3/15/2011

March 15, Tuedsday - 5

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Geiger counter in Tokyo, morning : 12.55 cpm

Most power blackouts in Kanto as sheduled.
Trains run with reduced numbers or not at all.

Many towns are offering housing facilities.

The situation at the Fukushima reactors is still very critical.
(but no direct danger at the NHK news at 7:00)

Central and Western Japan begin to feel the influence.
Productin plants have to close down temporarily for lack of supply parts from the North.


The death toll rises constantly now.

quote   
There are just too many bodies. Hundreds of dead have washed ashore on Japan's devastated northeast coast since last week's earthquake and tsunami. Others were dug out of the debris Monday by firefighters using pickaxes and chain saws.
Funeral homes and crematoriums are overwhelmed, and officials have run out of body bags and coffins.

On the economic front,
Japan's stock market plunged over the likelihood of huge losses by Japanese industries including big names such as Toyota and Honda.
The impact of the earthquake and tsunami on the world's third-largest economy helped drag down the share markets Monday, the first business day since the disasters. The benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average fell 6.2 percent while the broader Topix index lost 7.5 percent.

While the official death toll rose to nearly 1,900, the discovery of the washed-up bodies and other reports of deaths suggest the true number is much higher. In Miyagi, the police chief has estimated 10,000 deaths in his province alone.

Miyagi prefecture bore the full force of Friday's tsunami, and police said 1,000 bodies were found scattered across its coast. The Kyodo news agency reported that 2,000 bodies washed up on two shorelines in Miyagi.

Millions of people spent a fourth night with little food, water or heating in near-freezing temperatures as they dealt with the loss of homes and loved ones. Asia's richest country hasn't seen such hardship since World War II.

source : news.yahoo.com

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just one photo -
how can we best
hide the facts
?



. . . . .


quote   
A third explosion in four days rocked the earthquake-damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in northeast Japan early Tuesday, the country's nuclear safety agency said.

The latest explosion was heard at 6:10 a.m. Tuesday (2110 GMT Monday), a spokesman for the Nuclear Safety Agency said at a news conference. The plant's owner, Tokyo Electric Power Co., said the explosion occurred near the suppression pool in the reactor's containment vessel. The pool was later found to have a defect.

International scientists have said there are serious dangers but not at the level of the 1986 blast in Chernobyl. Japanese authorities were injecting seawater as a coolant of last resort, and advising nearby residents to stay inside to avoid contamination.

Tokyo Electric Power said some employees of the power plant were temporarily evacuated following Tuesday morning's blast.

The accidents — injuring 15 workers and military personnel and exposing up to 190 people to elevated radiation — have compounded the immense challenges faced by the Tokyo government as it struggles to help hundreds of thousands of people affected by twin disasters that flattened entire communities and may have left more than 10,000 dead.

source : news.yahoo.com



. . .

. . . . . at 12:30
Radiation leak at Fukushima is 400 mili Sievert.

People within a radius of 30 km are now advised to stay inside and change and scrub clean completely if they come in from outside.


Stores in Western Japan run out of emergency goods like flashlights and radio. Also material to fortify an older home for a possible earthquake are running out and no filling up of many stock possible, since they come from Northern Japan, which is still out of reach.
(BTW, we fortified our home about 10 years ago and hope for the best.
We have a well for drinking water supply and can make a fire outside to keep warm and cook, if need be. The toilet will be shared with the wild boars.
This is the good part of living in the remote countryside.)

. . . . . at 13:00
Geiger Counter in Tokyo 12.81 cpm


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quote   
..... From NHK Online
source : www3.nhk.or.jp

Tuesday, March 15, 2011 04:27 +0900 (JST)
The Tokyo Electric Power Company says there is a possibility of fuel rods melting in the Number Two reactor at its Fukushima Number One plant.
A company official said at a news conference on Tuesday that the level of cooling water is now too low to measure.
He indicated that the fuel rods may have overheated and begun melting.


Tuesday, March 15, 2011 09:29 +0900 (JST)
Tokyo Electric Power Company says radiation levels reached 8,217 microsieverts per hour near the front gate of the Fukushima No.1 nuclear power station at 8:31 AM Tuesday.
Anyone in this kind of environment would be exposed to more than 3 years' worth of naturally occurring radiation within a single hour.


Tuesday, March 15, 2011 10:15 +0900 (JST)
Tokyo stocks tumbled below 9,000 at one time on Tuesday morning on concerns that the quake and tsunami disaster could have a prolonged effect on the Japanese economy.Share prices fell across the board as trading opened.



Tuesday, March 15, 2011 10:39
Nearly 2,500 people have been confirmed dead so far from the powerful earthquake and devastating tsunami that hit northeastern Japan on Friday. More than 17,000 others are missing.
Miyagi Prefecture has confirmed 1,254 deaths with many more bodies being found along the coast.
In Onagawa town with a population of around 10,000, more than 5,000 people are taking shelter in 16 locations.
But municipal officials say they cannot confirm the whereabouts of the remaining 5,000.
snip


Tuesday, March 15, 2011 10:43 +0900 (JST)
A University of Tokyo facility in Ibaraki Prefecture, north of Tokyo, has reported radiation levels higher than legal standards.
The facility alerted the central government on Tuesday after it registered 5 microsieverts per hour before 8:00 AM and the radiation level continued to exceed the yardstick figure designated by a law for 10 straight minutes.
The facility is located in Tokai village, about 110 kilometers south of the Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant.
The facility says the radiation level later fell to 3 microsieverts per hour. It says normally the reading is at around 0.05 microsieverts per hour.


Tuesday, March 15, 2011 11:48 +0900 (JST)
Tokyo Electric Power Company has confirmed a fire at the No.4 reactor building of the stricken Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant.
Company officials told a news conference that the fire was spotted at 9:38 AM local time on Tuesday, near the northwestern part of the reactor building's 4th floor.
The officials say damage was earlier found near the building's 5th floor roof.


Tuesday, March 15, 2011 11:58 +0900 (JST)
The operation of all 4 reactors at the quake-stricken Fukushima No.2 nuclear power plant has been brought to a halt.
Tokyo Electric Power Company says the 4th reactor at the No.2 plant was safely brought to a stop at around 7:00 AM on Tuesday.
It also says the reactor's temperature dropped below 100 degrees Celsius after its cooling function was restored. The reactor's cooling system was damaged in Friday's massive earthquake and ensuing tsunami.


Tuesday, March 15, 2011 13:48 +0900 (JST)
The officials said before the fire, an explosion was heard and that an area near the roof of that building was found to have been damaged.

TEPCO is confirming reports that the temperature of the pool which contains spent nuclear fuel had risen from its usual 40 degrees Celsius to 84 degrees.
A company official says a hydrogen explosion is thought to have occurred at the No.4 reactor, but details including its relation to the fire are unknown.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters shortly after 11:00 AM on Tuesday that a fire had broken out at the No.4 reactor.
He said the reactor has not been operating after the earthquake, but hydrogen is being produced because spent fuel creates its own heat.
He said so it can be inferred that a hydrogen explosion similar to those that took place at the No. 1 and 3 reactors occurred.


Tuesday, March 15, 2011 15:02 +0900 (JST)
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano says the level of radiation around the quake-damaged Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant is high enough to affect human health.
Edano told reporters on Tuesday morning that 400 millisieverts of radiation per hour had been detected around the plant's No.3 reactor building at 10:22 AM.
He cited reports claiming that it is highly likely the containment vessel at the No.2 reactor building had been damaged. He added that the No.1, No.2 and No.3 reactors are all releasing hazardous radioactive material.
The figure 400 millisieverts, or 400,000 microsieverts, is 4 times higher than the acceptable level of radiation for humans.
Such levels could lead to a loss of white blood cells.


Tuesday, March 15, 2011 16:05 +0900 (JST)
Japan's National Police Agency says all residents within 20 kilometers of the quake-damaged Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant have been evacuated.

Police and Self-Defense Forces personnel guided the residents to safety following reports of radiation leaks from the plant's reactors.

They worked overnight to relocate 450 hospital patients and nursing home residents by bus, and the last 96 hospital patients were flown to safety by helicopter on Tuesday morning.

Police cars are patrolling areas between 20 and 30 kilometers of the plant and urging residents to stay indoors with their windows shut.


Tuesday, March 15, 2011 19:23 +0900 (JST)
More than 3,000 deaths have been confirmed from the devastating earthquake and tsunamis that hit northeastern Japan on Friday.
More than 15,000 others are still unaccounted for. On Tuesday, about 2,000 people were found safe in a town in Miyagi Prefecture, which has 1,337 confirmed deaths.
Iwate Prefecture has 1,193 confirmed deaths, Fukushima 494, Aomori 3, and Yamagata 1.
In the Kanto region, dozens people have died in the disaster, including 7 in Tokyo.





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. . . . . at 13:20

quote   
Japanese ordered indoors in radiation leak crisis
The government warned anyone nearby to stay indoors to avoid exposure.

Kan warned there are dangers of more leaks and told people living within 19 miles (30 kilometers) of the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex to stay indoors to avoid radiation sickness. Some 70,000 people had already been evacuated from a 12-mile (20-kilometer) radius and 140,000 remain in the zone for which the new warning was issued.
The fire was put out. Even though it was unoperational, the fourth reactor was believed to be the source of the elevated radiation release because of the hydrogen release that triggered the fire.

"It is likely that the level of radiation increased sharply due to a fire at Unit 4," Edano said. "Now we are talking about levels that can damage human health. These are readings taken near the area where we believe the releases are happening. Far away, the levels should be lower," he said.

"Please do not go outside. Please stay indoors. Please close windows and make your homes airtight. Don't turn on ventilators. Please hang your laundry indoors," he said.
"These are figures that potentially affect health. There is no mistake about that," he said.

source : news.yahoo.com


Electrical power restrictions
in the Kanto region will be on for the next three days.



. . . . . at 20:00

Geiger Counter : 40.04 cpm


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Voices from Japan and abroad

quote   
Hiroko Tabuchi reported from Tokyo:
Mr. Kan said that radiation had spread from the crippled reactors and there was “a very high risk” of further leakages.
“I would like to ask the nation, although this incident is of great concern, I ask you to react very calmly,” Mr. Kan said.
“No. 4 is currently burning, and we assume radiation is being released. We are trying to put out the fire and cool down the reactor,” the chief government spokesman, Yukio Edano, said at a televised press conference. “There were no fuel rods in the reactor, but spent fuel rods are inside.”

source : www.nytimes.com



quote from Mainichi Japan
Q: What is the status of nuclear reactors as of Monday?
A: There are nine units under states of emergency -- three at Fukushima Dai-ichi, three at Fukushima Daini and three at Onagawa. All are north-northeast of Tokyo, along the eastern coast, and all are boiling water reactors.
The other three reactors at Fukushima Dai-ichi, operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co., were shut before the earthquake. A fourth reactor at Tokyo Electric's Daini site appears fine. There are only three units at the Onagawa facility, owned by Tohoku Electric Power Co. Most concern has been directed at Dai-ichi units 1, 2 and 3.

Q: What is the significance of using seawater?
A: With so many equipment failures, plant operators face challenges using mobile generators powered by batteries. They also need a dependable high-volume water source. The Pacific Ocean solves the supply problem. But using it assures that these very expensive reactors will never be used again to generate power. The salty sea water, accompanied by a boron mix, is very corrosive.

Q: Exactly what is a meltdown, and why is it potentially dangerous?
A: A meltdown occurs when a reactor's radioactive core, which holds its uranium fuel, gets so hot that it begins to melt. A complete meltdown can breach a reactor's steel pressure vessel and other protective barriers -- and spread radioactive byproducts like iodine and cesium into the surroundings. That endangers the environment and nearby residents. However, a reactor will not explode like an atomic bomb.

Q: Why was the official announcement made late Sunday about something that occurred Friday?
A: Officials in Japan have been slow to provide information about the status of the nuclear plants. (There are 55 reactors on 17 sites throughout the country. Japan gets one-third of its electricity from nuclear plants.) The belated disclosures are often clouded in generalities.

Q: So what is the worst-case scenario?
A: The attempts to cool the reactors fail, resulting in meltdowns and widespread radioactive contamination. If that occurs, everyone will be hoping the wind blows east, into the Pacific, as it usually does.
source : mdn.mainichi.jp


. . . . . at 15:30
quote
TOKYO (Reuters) – Panic swept Tokyo on Tuesday after a rise in radioactive levels around an earthquake-hit nuclear power plant north of the city, causing some to leave the capital and others to stock up on food and supplies.

Several embassies advised staff and citizens to leave affected areas, tourists cut short vacations and multinational companies either urged staff to leave or said they were considering plans to move outside Tokyo where low levels of radiation have been detected.

In one sign of the panic, Don Quixote, a multistory, 24-hour general store in Tokyo's Roppongi district, was sold out of radios, torches, candles, fuel cans and sleeping bags on Tuesday as a Reuters reported visited the shop.

Indian software services provider Zensar Technologies Ltd told its 55 employees they can send their families back to India, said chief executive Ganesh Natarajan.

Levels of radiation had risen in Tokyo but for now were "not a problem," the city government said. Radiation levels in Saitama, near Tokyo, were 40 times normal levels -- not enough to cause human damage but enough to stoke panic in the bustling, ultra-modern and hyper-efficient metropolis of about 12 million people.

Winds over the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear-power complex, about 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, are blowing slowly in a southwesterly direction that includes Tokyo, but will shift westerly later on Tuesday, a weather official said.

One scientist, however, urged people in Tokyo to stay calm.

"Radioactive material will reach Tokyo but it is not harmful to human bodies because it will be dissipated by the time it gets to Tokyo," said Koji Yamazaki, professor at Hokkaido University graduate school of environmental science.

Yoshiyuki Sakuma, a musician who lives in Yashio city in Saitama prefecture, just north of Tokyo, was alarmed after finding supermarkets had sold out of rice, a Japanese staple. He was now searching for bread.

The German Embassy urged all Germans and their relatives to consider leaving Japan, especially those with families.

Japan's prime minister said radioactive levels were high around the power plant and the risk of more leakage was rising.

source : news.yahoo.com



. . . . . at 23:34

Earthquake Shizuoka M 6:0
2011年3月15日 23時34分
マグニチュード 6.0
Felt as Quake 1 even in my Okayama
岡山県 岡山県北部 真庭市





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from Lone, on facebook

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17 comments:

  1. horrific images
    pierce my heart
    tears for Japan

    I.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous3/15/2011

    just to tell you that we are thinking about you and everyone in Japan.
    Highest Regards...
    L.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you, Gabi, for keeping us informed. It's hard for us even in America to think about anything but this terrible tragedy unfolding right now.
    Mel.
    and many more comments ...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous3/15/2011

    "My heartfelt to the endless efforts of those heroes at the reactors. "
    John

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous3/15/2011

    Hi, Gabi, I understand that there is a very real possibility that it's happening...they are moving people away from the nuclear facilities and telling people twelve miles away from them to stay indoors. Each time I hear it sounds worse... Do what you can to be safe, Gabi.
    It's so hard to know how to help anyone from here as things keep happening. Best I can do is to keep trying to keep the news up so anything you hear is valuable to us.
    M.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous3/15/2011

    "Yes, we've been watching it all here. The news is sounding worse and worse. The news footage of people looking for family members is heartbreaking."
    L. Facebook

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous3/15/2011

    We are watching the news most of the time, and we are very worried for all of you in Japan and Libya right now:( Where in Japan do you live? Far away from the coast I hope. Half a world away,my tears fall like rain for all of you. Please stay safe Gabi, our thoughts are with you.
    LI

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous3/15/2011

    "Gabi-san, thank you for sharing this. I follow NHK World and they broadcasted tsunami live, it was horrible. My heart goes out to the Japanese nation and every one who has been affected by this disaster."
    LO

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous3/15/2011

    You're in my thoughts, my friend.
    A.L.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous3/15/2011

    I want to thank you as well, Gabi.
    SV

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous3/15/2011

    Japan---
    living on a fault line
    makes you smart to survive

    Fred M. Red Dog

    ReplyDelete
  12. And we are so helpless...Would like to do something, but there is nothing but to pray and to be with all the people in Japan.
    Andrea

    ReplyDelete
  13. Gabi san, thank you for the information.
    As part of my knowledge is based on system engineering, although this news is about a terrible failure brought about by system failure parameters beyond system design specifications, a better design will result.
    8 times up!
    Chibi

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous3/16/2011

    after disaster
    I look forward
    cherry blossom

    alex S.

    ReplyDelete
  15. "nuclear threat
    reading Japan news while
    laughing at Ahmadi-Nejad

    Ahmadi-Nejad is Iranian President and one of the devotees to Nuclear..."

    Massih Talebian

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous3/16/2011

    "Earth arch chine
    Ocean roars loudly
    Humanity hold breath"

    Lone

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous3/16/2011

    Hi, Gabi, I understand that there is a very real possibility that it's happening...they are moving people away from the nuclear facilities and telling people twelve miles away from them to stay indoors. Each time I hear it sounds worse... Do what you can to be safe, Gabi. It's so hard to know how to help anyone from here as things keep happening. Best I can do is to keep trying to keep the news up so anything you hear is valuable to us.
    M.

    ReplyDelete