Japan’s Devastation

Some headlines, facts, estimates and other phrases found online 4 days after the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Sad times. Help if you can. Be grateful for what you have.

Sendai Devastation. Photo by Beacon Radio.

Sendai Devastation

  • An 8.9-magnitude earthquake and tsunami have crippled Japan
  • USGS upgraded to 9.0-magnitude, occurred on Friday, March 11, 2011 at 2:46 PM at epicenter, 130 km (80 miles) E of Sendai, Honshu, Japan
  • In pictures: Mounting shock
  • The landscape of parts of Japan looks like the aftermath of World War Two

Lives

  • at least 10,000 people are believed to have died
  • “There was 30 minutes’ warning”
  • the wave sheared house after house off at the foundation, leaving only concrete bases and wood floors scoured eerily spotless by the rushing water
  • Japan Begins To Dig For Dead Amid Nuclear Crisis
  • 2,000 Bodies Found On Miyagi Coast
  • No one to rescue in Natori
  • Japanese finding more tsunami victims; survivors face deprivation
  • In Sendai, long lines of quiet desperation
  • “I don’t know if it’s good that I survived”
  • Body bags run short in ‘overwhelmed’ nation
  • 300,000 homeless bed down without electricity
  • Millions face a fourth night of fear following Friday’s quake, tsunami and resulting nuclear emergency
  • Freezing temperatures are expected to exacerbate the hardships for Japan’s quake survivors

Radiation

  • The fuel rods in all three of the most troubled Japanese nuclear reactors appear to be melting
  • A third explosion in four days rocked the earthquake-damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant
  • Engineer: Nuclear Plant Not Designed To Withstand Quakes/Tsunamis
  • 17 U.S. Military Personnel Test Positive For Radiation
  • German Airline Screening Japanese Flights For Radiation
  • Germany, Switzerland Suspend Nuclear Plant Approvals
  • Japan accident dims odds of U.S. nuclear revival
  • Ultimate impact of damage to Japan nuclear reactors still unknown
  • Chernobyl Outcome Unlikely
  • Risk of radiation reaching U.S. said to be remote
  • According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), there are no signs of fuel melting at Japan’s nuclear plant
  • Fearmongers go into their own meltdown: ..the Western media’s obsession with what is happening there is seriously overblown and reveals more about us and our fears than it does about the reality on the ground in Japan.

Earth

  • the most powerful measured seismic event in Japan’s history
  • the fifth most powerful to hit the world in the past century
  • more than 160 aftershocks in the first 24 hours — 141 measuring 5.0-magnitude or more
  • preceded by a series of large foreshocks over the previous two days, 4 earthquakes greater than magnitude 6
  • the quake caused a rift 19 miles below the sea floor that stretched about 250 miles long and 100 miles wide
    tectonic plates slipped 59 feet (18 meters)
  • coastlines moved up to 8 feet
  • the quake also shifted the earth’s axis by 4 inches, shortened the day by 1.6 microseconds, and sank Japan downward (by about two feet?)
  • some waves reached six miles (10 kilometers) inland
  • 30-foot walls of water
  • the tsunami’s waves necessitated life-saving evacuations as far away as Chile

Details:
USGS | CNN | Huffington Post | BBC | MSNBC | LA Times | New York Times | Washington Post | Yahoo | The Australian | Fox News | Seattle Times | CNET

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *