Japan News (3/24)
Mar. 24th, 2011 11:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mbarker3/23
That was an interesting video. There were two big pieces of construction equipment -- cranes -- on one side of a river/swamp. The water was deep enough and flowing that they obviously didn't want to try to drive through.
The SDF backed up what looked like a military tanker to the edge of the water. The tank lifted, then slid down and opened out. There were four sections -- the two outer, and two inner. Partly unfolded, they made a W, and then flattened before they hit the water. The truck pulled away, and they quickly unloaded three more similar units. As they put them in the water, they used ropes to pull them together, and they fastened to each other. In a very short time, the SDF had a fairly large ferry. The construction equipment drove on, and they ferried it over to the other side. I have to admit, the news people didn't show two pieces I was interested in -- how was the ferry propelled, and what did the disassembly look like? Do those units fold up by themselves as you pull them back on to their carrier?
There's a three-hour special with a journalist who is well-known for popularizing science talking about the nuclear stuff. One of the points he makes is that there are 30 countries around the world using nuclear reactors for energy. Apparently there are 342 sites? He also says that in terms of... I think he said reactors per population, but I may have misunderstood the measure... France has the highest density, followed by China. Japan comes in third.
Checking the international media, the Japanese reporters say that the Russian news says that the Japanese government is not giving out enough information, and is not telling the truth.
Somewhere today the government decided to stop sales of a bunch of vegetables and milk from various parts of Japan. Not a complete list, but Fukushima -- cabbage, spinach, cauliflower, broccoli -- is supposed to not be bought or sold. Ibaraki prefecture milk and parsley are supposed to be blocked. They talk with a farmer, who's got a greenhouse full of spinach. He says this is four months worth of work, about 2 million yen (roughly $20,000). And he's not sure even if he destroys all this, when he can grow more. The word from the government is that yes, vegetables grown in greenhouses are safe, and yes, even the vegetables grown outside really are safe, but to ensure public safety, they are blocking all of it from the regions of concern.
There's a woman out walking through the debris. She tells the reporter her house was about 500 meters further that way -- that's a half a kilometer, say 500 yards or so away. But when she was looking at the debris, she said, "That house... that almost looks like... that is my house!" So she's going through it now. She's taking out albums, mostly.
There's an 18-year-old, working with his father to clear the debris. He says he was planning to move to Tokyo, and had a job at a supermarket. But then the disaster hit, and he says now he is going to stay and help his father rebuild.
Now reporting confirmed dead 9452, dead and missing about 24,000.
There's a video of a concrete building, two and three stories tall, standing in a field of debris. There is a house, white walls and blue tile roof, sitting nearby that almost looks alright, until you realize it is sitting in the parking lot of the concrete building.
In one of the towns, there is video from the day of the tsunami that includes a young woman's voice announcing over a public address system that the tsunami is coming, go to high ground, get out now, the tsunami is coming. She repeats it several times, even as the tsunami rages through the town. Unfortunately, the parents of that young woman have come to look for her, but she is among the missing. The town hall where she was making the announcements is one of the buildings that has been reduced to a framework of red girders. The public address horns on top of the building have been bent and battered by the tsunami.
3/24
They've got one of the experts on again. I think this was the man who reassured us that he would wash the spinach, and that he and his children were eating. They asked him about the government decision to block vegetables and milk from the affected areas. He says if you ate a lot of vegetables from the area, with the highest levels so far measured, for about eight days, you would probably have about half the safe level. He says if you ate the vegetables with the highest levels for two or three months in a regular mixed diet, you might have some trouble. Similarly, eating vegetables with the highest cesium levels over an extended period might cause trouble. (Cesium does have a long half-life). He repeats that he doesn't think there is any need for concern at this time, but that the government has decided for safety to stop sales now.
They asked him about the white smoke coming out of one of the reactors. He looks at the long distance photography, and says he thinks it is probably steam from the used fuel cooling pool. I think it's kind of amusing that the news people are taking note of every shift in white and black and gray smoke and expecting these experts to be able to explain exactly what is causing all this.
There is a public service announcement answering what apparently are questions that have been posed publicly. Outside the 30 km evacuation range, if you get rained on, it's OK. Also, water and vegetables from outside the 30 km range are OK.
Someone has looked at the photography of the area towards the sea in front of the reactors and other indicators and says the reactors got hit with a 14 m tsunami. That's over 40 feet high -- say four or five stories of building.
This morning the dead or missing toll is up to about 25,000.
From one of the towns there's video of a elementary graduation. People are staying in the shelter, but the video follows a family as they look through the wreckage. The young boy finds his graduation clothes, but they've been destroyed by the flood. However, before the graduation, this young boy and his class put together their own one-page newspaper about the tsunami. They've written up their fears about the unbelievable tsunami, and the many things that they have to give thanks for. The video has the boy reading some of the pieces. He's mentioning the SDF bringing them food, so that they had something to eat. They hold the graduation in the shelter, with families and friends. The children sing a cappella. They bow to everyone, and announce in chorus that they're going to fight on.
At another town, Kamaishi, they are gathering the middle school for their graduation. The principal is upstairs in the school building that they are borrowing, and he says this is the first time that they have gathered everyone since the earthquake. Their school was wrecked. He says this may be the last time that the students will be gathered together. Middle school, third-year -- ninth-grade. The students greet each other and hugs. One girl says that her mother is dead, and her friends say, "Yoku ganbatte, ne." (You've fought hard). A young man ducks his head and turns away from the camera, crying as they discover that another friend is dead. The principal holds their last home room. He stumbles in his speech, and laughs at his own mistake. He tells them that not all the teachers are here, parents, friends are missing or dead. But they are with you in your heart. He congratulates them. And hands out graduation certificates.
There's a group of about 45 young people in Kobe -- southern Japan -- who are collecting for relief. They are all missing parents in the Tohoku area.
There's a video of one of the shelters, where someone arranged yakisoba (grilled noodles) and cotton candy! Everyone enjoys the yakisoba, and the kids (and probably a few parents on the sly) enjoy the cotton candy. They've got a little boy -- four or five years old -- getting a big bag of cotton candy with a shy smile.
And to add to the rest of the confusion, one of the main Tokyo water supply points has been measuring about 200 bekrir (I need to find out what the right spelling is for that) in the water. The recommended limit for adults is 300, but for children it's 100. So there's a lot of concern by parents this morning about babies and children. Mineral water and bottled water are sold out, just about everywhere. There is a expert with a chart -- making milk for babies, washing the dishes and feeding children, washing your face, brushing your teeth, and most of the normal activities using water are safe -- not dangerous. He does recommend that you not have your children drink lots of tap water right now. He says that it is safe, but you may want to avoid it.
There's something strange about the contrast between the people in northern Japan, fighting to come back from the earthquake and tsunami damage, and the panic and fear in the central Japan area around Tokyo, where people are apparently panicking over possible long-term risks. And then there's southern Japan, which so far is mostly just watching, trying to figure out how to help. Confusing.
That was an interesting video. There were two big pieces of construction equipment -- cranes -- on one side of a river/swamp. The water was deep enough and flowing that they obviously didn't want to try to drive through.
The SDF backed up what looked like a military tanker to the edge of the water. The tank lifted, then slid down and opened out. There were four sections -- the two outer, and two inner. Partly unfolded, they made a W, and then flattened before they hit the water. The truck pulled away, and they quickly unloaded three more similar units. As they put them in the water, they used ropes to pull them together, and they fastened to each other. In a very short time, the SDF had a fairly large ferry. The construction equipment drove on, and they ferried it over to the other side. I have to admit, the news people didn't show two pieces I was interested in -- how was the ferry propelled, and what did the disassembly look like? Do those units fold up by themselves as you pull them back on to their carrier?
There's a three-hour special with a journalist who is well-known for popularizing science talking about the nuclear stuff. One of the points he makes is that there are 30 countries around the world using nuclear reactors for energy. Apparently there are 342 sites? He also says that in terms of... I think he said reactors per population, but I may have misunderstood the measure... France has the highest density, followed by China. Japan comes in third.
Checking the international media, the Japanese reporters say that the Russian news says that the Japanese government is not giving out enough information, and is not telling the truth.
Somewhere today the government decided to stop sales of a bunch of vegetables and milk from various parts of Japan. Not a complete list, but Fukushima -- cabbage, spinach, cauliflower, broccoli -- is supposed to not be bought or sold. Ibaraki prefecture milk and parsley are supposed to be blocked. They talk with a farmer, who's got a greenhouse full of spinach. He says this is four months worth of work, about 2 million yen (roughly $20,000). And he's not sure even if he destroys all this, when he can grow more. The word from the government is that yes, vegetables grown in greenhouses are safe, and yes, even the vegetables grown outside really are safe, but to ensure public safety, they are blocking all of it from the regions of concern.
There's a woman out walking through the debris. She tells the reporter her house was about 500 meters further that way -- that's a half a kilometer, say 500 yards or so away. But when she was looking at the debris, she said, "That house... that almost looks like... that is my house!" So she's going through it now. She's taking out albums, mostly.
There's an 18-year-old, working with his father to clear the debris. He says he was planning to move to Tokyo, and had a job at a supermarket. But then the disaster hit, and he says now he is going to stay and help his father rebuild.
Now reporting confirmed dead 9452, dead and missing about 24,000.
There's a video of a concrete building, two and three stories tall, standing in a field of debris. There is a house, white walls and blue tile roof, sitting nearby that almost looks alright, until you realize it is sitting in the parking lot of the concrete building.
In one of the towns, there is video from the day of the tsunami that includes a young woman's voice announcing over a public address system that the tsunami is coming, go to high ground, get out now, the tsunami is coming. She repeats it several times, even as the tsunami rages through the town. Unfortunately, the parents of that young woman have come to look for her, but she is among the missing. The town hall where she was making the announcements is one of the buildings that has been reduced to a framework of red girders. The public address horns on top of the building have been bent and battered by the tsunami.
3/24
They've got one of the experts on again. I think this was the man who reassured us that he would wash the spinach, and that he and his children were eating. They asked him about the government decision to block vegetables and milk from the affected areas. He says if you ate a lot of vegetables from the area, with the highest levels so far measured, for about eight days, you would probably have about half the safe level. He says if you ate the vegetables with the highest levels for two or three months in a regular mixed diet, you might have some trouble. Similarly, eating vegetables with the highest cesium levels over an extended period might cause trouble. (Cesium does have a long half-life). He repeats that he doesn't think there is any need for concern at this time, but that the government has decided for safety to stop sales now.
They asked him about the white smoke coming out of one of the reactors. He looks at the long distance photography, and says he thinks it is probably steam from the used fuel cooling pool. I think it's kind of amusing that the news people are taking note of every shift in white and black and gray smoke and expecting these experts to be able to explain exactly what is causing all this.
There is a public service announcement answering what apparently are questions that have been posed publicly. Outside the 30 km evacuation range, if you get rained on, it's OK. Also, water and vegetables from outside the 30 km range are OK.
Someone has looked at the photography of the area towards the sea in front of the reactors and other indicators and says the reactors got hit with a 14 m tsunami. That's over 40 feet high -- say four or five stories of building.
This morning the dead or missing toll is up to about 25,000.
From one of the towns there's video of a elementary graduation. People are staying in the shelter, but the video follows a family as they look through the wreckage. The young boy finds his graduation clothes, but they've been destroyed by the flood. However, before the graduation, this young boy and his class put together their own one-page newspaper about the tsunami. They've written up their fears about the unbelievable tsunami, and the many things that they have to give thanks for. The video has the boy reading some of the pieces. He's mentioning the SDF bringing them food, so that they had something to eat. They hold the graduation in the shelter, with families and friends. The children sing a cappella. They bow to everyone, and announce in chorus that they're going to fight on.
At another town, Kamaishi, they are gathering the middle school for their graduation. The principal is upstairs in the school building that they are borrowing, and he says this is the first time that they have gathered everyone since the earthquake. Their school was wrecked. He says this may be the last time that the students will be gathered together. Middle school, third-year -- ninth-grade. The students greet each other and hugs. One girl says that her mother is dead, and her friends say, "Yoku ganbatte, ne." (You've fought hard). A young man ducks his head and turns away from the camera, crying as they discover that another friend is dead. The principal holds their last home room. He stumbles in his speech, and laughs at his own mistake. He tells them that not all the teachers are here, parents, friends are missing or dead. But they are with you in your heart. He congratulates them. And hands out graduation certificates.
There's a group of about 45 young people in Kobe -- southern Japan -- who are collecting for relief. They are all missing parents in the Tohoku area.
There's a video of one of the shelters, where someone arranged yakisoba (grilled noodles) and cotton candy! Everyone enjoys the yakisoba, and the kids (and probably a few parents on the sly) enjoy the cotton candy. They've got a little boy -- four or five years old -- getting a big bag of cotton candy with a shy smile.
And to add to the rest of the confusion, one of the main Tokyo water supply points has been measuring about 200 bekrir (I need to find out what the right spelling is for that) in the water. The recommended limit for adults is 300, but for children it's 100. So there's a lot of concern by parents this morning about babies and children. Mineral water and bottled water are sold out, just about everywhere. There is a expert with a chart -- making milk for babies, washing the dishes and feeding children, washing your face, brushing your teeth, and most of the normal activities using water are safe -- not dangerous. He does recommend that you not have your children drink lots of tap water right now. He says that it is safe, but you may want to avoid it.
There's something strange about the contrast between the people in northern Japan, fighting to come back from the earthquake and tsunami damage, and the panic and fear in the central Japan area around Tokyo, where people are apparently panicking over possible long-term risks. And then there's southern Japan, which so far is mostly just watching, trying to figure out how to help. Confusing.
