Japan News (4/26)
Apr. 26th, 2011 03:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mbarker4/22
The quake yesterday apparently dropped some suspended ceilings. The news people are trying to explain that a long wave flex affects some different things. Anyway, a ceiling fell in a symphony hall during a performance. Someone caught probably on a cell phone video of people in suits jumping on to the fallen ceiling materials and pulling it away. I think there were two dead. A swimming pool also lost its ceiling. Some other damage here and there.
They had a short piece about one of the fishermen who was actually on a boat in the ocean. The boat and his crew are OK, and he is living on the ship now. He shows pictures on his cell phone of his two children, three years old and two years old, and his wife, 41 years old. They have not been found. Apparently every morning he goes to the pile of debris that was his house and looks. They showed a little row of 5 cups -- two children's drinking mugs, bright with pictures, and a couple of adult tea cups -- that he has found and set up on a ledge. He's also dug out and cleaned off a couple of children's riders -- the bright plastic kind with big wheels.
That's got to be painful for everyone. They showed a kindergarten class that was just starting. Two young girls in the class had died. But the parents stood in the back with pictures of their children, draped in black ribbons. They answered the roll call for the girls, and got the red attendance ribbons for them, and attached them to the pictures.
They've got the Emperor and his wife in Ibaraki. He toured one of the ports that is badly cracked up concrete, and they visited shelters.
In Tokyo, there's a woman who is recommending that people put up a green curtain over their house. She shows how she puts up a mesh, then plants various vines in planters at the base. She says she doesn't use air conditioning. She's been doing this for four years. And she has records showing that even when Tokyo had 47 degrees centigrade, it was only about 32 degrees in her house under her green curtain. She says she uses a mixture of grape, blackberry, tomato, and flowers like morning glory. Since Tokyo is looking for ways to reduce electricity consumption this summer, this sounds pretty impressive. She's got a two-story house, but with vines on the ground and vines on the second floor balcony, she apparently turns her house into a real green house.
One of the farms somewhere in the Fukushima evacuation area is causing concern. They show that there are cows, pigs, and chickens in the farm in pens, but some of them are dead. They're doing analysis to determine the cause -- did they die of radiation, or simply from the lack of food and care?
In some of the other areas, there's a gas station open. There's also a library that's been opened. They're doing drawings for the emergency housing that's starting to open up. I think it all just shows that the recovery is going on.
4/23
That's an odd tidbit. Golden week is coming up. This is probably one of the biggest vacation periods in Japan, starting with the holiday on April 29, and the three holidays on May 3, 4, and 5, so with just a couple days vacation, you can get a 10 day holiday. This is one of the times when the Shinkansen (bullet train) usually runs at like 200% capacity, with hotels and everything else doing brisk business. However, one of the onsen -- hot spring resorts -- reports that they have about 95% cancellation. Even the airlines are predicting a major drop from the expected travel, instead of the jump that would normally occur.
I thought it was indicative that the national public news people were explaining how to get the 10 day holiday. I think they're trying to boost vacation spending.
4/25
Farmers from a town about 4.5 km away from Fukushima -- well within the evacuation area -- are trying to sort out what to do about their animals. I think they said there were something like 400 pigs, 2000 cows, even more sheep and some ridiculous number of chickens still in the town. They showed video of one of the farmers going out on the 13th -- a couple of weeks ago -- and putting out piles of feed for his cows. There are some cows loose in the town. There's some video of them wandering around. One, with his nose ring and ear tags, wanders over and peers at the camera (I'd guess that the cameraman was wearing the white suit, breathing apparatus, and goggles -- so he didn't really look like a people to a cow?) One farmer talked on the camera about his concern, whether he should try to feed them, just kill them, try to bring them out. He said they didn't make arrangements when they evacuated, and now it's even harder. He said it's not just his work and his money, the cows are kind of family.
The U.S. Navy and SDF are apparently sweeping the ocean again. They report they found 38 bodies today.
4/26
There's some discussion of how they are assessing payments for housing damage. Basically, if your house was destroyed, you get 2,000,000 yen (about $20,000). Partial damage (40-50%) nets you 1,000,000 yen, while a little damage gets you 500,000. Problem, of course, comes in defining levels of damage. Basically, if you have a two story house, if the tsunami went over the first story, it's considered totally destroyed, even if it is still standing. Over a meter, you get the partial damage payment. 20 centimeters or above, you get the little damage one. Plus, they're looking at the roof, walls, and foundations -- damage there, like earthquake breaking, foundations washed out, and so forth, also gets evaluated. By percentage, added together. If I understood correctly, they're being reasonably generous with the interpretations. Still, it isn't much. And there's a whole lot of places to assess. They had a short clip, with the head assessor advising his people to try to do 100 ... not sure whether that was per day or week, but he was urging them to process them fast. And a couple of assessors out looking. They showed them meeting an old woman, who said sure, go ahead. Then she sat there and turned a pot upside down, dumping mud out of it. And wrapped it carefully in newspaper. They didn't tell us what her one story house got assessed at.
Let's see -- there was a whole thing about giving the kids in the shelters stress tests. Apparently at least in one place, they are giving them a weekly form to fill out (things like are you eating as usual, do you wake up more than three times a night, etc.), plus weekly individual interviews and counseling as desired or indicated. I was trying to decide -- these were high schoolers, I think. But that one page full of questions, and they wanted a 1 to 5 rating for each of them, and there were weekly columns? They did show that people are marking various numbers, but I'm not sure whether I really think a form like that gets honest answers, what you think they are looking for, or even just last week's answers repeated because it's boring...
Oh, and there was a piece about the SDF troops. There's about 20,000 people out there. They're sleeping four to a tent. Eating field rations (which they showed -- canned stuff for lunch! I don't think I've ever seen canned rice before. They do get fresh rice, miso soup, and grilled fish for dinner, apparently.) Apparently they are under orders to not eat in sight of the civilians, so they are eating in trucks, tents, or otherwise. Washing... not so often, apparently. Large plastic bath, and once every 3 to 4 days. I gather that at least one of the higher ups is grousing about not normally sending the troups into this kind of situation for this long -- it's been quite a while. And if the reporter had it right, they are still in fast deployment housing and food.
The quake yesterday apparently dropped some suspended ceilings. The news people are trying to explain that a long wave flex affects some different things. Anyway, a ceiling fell in a symphony hall during a performance. Someone caught probably on a cell phone video of people in suits jumping on to the fallen ceiling materials and pulling it away. I think there were two dead. A swimming pool also lost its ceiling. Some other damage here and there.
They had a short piece about one of the fishermen who was actually on a boat in the ocean. The boat and his crew are OK, and he is living on the ship now. He shows pictures on his cell phone of his two children, three years old and two years old, and his wife, 41 years old. They have not been found. Apparently every morning he goes to the pile of debris that was his house and looks. They showed a little row of 5 cups -- two children's drinking mugs, bright with pictures, and a couple of adult tea cups -- that he has found and set up on a ledge. He's also dug out and cleaned off a couple of children's riders -- the bright plastic kind with big wheels.
That's got to be painful for everyone. They showed a kindergarten class that was just starting. Two young girls in the class had died. But the parents stood in the back with pictures of their children, draped in black ribbons. They answered the roll call for the girls, and got the red attendance ribbons for them, and attached them to the pictures.
They've got the Emperor and his wife in Ibaraki. He toured one of the ports that is badly cracked up concrete, and they visited shelters.
In Tokyo, there's a woman who is recommending that people put up a green curtain over their house. She shows how she puts up a mesh, then plants various vines in planters at the base. She says she doesn't use air conditioning. She's been doing this for four years. And she has records showing that even when Tokyo had 47 degrees centigrade, it was only about 32 degrees in her house under her green curtain. She says she uses a mixture of grape, blackberry, tomato, and flowers like morning glory. Since Tokyo is looking for ways to reduce electricity consumption this summer, this sounds pretty impressive. She's got a two-story house, but with vines on the ground and vines on the second floor balcony, she apparently turns her house into a real green house.
One of the farms somewhere in the Fukushima evacuation area is causing concern. They show that there are cows, pigs, and chickens in the farm in pens, but some of them are dead. They're doing analysis to determine the cause -- did they die of radiation, or simply from the lack of food and care?
In some of the other areas, there's a gas station open. There's also a library that's been opened. They're doing drawings for the emergency housing that's starting to open up. I think it all just shows that the recovery is going on.
4/23
That's an odd tidbit. Golden week is coming up. This is probably one of the biggest vacation periods in Japan, starting with the holiday on April 29, and the three holidays on May 3, 4, and 5, so with just a couple days vacation, you can get a 10 day holiday. This is one of the times when the Shinkansen (bullet train) usually runs at like 200% capacity, with hotels and everything else doing brisk business. However, one of the onsen -- hot spring resorts -- reports that they have about 95% cancellation. Even the airlines are predicting a major drop from the expected travel, instead of the jump that would normally occur.
I thought it was indicative that the national public news people were explaining how to get the 10 day holiday. I think they're trying to boost vacation spending.
4/25
Farmers from a town about 4.5 km away from Fukushima -- well within the evacuation area -- are trying to sort out what to do about their animals. I think they said there were something like 400 pigs, 2000 cows, even more sheep and some ridiculous number of chickens still in the town. They showed video of one of the farmers going out on the 13th -- a couple of weeks ago -- and putting out piles of feed for his cows. There are some cows loose in the town. There's some video of them wandering around. One, with his nose ring and ear tags, wanders over and peers at the camera (I'd guess that the cameraman was wearing the white suit, breathing apparatus, and goggles -- so he didn't really look like a people to a cow?) One farmer talked on the camera about his concern, whether he should try to feed them, just kill them, try to bring them out. He said they didn't make arrangements when they evacuated, and now it's even harder. He said it's not just his work and his money, the cows are kind of family.
The U.S. Navy and SDF are apparently sweeping the ocean again. They report they found 38 bodies today.
4/26
There's some discussion of how they are assessing payments for housing damage. Basically, if your house was destroyed, you get 2,000,000 yen (about $20,000). Partial damage (40-50%) nets you 1,000,000 yen, while a little damage gets you 500,000. Problem, of course, comes in defining levels of damage. Basically, if you have a two story house, if the tsunami went over the first story, it's considered totally destroyed, even if it is still standing. Over a meter, you get the partial damage payment. 20 centimeters or above, you get the little damage one. Plus, they're looking at the roof, walls, and foundations -- damage there, like earthquake breaking, foundations washed out, and so forth, also gets evaluated. By percentage, added together. If I understood correctly, they're being reasonably generous with the interpretations. Still, it isn't much. And there's a whole lot of places to assess. They had a short clip, with the head assessor advising his people to try to do 100 ... not sure whether that was per day or week, but he was urging them to process them fast. And a couple of assessors out looking. They showed them meeting an old woman, who said sure, go ahead. Then she sat there and turned a pot upside down, dumping mud out of it. And wrapped it carefully in newspaper. They didn't tell us what her one story house got assessed at.
Let's see -- there was a whole thing about giving the kids in the shelters stress tests. Apparently at least in one place, they are giving them a weekly form to fill out (things like are you eating as usual, do you wake up more than three times a night, etc.), plus weekly individual interviews and counseling as desired or indicated. I was trying to decide -- these were high schoolers, I think. But that one page full of questions, and they wanted a 1 to 5 rating for each of them, and there were weekly columns? They did show that people are marking various numbers, but I'm not sure whether I really think a form like that gets honest answers, what you think they are looking for, or even just last week's answers repeated because it's boring...
Oh, and there was a piece about the SDF troops. There's about 20,000 people out there. They're sleeping four to a tent. Eating field rations (which they showed -- canned stuff for lunch! I don't think I've ever seen canned rice before. They do get fresh rice, miso soup, and grilled fish for dinner, apparently.) Apparently they are under orders to not eat in sight of the civilians, so they are eating in trucks, tents, or otherwise. Washing... not so often, apparently. Large plastic bath, and once every 3 to 4 days. I gather that at least one of the higher ups is grousing about not normally sending the troups into this kind of situation for this long -- it's been quite a while. And if the reporter had it right, they are still in fast deployment housing and food.
