborinai.

"Waves this high are completely predictable after such a large earthquake. But they are still almost unimaginable," says tsunami geologist Jody Bourgeois of the University of Washington in Seattle, who was in Japan when the quake struck.

Japan's science ministry has dispatched more than 200 tsunami experts to map where and how high the waves came during the tsunami. North of the city of Sendai, University of Southern California tsunami expert Costas Synolakis, found that the surge exceeded 40 foot depths a quarter-mile inland, and still reached over 26 feet high about a half-mile inland. "We have only seen such extremes 'recently' in Banda Aceh during the 2004 tsunami," Costas says, by e-mail. That 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami killed more than 230,000 people in 14 southeast Asian countries.

Building on an analysis released earlier this month, University of Tokyo tsunami expert Yoshinobu Tsuji, reports the wave heights exceeded those of a record 1896 tsunami in Japan. Although wave heights were lower on the Japanese coast south of the epicenter of the March 11 quake,, they were still high enough to top an 18-foot sea wall at Japan's crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, sparking an ongoing crisis there.

Although terrible, the preliminary estimate also finds a better-than 92%survival rate for people living in coastal towns hit by the waves, Bourgeois says. "In that sense, given the magnitude of the unexpectedly large earthquake, things could have been even worse," she says.

[Tonitrus]

Must have been a breathtaking sight.

That's a pretty cold choice of words right there.

[KRonn]

Japan's science ministry has dispatched more than 200 tsunami experts to map where and how high the waves came during the tsunami. North of the city of Sendai, University of Southern California tsunami expert Costas Synolakis, found that the surge exceeded 40 foot depths a quarter-mile inland, and still reached over 26 feet high about a half-mile inland. "We have only seen such extremes 'recently' in Banda Aceh during the 2004 tsunami," Costas says, by e-mail. That 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami killed more than 230,000 people in 14 southeast Asian countries.

That's amazing, the waves so far inland and still so high!!!   

[Tonitrus]

Quake Shifted Japan; Towns Now Flood at High Tide
Published May 09, 2011 | Associated Press

When water begins to trickle down the streets of her coastal neighborhood, Yoshiko Takahashi knows it is time to hurry home.
Twice a day, the flow steadily increases until it is knee-deep, carrying fish and debris by her front door and trapping people in their homes. Those still on the streets slosh through the sea water in rubber boots or on bicycle.
"I look out the window, and it's like our houses are in the middle of the ocean," says Takahashi, who moved in three years ago.
The March 11 earthquake that hit eastern Japan was so powerful it pulled the entire country out and down into the sea. The mostly devastated coastal communities now face regular flooding, because of their lower elevation and damage to sea walls from the massive tsunamis triggered by the quake.
In port cities such as Onagawa and Kesennuma, the tide flows in and out among crumpled homes and warehouses along now uninhabited streets.
A cluster of neighborhoods in Ishinomaki city is rare in that it escaped tsunami damage through fortuitous geography. So, many residents still live in their homes, and they now face a daily trial: The area floods at high tide, and the normally sleepy streets turn frantic as residents rush home before the water rises too high.
"I just try to get all my shopping and chores done by 3 p.m.," says Takuya Kondo, 32, who lives with his family in his childhood home.
Most houses sit above the water's reach, but travel by car becomes impossible and the sewage system swamps, rendering toilets unusable.
Scientists say the new conditions are permanent.
Japan's northern half sits on the North American tectonic plate. The Pacific plate, which is mostly undersea, normally slides under this plate, slowly nudging the country west. But in the earthquake, the fault line between the two plates ruptured, and the North American plate slid up and out along the Pacific plate.
The rising edge of plate caused the sea floor off Japan's eastern coast to bulge up — one measuring station run by Tohoku University reported an underwater rise of 16 feet (5 meters) — creating the tsunami that devastated the coast. The portion of the plate under Japan was pulled lower as it slid toward the ocean, which caused a corresponding plunge in elevation under the country.
Some areas in Ishinomaki moved southeast 17 feet (5.3 meters) and sank 4 feet (1.2 meters) lower.
"We thought this slippage would happen gradually, bit by bit. We didn't expect it to happen all at once," says Testuro Imakiire, a researcher at Japan's Geospatial Information Authority, the government body in charge of mapping and surveys.
Imakiire says the quake was powerful enough to move the entire country, the first time this has been recorded since measurements began in the late 19th century. In Tokyo, 210 miles (340 kilometers) from Ishinomaki, parts of the city moved 9 inches (24 centimeters) seaward.
The drop lower was most pronounced around Ishinomaki, the area closest to the epicenter. The effects are apparent: Manholes, supported by underground piping, jut out of streets that fell around them. Telephone poles sank even farther, leaving wires at head height.
As surrounding areas clear rubble and make plans to rebuild, residents in this section of Ishinomaki are stuck in limbo — their homes are mostly undamaged and ineligible for major insurance claims or government compensation, but twice a day the tide swamps their streets.
"We can't really complain, because other people lost so much," says Yuichiro Mogi, 43, as his daughters examine a dead blowfish floating near his curb.
The earthquake and tsunami left more than 25,000 people either dead or missing, and many more lost their homes and possessions.
Mogi noticed that the daily floods were slowly carrying away the dirt foundation of his house, and built a small embankment of sandbags to keep the water at bay. The shipping company worker moved here 10 years ago, because he got a good deal on enough land to build a home with a spacious front lawn, where he lives with his four children and wife.
Most of the residences in the area are relatively new.
"Everyone here still has housing loans they have to pay, and you can't give away this land, let alone sell it," says Seietsu Sasaki, 57, who also has to pay off loans on two cars ruined in the flooding.
Sasaki, who moved in 12 years ago with his extended family, says he hopes the government can build flood walls to protect the neighborhood. He never paid much attention to the tides in the past, but now checks the newspaper for peak times each morning.
Officials have begun work on some embankments, but with much of the city devastated, resources are tight. Major construction projects to raise the roads were completed before the tsunami, but much of that work was negated when the ground below them sank.
The constant flooding means that construction crews can only work in short bursts, and electricity and running water were restored only about two weeks ago. The area still doesn't have gas for hot water, and residents go to evacuee shelters to bathe.
"We get a lot of requests to build up these areas, but we don't really have the budget right now," says Kiyoshi Koizumi, a manager in Ishinomaki's roads and infrastructure division.
Sasaki says he hopes they work something out soon: Japan's heavy summer rains begin in about a month, and the higher tides in autumn will rise well above the floor of his house.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/05/09/quake-shifted-japan-towns-flood-high-tide/#ixzz1LuAyMxAH

[CountDeMoney]

Scientists say the new conditions are permanent.

No shit they're permanent.

[MadImmortalMan]

31 May 2011 Last updated at 03:19 ET

Japan pensioners volunteer to tackle nuclear crisis
By Roland Buerk BBC News, Tokyo



A group of more than 200 Japanese pensioners are volunteering to tackle the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima power station.

The Skilled Veterans Corps, as they call themselves, is made up of retired engineers and other professionals, all over the age of 60.

They say they should be facing the dangers of radiation, not the young.

It was while watching the television news that Yasuteru Yamada decided it was time for his generation to stand up.

No longer could he be just an observer of the struggle to stabilise the Fukushima nuclear plant.

The retired engineer is reporting back for duty at the age of 72, and he is organising a team of pensioners to go with him.

For weeks now Mr Yamada has been getting back in touch with old friends, sending out e-mails and even messages on Twitter.

Volunteering to take the place of younger workers at the power station is not brave, Mr Yamada says, but logical.



"I am 72 and on average I probably have 13 to 15 years left to live," he says.

"Even if I were exposed to radiation, cancer could take 20 or 30 years or longer to develop. Therefore us older ones have less chance of getting cancer."

Mr Yamada is lobbying the government hard for his volunteers to be allowed into the power station. The government has expressed gratitude for the offer but is cautious.

Certainly a couple of MPs are supporting Mr Yamada.

"At this moment I can say that I am talking with many key government and Tepco people. But I am sorry I can't say any more at this moment. It is on the way but it is a very, very sensitive issue politically," he said.

Certainly it is likely more workers will be needed.

The plant is still spewing radiation, nearly three months after an earthquake and tsunami knocked out its cooling systems, triggering explosions.

Its operator, Tepco, has now confirmed three of the reactors probably suffered meltdowns.

The plan is to bring the plant to a cold shutdown by January, although some experts believe that is over optimistic.

To cope with the disaster Japan has raised the radiation exposure limit for emergency workers from 100 millisieverts to 250 millisieverts.

But Tepco announced this week two workers at Fukushima might have already been exposed to more.
Kamikaze?

Many of Mr Yamada's veterans are retired engineers like him.

Others are former power station workers, experts in factory design - and even a singer and two cooks - Mr Yamada says they will be useful to keep his team amused and fed.

Michio Ito used to be a primary school teacher but is spending his retirement helping out in a cafe that offers work experience to people with learning difficulties.

He is keen to swap his apron for a radiation suit.

"I don't think I'm particularly special," he says. "Most Japanese have this feeling in their heart. The question is whether you step forward, or you stay behind and watch.

"To take that step you need a lot of guts, but I hope it will be a great experience. Most Japanese want to help out any way they can."

Mr Yamada has already tried on his old overalls for size.

He says he is as fit as ever - with a lifetime of experience to bring to the task.

And he laughs off suggestions his proposed team is comparable to the kamikaze pilots who flew suicide missions in World War II.

"We are not kamikaze. The kamikaze were something strange, no risk management there. They were going to die. But we are going to come back. We have to work but never die."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13598607


Why so sensitive politically? Is Tepco honestly still concerned with losing face at this point? It seems to me that these guys' volunteering would be a positive spin story otherwise.

[grumbler]

Why so sensitive politically? Is Tepco honestly still concerned with losing face at this point? It seems to me that these guys' volunteering would be a positive spin story otherwise.

Is this, indeed, more politically sensitive than one would expect?  Is TEPCO opposing this move?  I can certainly see some practical difficulties in having lots of retirees running around a plant where you already have a bunch of other problems, but, like you, see how the company could tap some of these guy' expertise while looking like they care for the feelings of the old.

Obviously, anyone who is being exposed to significant radiation should only be so exposed for the best possible reasons, and for the shortest times possible.  That means not using old folks, who move more slowly, are physically weaker, and lack certifications necessary for many of these jobs.

[jamesww]

Interesting bbc item, in some places the ocean floor was shift more than 60ft sideways:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13457182

Instruments saw Japan quake lurch

Japan's 11 March mega-quake shifted the ocean floor sideways by more than 20m (65ft), according one instrument placed on the seabed off the nation's coast.

This direct measurement exceeds the displacement suggested by some models built only from data gathered on land.

The figure was recorded by the Japan Coast Guard which maintains underwater geodetic equipment along the fault responsible for the giant tremor.

An upwards movement of 3m (10ft) was registered by the same instrument.
......