Thanas wrote:Is there any way to get info about ships lost in the catastrophe?
Speaking of swept-away ships, some good news on that front:
81 rescued from ship swept off by tsunami, reports say
Vessel was carrying dock workers; 4 trains missing, fifth derailed
msnbc.com staff and news service reports
updated 30 minutes ago 2011-03-12T00:47:53
TOKYO — A ship that was swept away by the tsunami on Japan's northeastern coast was found and all 81 aboard were airlifted to safety, the AFP news agency reported Friday, citing Japanese news reports.
A Japanese coast guard official had said a search was under way for the ship carrying dock workers that was swept away when a tsunami struck the northeastern coast.
The vessel was washed away from a shipbuilding site in Miyagi prefecture (state), the area most affected by a massive offshore earthquake on Friday. The quake triggered the tsunami.
Japanese naval and coast guard helicopters located the ship and rescued those on board, AFP said, citing the Jiji news agency.
Citing Miyagi police, Kyodo News had reported that 100 were on board.
Four trains running in a coastal area of Miyagi and Iwate prefectures remained unaccounted for after the tsunami hit.
It was not known how many people were aboard the trains.
Another train on the Senseki Line was found derailed near Nobiru Station after the quake. No information was available about the fate of the passengers and crew on the train.
Additionally, police said 200 to 300 bodies were found in the northeastern coastal city of Sendai, and another 88 were confirmed killed and at least 349 were missing.
The death toll was likely to continue climbing given the scale of the disaster.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Incidentally, when was the last time anyone has heard of a train that is missing? And 4 of them. Not that it's hard to see how this could happen in this case, of course, but it's just a odd thing to see in general.
Down in Osaka things got a bit wobbly for a while, but little tremors are a pretty regular occurence over here.
I didn't actually realize the magnitude of the event until much later in the day.
At my office in Tokyo, things were a bit more dramatic. The ceiling panels collapsed and they had a hard time getting out of the building because the elevators were out and the doors to the stairs had jammed in their frames.
A bloody mess apparently, but luckily no one was injured.
Those who lived close enough had to walk home (trains were all out) - 3 or 4 hours in some cases, or stay overnight in the concrete-dust choked building.
Of course that is nothing to the almost surreal destruction up in Sendai...
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At best they are merely fortunate."
Todeswind wrote:Kyodo News : The death toll from Friday's catastrophic earthquake in Japan reached 217 Saturday in nine prefectures, including Tokyo, with the toll likely to rise to well over 1,000 as some areas suffered devastating damage, according to the National Police Agency and the Defense Ministry.
Shit. The friend I still haven't been able to contact is in Tokyo. I really hope she's alright.
Looking at that footage, I'm stunned at the devastation -- and keep in mind I live in the heart of earthquake country.
For all the concern and attention on the nuke plants, they actually came out pretty well. They were shaken by the largest earthquake in the history of that area, hit with a series of tsunamis, and they all shutdown safely. At worst there's a minor radioactive steam release. No meltdown, no Chernobyl, no fallout. Meanwhile we have oil refineries going up in a sea of flames complete with mile high fireballs.
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Say, do you want it to be a threesome with your wife? Or a foursome with your wife and sister-in-law? I'm up for either.
FSTargetDrone wrote:Incidentally, when was the last time anyone has heard of a train that is missing? And 4 of them. Not that it's hard to see how this could happen in this case, of course, but it's just a odd thing to see in general.
Boxing Day Tsunami? I know there were trains derailed during that one, didn't a train go missing for awhile as well?
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Now I did a job. I got nothing but trouble since I did it, not to mention more than a few unkind words as regard to my character so let me make this abundantly clear. I do the job. And then I get paid.- Malcolm Reynolds, Captain of Serenity, which sums up my feelings regarding the lawsuit discussed here.
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I feel very guilty about how pristine the town I'm living in is. It just feels wrong to be able to sit in a coffee shop with others while there is so much pain and loss going on around me.
Broomstick wrote:
Boxing Day Tsunami? I know there were trains derailed during that one, didn't a train go missing for awhile as well?
A train in Sri Lanka was missing for part of a day, but they found it knocked off the tracks and scattered over hundreds of yards pretty much as soon as someone flew an aircraft down the tracks. 800+ died on that train and many are still missing to this day. A similar number of people survived, it was a big crammed train. The Japanese trains were running very close to the coastline as far as I can tell, and its possible that one or more was physically swept into the sea. The debris pileups also look easily big enough some places to have buried rail cars out of sight.
Last edited by Sea Skimmer on 2011-03-12 03:24am, edited 1 time in total.
"This cult of special forces is as sensible as to form a Royal Corps of Tree Climbers and say that no soldier who does not wear its green hat with a bunch of oak leaves stuck in it should be expected to climb a tree"
— Field Marshal William Slim 1956
There has been an explosion in the Fukushima nuclear power plant and the reactor core has been exposed. No links in English yet that I could find, it's all over the Finnish news as breaking updates.
Why is it so goddamned hard to get little assholes like you to admit it when you fuck up? Is it pride? What gives you the right to have any pride?
–Darth Wong to vivftp
GOP message? Why don't they just come out of the closet: FASCISTS R' US –Patrick Degan
The GOP has a problem with anyone coming out of the closet. –18-till-I-die
I see stuff saying they are having a meltdown, which shouldn't be much worse then Three Mile Island I'd hope, but nothing on an explosion. They were venting steam, that should preclude one...
Edit: reports I'm now seeing are of a major white cloud over the plant, but nothing specific on an explosion. This almost certainly means it is melting down for real though.
"This cult of special forces is as sensible as to form a Royal Corps of Tree Climbers and say that no soldier who does not wear its green hat with a bunch of oak leaves stuck in it should be expected to climb a tree"
— Field Marshal William Slim 1956
Sea Skimmer wrote:I see stuff saying they are having a meltdown, which shouldn't be much worse then Three Mile Island I'd hope, but nothing on an explosion. They were venting steam, that should preclude one...
Edit: reports I'm now seeing are of a major white cloud over the plant, but nothing specific on an explosion. This almost certainly means it is melting down for real though.
The Uusi suomi article says that the radiation levels around the plant are 20 times above safe levels. Run it through Google Translate, though I expect articles in English soon.
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Why is it so goddamned hard to get little assholes like you to admit it when you fuck up? Is it pride? What gives you the right to have any pride?
–Darth Wong to vivftp
GOP message? Why don't they just come out of the closet: FASCISTS R' US –Patrick Degan
The GOP has a problem with anyone coming out of the closet. –18-till-I-die
The BBC is saying 20 times normal level, presumably normal background levels, so still nothing that is in all reality that awful a hazard.
NHK TV is supposed to have video of this cloud and possibly building damage, anyone get that channel? Also the BBC is saying a second reactor may have reached meltdown stage.
Edit
This place has a filmed screen of the video. This looks very bad, far too much steam to be an intentional release. God help them that a steam pipe broke rather then the entire core exploding. Speculation is it may have been a hydrogen explosion, which is what almost occurred at Three Mile Island not far upwind me. http://www.twitvid.com/LICNU
"This cult of special forces is as sensible as to form a Royal Corps of Tree Climbers and say that no soldier who does not wear its green hat with a bunch of oak leaves stuck in it should be expected to climb a tree"
— Field Marshal William Slim 1956
Why is it so goddamned hard to get little assholes like you to admit it when you fuck up? Is it pride? What gives you the right to have any pride?
–Darth Wong to vivftp
GOP message? Why don't they just come out of the closet: FASCISTS R' US –Patrick Degan
The GOP has a problem with anyone coming out of the closet. –18-till-I-die
Sea Skimmer wrote:The BBC is saying 20 times normal level, presumably normal background levels, so still nothing that is in all reality that awful a hazard.
NHK TV is supposed to have video of this cloud and possibly building damage, anyone get that channel? Also the BBC is saying a second reactor may have reached meltdown stage.
Edit
This place has a filmed screen of the video. This looks very bad, far too much steam to be an intentional release. God help them that a steam pipe broke rather then the entire core exploding. Speculation is it may have been a hydrogen explosion, which is what almost occurred at Three Mile Island not far upwind me. http://www.twitvid.com/LICNU
The Finnish Radiation Safety Agency head was saying that the evidence so far points to a hydrogen explosion.
In one of the plants the radiation levels in the control room are 1000 times normal and outside the plant it's eight times normal. According to the Japanese Jiji news agency the water level in cooling system has sunk low enough to expose the fuel rods.
They're going to have a shitload of problems with this...
Warwolf Urban Combat Specialist
Why is it so goddamned hard to get little assholes like you to admit it when you fuck up? Is it pride? What gives you the right to have any pride?
–Darth Wong to vivftp
GOP message? Why don't they just come out of the closet: FASCISTS R' US –Patrick Degan
The GOP has a problem with anyone coming out of the closet. –18-till-I-die
As a person living in the Asia-Pacific I must ask, again, if I should be worried and if I should do anything if this nuclear crisis somehow manages to reach me?
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The wind patterns will favor sweeping most contamination out into the open Pacific. Anyone in the affected area can expect bans on the sale of fresh foods and milk products for at least six weeks, maybe a lot longer. If you are anywhere near the plant in Japan you should seriously make preparations for sealing your windows and doors with tape.
better video is out and it is clear a major building was demolished at the plant; some sources say it was the number 1 reactor building but no one is sure yet, the plant does have some similar buildings which are not reactors
"This cult of special forces is as sensible as to form a Royal Corps of Tree Climbers and say that no soldier who does not wear its green hat with a bunch of oak leaves stuck in it should be expected to climb a tree"
— Field Marshal William Slim 1956
We weren't expecting this much damage, and it wasn't really clear what people should do. Folks were told to stay away from the water, not to go and save their boats.
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You kinda look like Jesus. With a lightsaber.- Peregrin Toker
"This cult of special forces is as sensible as to form a Royal Corps of Tree Climbers and say that no soldier who does not wear its green hat with a bunch of oak leaves stuck in it should be expected to climb a tree"
— Field Marshal William Slim 1956
I did not realize it, but these are boiling water reactors, not pressurized water reactors, all else aside this does make them a little less prone to total destruction in a meltdown scenario. It also means they contain a lot more stream as part of normal operations.
"This cult of special forces is as sensible as to form a Royal Corps of Tree Climbers and say that no soldier who does not wear its green hat with a bunch of oak leaves stuck in it should be expected to climb a tree"
— Field Marshal William Slim 1956
"
- PeZook
