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Junique · #1 03-12-2011, 11:22 PM

There has been one meltdown and a possible second on Japan

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/wo...ence&seid=auto

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42044156...-asia-pacific/

LoveBuggy · #2 03-13-2011, 06:41 AM

So sad and scared for the Japanese people. They can't catch a break. Horrific now with possible meltdowns.

Junique · #3 03-13-2011, 08:08 AM

Well there has been a breech of two of the reactor cores. Which is a "Meltdown". But the PM keeps saying "we are doing this with control", because a "Meltdown" also means that there is an uncontrolled release of the nuclear steam. Man the Japanese politicians are way more tricky than the ones in the US.

It is scary though.

SpicaRigel · #4 03-13-2011, 08:41 PM

Information coming out of there is so contradictive, and its a bit frustrating for me.
I have a cousin in Osaka which is down in the southern part of the country. CNN is reporting that a volcano is starting to erupt down that way.
And right now Anderson Cooper is saying there has been a new blast at one of the nuclear reactors...and... also that a new tsunami warning has just been issued for the already devastated area.
They all seem a bit confused as to what is happening.
I cant imagine what those poor people are having to deal with... unbelievable.
Yes...there has been a new explosion.

Rox73 · #5 03-14-2011, 08:55 AM

I've been watching videos of the horror the Japanese are living all weekend - it's heartwrenching

hisnysoulmate · #6 03-14-2011, 10:25 PM

According to the aljazeera site which seems to update their info more frequently - the fourth japanese reactor suffered a meltdown. This is so disturbing to me. I'm contemplating exit strategies. :-(

SpicaRigel · #7 03-14-2011, 10:35 PM

Theres alot of conflicting news... and Im mistaken, my cousin is in Kyoto, not Osaka, and its so weird because I have a cousin in Chile who was in that bad quake. I told my Aunt today I hope cuz we are in Cali it dont hit here next.
I cant imagine how the people affected are coping.

4Ivy · #8 03-15-2011, 01:51 AM

SOMA, Japan — Radiation is spewing from damaged reactors at a crippled nuclear power plant in tsunami-ravaged northeastern Japan in a dramatic escalation of the 4-day-old catastrophe. The prime minister has warned residents to stay inside or risk getting radiation sickness. In a nationally televised statement, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said radiation has spread from the three reactors of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in one of the hardest-hit provinces in Friday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake and the ensuing tsunami. He told people living within 12 miles (20 kilometers) of the plant to evacuate and those within 19 miles (30 kilometers) to stay indoors.
"The level seems very high, and there is still a very high risk of more radiation coming out," Kan said.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said early Tuesday that a fourth reactor at the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex was on fire and that more radiation was released, but officials announced later in the day that the fire was extinguished.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42066534...s-asiapacific/

4Ivy · #9 03-15-2011, 01:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpicaRigel

Information coming out of there is so contradictive, and its a bit frustrating for me.
I have a cousin in Osaka which is down in the southern part of the country. CNN is reporting that a volcano is starting to erupt down that way.
And right now Anderson Cooper is saying there has been a new blast at one of the nuclear reactors...and... also that a new tsunami warning has just been issued for the already devastated area.
They all seem a bit confused as to what is happening.
I cant imagine what those poor people are having to deal with... unbelievable.
Yes...there has been a new explosion.

I hope that you cousin is well

Rox73 · #10 03-15-2011, 02:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpicaRigel

Theres alot of conflicting news... and Im mistaken, my cousin is in Kyoto, not Osaka, and its so weird because I have a cousin in Chile who was in that bad quake. I told my Aunt today I hope cuz we are in Cali it dont hit here next.
I cant imagine how the people affected are coping.

I've been cruising news sites a lot in the last few days.... Sky and BBC always seem to have the latest news and they seem pretty objective and don't seem to give into yellowpress sensationalism like many others.

The videos they have are astonishing if you haven't already seen them on youtube:

http://news.sky.com/skynews/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/video_and_audio/

Video # 2 on the "most watched" (to the right) right now is pretty disturbing, you can see people running away from the flood, not all of them making it

You guys should definitely read up on the subduction plate tectonics in this area (the west coast of North America), especially the movements and how the Juan de Fuca and the North American plates interact, called the Cascadia subduction zone. This is in British Colombia (around the coast of Vancouver Island) but it would most definitely be felt in California.... not sure about the tsunami danger down there, but up in BC the tsunami danger is major. It's not a question of if but when those two will snap loose just like the plates around Japan. The ones in Japan are also of the subduction kind (called "Transform boundaries"). I don't want to scare anyone but I think it's smart to have an exit strategy just in case, especially if you live up north near the border.... you're going to have 20 minutes up to an hour to evacuate depending on how far from the beach you live. I live in an earthquake/volcanic prone area and we have had exit strategies since I can remember. Our plates are not subduction plates (transform) though but divergent, where they move apart creating more danger of volcanic activity than big earthquakes (quakes around here don't go above 7 richter or so).

The plates around California however move past each other (more like they grind together) creating the little tremors that are felt frequently. This motion of the plates is called "transform boundaries". You can see the motion here.

I'm not quite sure if the San Andreas fault movement has the potential to create tsunamis (I don't think so) since the fault isn't underwater like the plates in BC and Japan, although it will probably create quite a big earthquake at some point (like the one in 2004).

People living up north should definitely plan ahead though.... especially those living on Vancouver Island and in surrounding areas.

What worries me MOST of ALL when it comes to natural disasters is the Yellowstone super volcano.... I do NOT want to be around when that one blows

LadyBlackz · #11 03-15-2011, 03:21 AM

I was reading that the quake actually moved Japan something like 13 feet closer to the US and it dropped the country down like 3 feet lower. It also took some time off of the day cuz it made the planet rotate faster and changed its axis...CRAZY

Rox73 · #12 03-15-2011, 03:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LadyBlackz

I was reading that the quake actually moved Japan something like 13 feet closer to the US and it dropped the country down like 3 feet lower. It also took some time off of the day cuz it made the planet rotate faster and changed its axis...CRAZY

Yup, it shifted the axis by 25 cm apparently so the tilt is slightly different.... pretty disturbing.

SpicaRigel · #13 03-16-2011, 09:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EZsWife

Yup, it shifted the axis by 25 cm apparently so the tilt is slightly different.... pretty disturbing.

And apparently its slowing our rotation down by 1.25 milliseconds per day.
From what im understanding a nuclear meltdown is not like an atomic bomb.
Our Energy Secretary is asking Japan to tell us just how bad this is and what is the threat to the US.