NEWS IN RELATION TO JAPAN such as the QUAKE AND ENSUING TSUNAMI ON 11 MARCH 2011 but also other natural disasters

[nancyk58]

I have chosen to create a new JAPAN thread called NEWS IN RELATION TO THE JAPAN QUAKE AND ENSUING TSUNAMI ON 11 MARCH 2011.

But the original thread "MASSIVE QUAKE AND TSUNAMI HITS JAPAN" contained so much interesting info and articles so I have asked Ian to recreate the original thread, and he would ask his brother, the technical administrator, to do so.


LINK TO THE ORIGINAL JAPAN THREAD (that disappeared and should be recreated again):






(I can search and find the thread, but I cannot get access to the original thread - I hope that this changes soon)



JAPAN (from text-TV on Danish TV2 News plus DR1):

The Japanese utility, Chubu Electric (Power) will reinforce the protection of its closed nuclear power plant in Hamaoka by surrounding the plant with a 18-m-high wall thata can withstand a new tsunami.

The authorities will consider a reopening of the plant when it is better protected against tsunamis like the one crippling the cooling systems at the Fukushima plant in March and caused fear of a nuclear power disaster.

Chubu Electric expects the 1.6 km long wall to be completed by December 2012 and the costs to amount to about 100 billion yen (or 6-7 billion Danish Kroner).

The Fukushima plant was protected by a 5.7 m high wall.



NORTHERN PART OF JAPAN HIT BY A MAGNITUDE 6.4 EARTHQUAKE

The earthquake struck off the Pacific coast off the prefecture Miyagi - according to US Geological Survey (USGS).

The epicentre was 125 km north-east of Sendai - the capital city of Miyagi.

The region was severely hit by the magnitude 9.0 earthquake on 11 March and the ensuing tsunami.

There are no reports of casualties or any damage after the earthquake which occurred in the night between Friday and Saturday.

Source: Text-TV from German TV channel 2 / ZDF Text

[nancyk58]

1 JAPANESE WOMAN KILLED AND 4 OR 5 JAPANESE MISSING AFTER CLOUDBURSTS IN 2 PREFECTURES

A 67-year-old Japanese woman died and 4 or 5 Japanese are missing after heavy rains in north-easter Japan.

Record-high amounts of rain in some places triggered bloated rivers and landslides.

News Agency KYODO reported that last night the authorities asked between 300,000 and 400,000 people to leave their homes in the Niigata and Fukushima prefectures out of fear of additional landslides and floods.

500mm of rain fell in 24 hours in areas of the Niigata prefecture, and even more rain fell in Fukushima.

[nancyk58]

NEWS IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS


NORTH-EAST JAPAN HIT BY A NEW POWERFUL EARTHQUAKE - MAGNITUDE 6.4 ON THE RICHTER SCALE - 7 INJURED

The quake occurred early Sunday local time - at 3:54am - in the north-east Japan, and it could be felt in Tokyo.

Initially, there were no reports of casualties, but Swedish SVT Text later reported that 7 were injured.

No tsunami alerts were issued.

The Fukushima Daiichi power plant is located near the area hit by today's quake, but Tokyo Electric Power Co. reported that no unnormal measurements had been recorded around the crippled nuclear power station.

Text-TV on Swedish SVT (SVT Text) and Danish TV2 News

[nancyk58]

MORE RADIATION IN FUKUSHIMA IN JAPAN (Swedish text-TV / SVT Text)


New areas with life-threatening radiation levels have been discovered inside the power plant in Fukushima.

Yesterday, the operator Tepco reported an area with measured radiation doses of 10 Sievert per hour at the bottom of one valve shaft between 2 reactors.

Today another area was detected close to the first detected area with similar values.

Tepco's equipment cannot measure more than 10 Sievert per hour which is an extremely dangerous radiation level that may lead to death within short time.

[nancyk58]

NEWS IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS


JAPAN FIRES 3 TOP OFFICIALS IN CHARGE OF JAPAN's NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS

The fired officials are a permanent undersecretary, a head of the agency for nuclear security and the head of the agency for energy and resources.

The scandals in relation to the Fukushima plant made it necessary for Banri Kanieda the minister in charge of industries to intervene. The minister has said that he will resign as well. But he has not said when.

Japanese media report that Prime Minister Nauto Kan is responsible for the officials being fired.

Source: Danish text-tv on DR1 and Swedish text-tv on SVT Text

[nancyk58]

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/...na013000c.html

The MAINICHI DAILY NEWS

Disaster-related suicides reach 16 in June; 80% over 50

Suicides in June due solely to the March 11 megaquake and tsunami reached 16, with those aged 50 and over topping 80 percent of the total, the Cabinet Office revealed on Aug. 5 in the first release of disaster-related suicide statistics.

Of the 16, 11 were men and five were women. By age bracket, one was below 20, two in their 20s, five in their 50s, six in their 60s and one each in their 70s and 80s. Eight were found dead in Miyagi Prefecture, three in Iwate Prefecture, two in Fukushima Prefecture and one each in Ibaraki, Saitama and Tokyo.

As for the ratio of disaster-related suicides to total suicides, in Miyagi Prefecture it accounted for 18 percent of 45 suicides, in Iwate Prefecture 8 percent of 36, and in Fukushima Prefecture 4 percent of 50. There were no figures for March to May.

The Cabinet Office compiled the June statistics after receiving pertinent information from the National Police Agency and concluded the 16 deaths were the direct results of the natural disasters based on five criteria.

First, their bodies were found in evacuation centers, temporary housing or morgues.

Second, they lived in evacuation centers or temporary housing.

Third, they had evacuated from disaster-hit areas.

Fourth, their houses or workplaces were heavily damaged by the quake or tsunami,

Fifth, they left verbal evidence or suicide notes that alluded to the effects of the disasters.

The Cabinet Office says it is difficult to say if the 16 disaster-related suicides was a high or low total, as this was the first time the office had compiled such statistics.

"We are worried that evacuees are becoming reclusive and feeling isolated after moving into temporary housing. We will study measures such as visits by health center nurses at the initiative of local governments, and beefing up health counseling," a Cabinet Office official said.

(Mainichi Japan) August 6, 2011

[nancyk58]

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/...na013000c.html

The MAINICHI DAILY NEWS

Latest News

Water treatment system at Fukushima plant stops for 7.5 hours, cause unknown

Sunflower radiation absorption project blossoms around Japan

High school magna competition champs to donate prize for quake relief

[nancyk58]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14463055

9 August 2011 Last updated at 15:12 GMT

Japan nuclear crisis: Fukushima alert eased

Restrictions on residents living between 20-30km (12-19 miles) from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant will be eased, Japanese officials say.

The government issued an alert to people in the zone to be prepared to evacuate at short notice after the 11 March earthquake and tsunami.

But officials say the alert will be lifted in the coming weeks, as they try to reassure people the area is safe.

The Fukushima crisis is the world's worst nuclear accident in a generation.

Three of the plant's reactors melted down after the tsunami and 9.0-magnitude quake wrecked cooling systems. The Fukushima plant continues to leak radioactive material.

The government has been widely criticised for its handling of the crisis, which revealed serious flaws in the nuclear industry's regulatory systems and safety standards.

Homes and businesses within 20km of the plant were evacuated, while those up to 30km were put on alert for evacuation

Food scares

Officials said on Tuesday that about 28,500 people had already left the alert zone - a large area of which was devastated by the tsunami.

But about 30,000 still remained, according to the government.

"We have hoped to let evacuees return to their ordinary lives as soon as possible. It took five months to finally start the process," said Goshi Hosono, the minister in charge of the nuclear crisis.

"We will carry this out very cautiously."

Although no-one has died as a result of the nuclear crisis, the meltdown at Fukushima has turned large section of the public against nuclear power.

Public concerns have been fuelled by a string of revelations about contaminated food products such as beef, leafy vegetables and milk.

On Tuesday, lobby group Greenpeace claimed it had tested fish caught in the sea 55km from the plant, and had detected higher levels of caesium than normal.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan, struggling to hold on to power amid collapsing popularity, has taken on the anti-nuclear cause and promised to reduce Japan's reliance on nuclear energy.

About 30% of Japan's electricity was nuclear generated before the Fukushima crisis.

But since the crisis, two-thirds of the country's reactors have remained closed as the government tries to stave off concerns over safety by carrying out stress tests.

Much of the country has instituted power saving measures such as rolling blackouts in a bid to save energy.

[nancyk58]

From Swedish text-TV / SVT Text:

GIGANTIC BLOCK OF ICE BROKEN OFF BY TSUNAMI

Waves after the tsunami that followed the magnitude 9.0 earthquake off Japan's coast on 11 March 2011 caused a gigantic ice block to break off from the thick ice around the South Pole.

So ESA - the European Space Agency - reports.

The largest iceblock was 80 m thick and as big as Manhattan.

The tsunami was initially 23 m high, but had lost much strength when the wall of water reached Antarctica 1,300 miles away. But the waves undermined the ice.

[nancyk58]

http://www.care2.com/causes/japanese...ice-shelf.html


Japanese Tsunami Shattered Antarctica’s Ice Shelf

by Beth Buczynski

August 10, 2011 4:17 pm.

A recent investigation by NASA scientists revealed a connection between the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that crippled Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant, and the calving of icebergs from the Sulzberger Ice Shelf in Antarctica.

The finding, published online Monday in the Journal of Glaciology, marks the first direct observation of such a connection between tsunamis and icebergs.

Typically, scientists notice massive walls of ice breaking loose from the Arctic shelf, and must work backwards through time to ascertain the source. This time, say researchers, they knew the source ahead of time, and only had to wait to confirm the results.

“In the past we’ve had calving events where we’ve looked for the source. It’s a reverse scenario – we see a calving and we go looking for a source,” said Kelly Brunt, a cryosphere specialist at Goddard Space Flight Center. “We knew right away this was one of the biggest events in recent history – we knew there would be enough swell. And this time we had a source.”

When the Tohoku Tsunami was triggered in the Pacific Ocean on March 11 this spring, Brunt and colleagues watched as massive waves exploded out from its epicenter. Then, they looked south, watching swells of water swarming toward an ice shelf in Antarctica, 8,000 miles (13,600 km) away. About 18 hours after the earthquake occurred, those waves broke off several chunks of ice that together equaled about two times the surface area of Manhattan. According to historical records, this particular piece of ice hadn’t budged in at least 46 years before the tsunami came along.

Previous studies have theorized that the presence of sea ice, greatly diminished thanks to the effects of global climate change, is instrumental in preventing massive ice calving by buffering ocean swells that can cause icebergs to break loose. According to Douglas MacAyeal at University of Chicago who assisted Brunt with the research, the bay in front of the Sulzberger shelf was largely lacking sea ice at the time of the tsunami.

Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/japanese...#ixzz1Ul6QBxL3

Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/japanese...#ixzz1Ul6EXqdD

[nancyk58]

HEATWAVE IN JAPAN KILLS 4 PEOPLE (Swedish text-TV / SVT Text)

900 hospitalized with hot flashes.

The situation is worsened by that fact that the air conditioning systems are switched off in order to reduce power consumption as a consequence of the earthquake on 11 March 2011.

[nancyk58]

JAPAN: TSUNAMI WAVES IN THE FUKUSHIMA AREA AFTER EARTHQUAKE

A tsunami warning was issued after a magnitude 6.8 earthquake off the north-west coast occurred immediately after 7:30 am central European time. One hour later the tsunami alert was lifted.

Buildings were swaying in Tokyo more than 28 miles away, but no reports of immediate damage. The magnitude of the earthquake was later corrected to being 6.3.

The quake occurred in a depth of 2 miles off Fukushima where about ½m high waves were expected in the Fukushima nuclear power plant area.

Source: Swedish text-TV / SVT Text


JAPAN ABOUT TO LIFT THE BAN ON CONTAMINATED MEAT

The Japanese authorities are about to lift the ban on selling meat from Fukushima and Miyagi. These two areas were exposed to nuclear contamination from the Fukushima nuclear power plant which was hit by a serious accident in March.

The Japanese government might lift the ban on meat exports already on Friday. This is done because a number of control measures are in place.



Source: Danish free paper 24timer on 19 August 2011

[chuck kottke]

Well, as long as the beef is within safe limits, and those limits are carefully set according to sound scientific studies and cumulative exposure levels taken into account.. hm..
And the ice that' broken off the ice shelf in Antarctica, they should tow that to Somalia! Hey, it's been done before - why not?

[nancyk58]

German ZDF text on 19.8.11: NEW EARTHQUAKE IN JAPAN'S DISASTER-HIT REGION

North-east Japan has been shaken by a powerful earthquake - magnitude 6.8. According to the authorities the quake occurred off the coast where the crippled nuclear power plant Fukushima is situated.

Houses swayed in Tokyo. There are no reports of casualties or any material damage. A tsunami warning for the region was issued, but soon lifted again.

No new damage occurred at the nuclear power plant Fukushima according to the operator Tepco.

[nancyk58]

AT LEAST 17 DEAD AND 43 MISSING IN JAPANESE TYPHOON "TALAS"

At least 17 were killed and 43 are missing since typhoon "Talas" swept over West Japan.

More than hundred people are injured.

The typhoon brought with it very strong winds and cloudbursts which caused flooding and triggered landslides.

One victim died as his car was hit by a big wave that filled his car.

In the prefecture of NARA, a building was washed away.

Yesterday, the typhoon moved over the islands of SHIKOKU and HONSHU, and today it moved slowly northwards.

Source: Swedish text-TV / SVT text and Danish TV2 News, Live