Merged 8.8 quake in Sendai, Japan

[Sword_Of_Truth]

IAEA is reporting that mobile power supplies for the cooling systems have arrived at the Fukushima site, and that water levels in the cores are above the fuel elements.

 

[tyr_13]

I wish I were there to help.

 

[gumboot]

Just reverse your thinking. The axis moved not the crust. Similar result were reported in 2005. The Earth slowed its rotation by a 1/12 of a second

It was more like 2.68 microseconds, I believe, which is dwarfed by the early lengthening of a day due to the moon's tidal forces. The earth also wobbled in its orbit by 2.5cm, but again natural phenomenon greatly dwarfs the minor effects of the earthquake. Having said that it's pretty astounding that they can do even that much!

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Luckily I am in Canada with my son who is Japanese. My family in Japan are alright. My son's grandparents are in Tochigi and closest to the epicenter. They've had their power knocked out, but are otherwise alright. I can't believe the images I am seeing on TV. Even compared to Thailand and Indonesia, the scale of the tsunami is just frightening. It was terrible seeing people in cars trying to flee as the deluge of water and debri approached them, but the worst was seeing people atop buildings that were just swept away.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Thats alright I am a retard when it comes to humour on the internet. So you were really up against it from the start

As I re-read my post, it was wasn't well executed. It lacked a certain .

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Yes, quite ingeniously designed, overall.

Kill thousands all to keep the Earth livable? Seriously? That's the best design an omnipotent god could come up with?

I'm surprised you would continue to worship such a dufus.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

...
I still have only seen a couple of videos from the recent tsunami in Japan, so I don't know how it compares to Indonesia 2004. ....

One of the videos looks just like the '04 tsunami. The only difference is there aren't individual struggling people floating by.

 

[William Parcher]

LA Times...

The effects of Friday's tsunami so far have seemed less devastating than those from one generated by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake off Indonesia's Sumatra island, which killed more than 200,000 people.

Japan is better-prepared for seismic disasters, but circumstances were also in its favor, Weiss said. The Sumatra earthquake was of magnitude 9.1-9.3 — significantly more powerful than Japan's 8.9, Weiss said. In addition, the fault line in the Sumatra earthquake stretched for about 750 miles compared to 220 miles long for Friday's quake. It generated 100-foot-high waves in some places when they hit land. The waves reaching the shores of Japan following Friday's quake were 20 feet to 25 feet high.

 

[BeAChooser]

Obama shortly after the Japan earthquake (http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/03/11/obama.quake/index.html ) - "The friendship and alliance between our two nations is unshakeable."

And who says democrats don't have a sense of humor?

 

[Travis]

Not true. When they eventually tried to the scram the reactor, the rods halted without fully entering the reactor as they should have. It's not that they didn't lower fast enough, it's that there was already damage inside the reactor, because of the way it had been operated to that point. Damage that prevented the rods from full penetration. The rest is history.

True. They had a funky design for the rods to be inserted inside the graphite moderators. When the graphite was damaged by the excursion event the rods could not be lowered further.

All in all the Chernobyl design was just awful.

IAEA is reporting that mobile power supplies for the cooling systems have arrived at the Fukushima site, and that water levels in the cores are above the fuel elements.

That's good to hear. I was worried they would have to use unfiltered water which is more prone to nucleation and is thus a worse neutron absorber.

 

[The Central Scrutinizer]

I haven't really read anything about the impact on Seattle. The city itself would be fine, as it is up a bit, but there still could have been property losses - boats, etc.

We have 3 posters of value from the Seattle area - Dicon, Mrs. Dicon, and Varwoche. Those are the only ones I know of, and I hope all is well.

 

[tyr_13]

Does anyone know what relief efforts are being mounted? Red Cross actions? I know Japan isn't exactly bereft of resources to help with this sort of thing, but that's a lot of destruction.

Does anyone know any way to help?

 

[Tony]

The worse could be yet to come. If one of those reactors has a meltdown, it would be devastating not just for Japan, but for all of East Asia.

 

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Does anyone know what relief efforts are being mounted? Red Cross actions? I know Japan isn't exactly bereft of resources to help with this sort of thing, but that's a lot of destruction.

Does anyone know any way to help?

Red Cross.

I've donated, but I'm quite sure none of the gum flappers have.

 

[gumboot]

Does anyone know what relief efforts are being mounted?

New Zealand has a USAR team on the way.

 

[tyr_13]

The worse could be yet to come. If one of those reactors has a meltdown, it would be devastating not just for Japan, but for all of East Asia.

You're not exactly 'up' on nuclear physics are you? How large do think those plants are?

 

[The Central Scrutinizer]

The worse could be yet to come. If one of those reactors has a meltdown, it would be devastating not just for Japan, but for all of East Asia.

I believe modern reactors are designed to contain a meltdown. What are the effects if it doesn't? Will we have giant rabbits?

 

[Sword_Of_Truth]

You're not exactly 'up' on nuclear physics are you? How large do think those plants are?

Tony is no stranger to nuclear energy.

The devastation he refers to is the harm the bad publicity will cause to the nuclear industry, technological civilizations best hope for cheap clean and abundant energy.

 

[William Parcher]

BBC right now...

0529: Back to the quake-damaged nuclear power plant Fukushima-Daiichi, and worrying reports on the AFP news agency, quoting Japanese media, that it "may be experiencing nuclear meltdown".

 

[Beerina]

CNN reporter talking about boats in Crescent City CA "tossed around as if they were weightless". But strictly speaking, isn't a boat floating in water actually weightless?

It's buoyed, but I wouldn't say it's any more weightless than it would be sitting on land.

With all that warning I'm surprised so many boats were still in the harbor.

I'm sure a lot of people thought, eh, it'll just be a few feet, no more than a wave during a halfway-decent storm.