March 12, 2011
By ANAHAD O’CONNOR
The earthquake and tsunami that battered northern Japan on Friday set in motion one of the worst nuclear accidents in over two decades.
The International Atomic Energy Agency rates the severity of radiological events, with a scale starting at one, an “anomaly,” and rising to seven, a “major” accident. A six and seven designate full meltdown, where the nuclear fuel or core of a reactor overheats and melts. The scale of the ensuing uncontrolled release of radiation that follows differentiates the two. Partial meltdowns, in which the fuel is damaged, are rated a four or a five.
The accident at Chernobyl in the former Soviet Union in 1986 — which killed 56 people directly and thousands of others through cancer and other diseases — was the only nuclear accident so far to have been designated a seven. Just one other accident has surpassed five on the scale: an explosion of dried radioactive waste at the Mayak Nuclear Power Plant near the Soviet city of Kyshtym in 1957. The blast produced a radioactive cloud that spread for hundreds of miles over what is now Russia, forcing the evacuation of 10,000 people and causing the deaths of at least 200.
The Mayak blast was rated a six on the atomic agency’s scale.
The full extent of the damage at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in Japan is yet to be determined. On Saturday, before emergency measures were announced at a second reactor at that plant, Japanese nuclear safety experts rated the accident a four, putting it just behind the Three Mile Island accident in 1979 near Harrisburg, Pa. That accident, the worst in United States history, was designated a five.
That accident was caused by what began as a seemingly minor plumbing glitch. A valve that opened to reduce pressure in the reactor failed to close, letting cooling water escape and leading the core to overheat. That set in motion a series of missteps by the machines and plant operators monitoring the reactor, a crisis that almost led to a full meltdown.
Officials monitoring the Daiichi (or No. 2) plant in Fukushima have said they detected a radioactive byproduct, cesium, that could indicate that some of the nuclear fuel in Reactor No. 1 was damaged and a partial meltdown had occurred. Officials at the plant filled the reactor with seawater to prevent a full meltdown. But early Sunday, they were struggling to inject water into Reactor No. 3. The government issued evacuation orders for about 170,000 people in the surrounding area.
Even as the accident continued to unfold, it was already considered worse than the most severe nuclear accident in Japanese history. In 1999, at a plant just outside Tokyo, a team of operators put a batch of highly enriched uranium in a precipitation tank that was not designed to handle it, setting off a critical reaction. Two operators died from radiation poisoning, and dozens of workers and people living nearby were hospitalized.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
11/03 Sympathy for Japan, and Admiration
March 11, 2011, 10:33 am
By NICHOLAS KRISTOF
Our hearts are all with the Japanese today, after the terrible earthquake there – the worst ever recorded in Japan. But, having covered the 1995 Kobe earthquake (which killed more than 6,000 people and left 300,000 homeless) when I lived in Japan as Tokyo bureau chief for The New York Times, I have to add: Watch Japan in the coming days and weeks, and I bet we can also learn some lessons.
It’s not that Japan’s government handles earthquakes particularly well. The government utterly mismanaged the rescue efforts after the 1995 quake, and its regulatory apparatus disgraced itself by impounding Tylenol and search dogs sent by other countries. In those first few frantic days, when people were still alive under the rubble, some died unnecessarily because of the government’s incompetence.
But the Japanese people themselves were truly noble in their perseverance and stoicism and orderliness. There’s a common Japanese word, “gaman,” that doesn’t really have an English equivalent, but is something like “toughing it out.” And that’s what the people of Kobe did, with a courage, unity and common purpose that left me awed.
Japan’s orderliness and civility often impressed me during my years living in Japan, but never more so than after the Kobe quake. Pretty much the entire port of Kobe was destroyed, with shop windows broken all across the city. I looked all over for a case of looting, or violent jostling over rescue supplies. Finally, I was delighted to find a store owner who told me that he’d been robbed by two men. Somewhat melodramatically, I asked him something like: And were you surprised that fellow Japanese would take advantage of a natural disaster and turn to crime? He looked surprised and responded, as I recall: Who said anything about Japanese. They were foreigners.
Japan has an underclass, the burakumin, and also treats ethnic Koreans with disdain. But compared to other countries, Japan has little extreme poverty and a greater sense of common purpose. The middle class is unusually broad, and corporate tycoons traditionally were embarrassed to be seen as being paid too much. That sense of common purpose is part of the country’s social fabric, and it is especially visible after a natural disaster or crisis.
I don’t want to overdo that. Japan’s civility masks problems with bullying from schools to the work place, gangs like the yakuza rake in profits from illegal activity, and politicians and construction tycoons exchanging favors so as to loot the taxpayer. But it was striking in the aftermath of the Kobe earthquake to see even the yakuza set up counters to give away supplies to earthquake survivors. And Japan’s social fabric never tore. Barely even creased.
This stoicism is built into the Japanese language. People always say “shikata ga nai” – it can’t be helped. And one of the most common things to say to someone else is “ganbatte kudasai” – tough it out, be strong. Natural disasters are seen as part of Japan’s “unmei,” or fate – a term that is written by combining the characters for movement and life. I remember reading an ancient account, I believe from 16th century Jesuit visitors, of an earthquake devastating a village, and then within hours the peasants began rebuilding their homes.
Uncomplaining, collective resilience is steeped into the Japanese soul. We sent our eldest son to Japanese school briefly, and I’ll never forget seeing all the little kids having to go to school in shorts even in the dead of winter. The idea was that it built character. I thought it just gave kids colds. But it was one more effort to instill “gaman.” And it’s “gaman” that helped Japan recovered from World War II and tolerated the “lost decade” after the bubble economy burst in about 1990. Indeed, it might be better if Japanese complained a bit more – perhaps then their politicians would be more responsive.
One factor may also have to do with our relationship with nature. Americans see themselves as in confrontation with nature, taming it. In contrast, the Japanese conception is that humans are simply one part of nature, riding its tides — including many, many earthquakes throughout history. The Kanto earthquake of 1923 killed more than 100,000 people. The Japanese word for nature, shizen, is a modern one, dating back only a bit more than 100 years, because traditionally there was no need to express the concept. In an essay in the Times after the Kobe quake, I made some of these same points and ended with a 17th century haiku from one of Japan’s greatest poets, Basho:
I find something noble and courageous in Japan’s resilience and perseverance, and it will be on display in the coming days. This will also be a time when the tight knit of Japan’s social fabric, its toughness and resilience, shine through. And my hunch is that the Japanese will, by and large, work together — something of a contrast to the polarization and bickering and dog-eat-dog model of politics now on display from Wisconsin to Washington. So maybe we can learn just a little bit from Japan. In short, our hearts go out to Japan, and we extend our deepest sympathy for the tragic quake. But also, our deepest admiration.
By NICHOLAS KRISTOF
Our hearts are all with the Japanese today, after the terrible earthquake there – the worst ever recorded in Japan. But, having covered the 1995 Kobe earthquake (which killed more than 6,000 people and left 300,000 homeless) when I lived in Japan as Tokyo bureau chief for The New York Times, I have to add: Watch Japan in the coming days and weeks, and I bet we can also learn some lessons.
It’s not that Japan’s government handles earthquakes particularly well. The government utterly mismanaged the rescue efforts after the 1995 quake, and its regulatory apparatus disgraced itself by impounding Tylenol and search dogs sent by other countries. In those first few frantic days, when people were still alive under the rubble, some died unnecessarily because of the government’s incompetence.
But the Japanese people themselves were truly noble in their perseverance and stoicism and orderliness. There’s a common Japanese word, “gaman,” that doesn’t really have an English equivalent, but is something like “toughing it out.” And that’s what the people of Kobe did, with a courage, unity and common purpose that left me awed.
Japan’s orderliness and civility often impressed me during my years living in Japan, but never more so than after the Kobe quake. Pretty much the entire port of Kobe was destroyed, with shop windows broken all across the city. I looked all over for a case of looting, or violent jostling over rescue supplies. Finally, I was delighted to find a store owner who told me that he’d been robbed by two men. Somewhat melodramatically, I asked him something like: And were you surprised that fellow Japanese would take advantage of a natural disaster and turn to crime? He looked surprised and responded, as I recall: Who said anything about Japanese. They were foreigners.
Japan has an underclass, the burakumin, and also treats ethnic Koreans with disdain. But compared to other countries, Japan has little extreme poverty and a greater sense of common purpose. The middle class is unusually broad, and corporate tycoons traditionally were embarrassed to be seen as being paid too much. That sense of common purpose is part of the country’s social fabric, and it is especially visible after a natural disaster or crisis.
I don’t want to overdo that. Japan’s civility masks problems with bullying from schools to the work place, gangs like the yakuza rake in profits from illegal activity, and politicians and construction tycoons exchanging favors so as to loot the taxpayer. But it was striking in the aftermath of the Kobe earthquake to see even the yakuza set up counters to give away supplies to earthquake survivors. And Japan’s social fabric never tore. Barely even creased.
This stoicism is built into the Japanese language. People always say “shikata ga nai” – it can’t be helped. And one of the most common things to say to someone else is “ganbatte kudasai” – tough it out, be strong. Natural disasters are seen as part of Japan’s “unmei,” or fate – a term that is written by combining the characters for movement and life. I remember reading an ancient account, I believe from 16th century Jesuit visitors, of an earthquake devastating a village, and then within hours the peasants began rebuilding their homes.
Uncomplaining, collective resilience is steeped into the Japanese soul. We sent our eldest son to Japanese school briefly, and I’ll never forget seeing all the little kids having to go to school in shorts even in the dead of winter. The idea was that it built character. I thought it just gave kids colds. But it was one more effort to instill “gaman.” And it’s “gaman” that helped Japan recovered from World War II and tolerated the “lost decade” after the bubble economy burst in about 1990. Indeed, it might be better if Japanese complained a bit more – perhaps then their politicians would be more responsive.
One factor may also have to do with our relationship with nature. Americans see themselves as in confrontation with nature, taming it. In contrast, the Japanese conception is that humans are simply one part of nature, riding its tides — including many, many earthquakes throughout history. The Kanto earthquake of 1923 killed more than 100,000 people. The Japanese word for nature, shizen, is a modern one, dating back only a bit more than 100 years, because traditionally there was no need to express the concept. In an essay in the Times after the Kobe quake, I made some of these same points and ended with a 17th century haiku from one of Japan’s greatest poets, Basho:
The vicissitudes of life.
Sad, to become finally
A bamboo shoot.
I find something noble and courageous in Japan’s resilience and perseverance, and it will be on display in the coming days. This will also be a time when the tight knit of Japan’s social fabric, its toughness and resilience, shine through. And my hunch is that the Japanese will, by and large, work together — something of a contrast to the polarization and bickering and dog-eat-dog model of politics now on display from Wisconsin to Washington. So maybe we can learn just a little bit from Japan. In short, our hearts go out to Japan, and we extend our deepest sympathy for the tragic quake. But also, our deepest admiration.
11/03 The Internet Kept Me Company
March 11, 2011, 5:06 pm
By SANDRA BARRON
Crisis Points gathers personal accounts of moments of turmoil around the world.
Tags: Earthquakes, Japan, Twitter
TOKYO — The first thing I was worried about was where to put my tea. I’d been sitting on the heated carpet in my apartment, working on a blog post about Japanese chewing gum. I stood up few seconds after the room started to sway. The TV was jumping. Buildings outside were swaying. A six-foot tall cabinet full of books was rocking. Things were falling in the kitchen and water was sloshing over the edge of the balcony, spilling from something above. I moved out from under the light fixtures and held onto a small table. I wanted to put down my tea cup, but there were no stable surfaces. Things were sliding around the floor.
After maybe three long minutes of shaking, it stopped and I tried to call my boyfriend, Jim, at work. The phone didn’t ring. It didn’t make any sounds at all. I tried a few times and gave up. I sent text messages to say I was O.K. and to ask how he was, knowing they probably wouldn’t go through.
Then I turned to Twitter. When there’s a quake, everyone who uses Twitter tends to tweet about it. (The United States Geological Survey has even announced that it will start monitoring these reports as part of its surveillance.) This time I waited until the first round of shaking had died down. Then I wrote: “That rearranged my kitchen.” It had. Drawers were open. Bottles had hit the floor.
The lid of a bottle of Captain Morgan’s had broken, and the spilled rum left the kitchen floor sticky and smelling of vanilla. The impact worked the cork in the Glenfiddich halfway out, but it stayed intact. I tweeted that too, and a flurry of messages came from people I’d never talked to before — from Australia, from England, from the United States — with funny comments about keeping the booze nearby.
I was in my apartment, alone. Aside from some pasta sauce and broken glass on the floor, everything was fine. I had power, water, heat and food. Not much to see here.
Outside, a few buildings had been evacuated, and people were standing on the corners, some wearing protective salmon-colored padded hoods. A vending machine restocking truck was on one corner, and a uniformed delivery man with a bicycle cart was talking to people on another. I took a photograph and posted it.
Tweets were flying by faster than I could read them. It was soothing somehow to see what people were experiencing and pass it along.
.Someone else reported on Twitter that the copier guy had just delivered a box of paper to their office, as if nothing had happened. It jibed with what I was seeing, so I retweeted it. My former co-workers tweeted about hiding under their steel desks, and a friend who worked nearby tweeted that she was getting ready for a three-hour walk from her office home to make sure her dog, a corgi, was O.K. Text messaging still wasn’t working, so I tweeted back that she should stop by for provisions. I sent her off with a bag full of Easter candy.
Twitter was filled with some more useful updates as well, but information is often unreliable after a disaster, and I worried about spreading mistakes. Still, I tentatively repeated someone’s announcement that Narita Airport was closed. And then that it was reopened. And then I tweeted his correction, that he’d meant a different airport. I finally decided I wouldn’t add to the noise by tweeting hard news. I thought the best I could do, the only things I could repeat with confidence, were people’s own experiences. I focused only on what people said they saw directly.
One man said it was “very strange to feel the earth moving while you are walking.” A woman wrote about making “an army” of rice balls for people trapped in her husband’s office. Another man posted a picture of flooding and smoke he’d taken after coming up out of the subway. These small details added up to a larger picture about what was happening.
My friend Niki, 250 miles away with her family in Osaka, tweeted to me, “Your guy is trying to reach you on Facebook.” Jim was in his office near Tokyo Station, on the 22nd floor of a relatively new building. I found out hours later that he and his office mates had put on the orange or white helmets that they all kept in emergency bags, and then hunkered down under their desks as the building swayed. He had popped up from under the desk to dash off a few messages. “Massive quake. Still swaying. Sandra please report.” I had been deeply engrossed in Twitter and hadn’t even checked or updated Facebook. We chatted briefly in the comments section of that post, and he advised me to put together a go-bag.
I still had the bright orange fanny-pack emergency kit that I was issued at some point in post 9/11 New York, most of its contents untouched. I pulled a few plastic bottles out of our recycling bag and filled them with water. Poured mixed nuts and cranberries into a big Ziploc bag. Grabbed the huge old flashlight from under the bed and tucked it into the bag, even though its light was weak. Arranged our hiking shoes by the door neatly, the way I imagined a Japanese person would. I tucked a smaller, more powerful flashlight into my pocket. I cleaned out the tub and filled it with cold water.
And then? What else could I do? I looked outside again. People were still standing on the corners. They looked calm. I was afraid if I went out and started talking to them, they would insist I not go back in my building, where it could be more dangerous. But I felt safer inside than I thought I would out there. In the street, who knows what could roll off of a balcony or rooftop?
On Sept. 11, 2001, I was working in New York for Kyodo News, Japan’s equivalent of the Associated Press. As I headed toward the scene, I remember wishing that I could tell people that I was O.K., and what I was seeing. But with cell phones down, I didn’t have any way to communicate. The way technology has changed in these last few years continues to amaze me.
As the day grew dark, people started tweeting about how long their journeys home were, where they were finding food and phones, and how quickly noodles and bentos were disappearing from the convenience stores. I shared anything that I thought was helpful, interesting or encouraging. I was by myself all day with no working phone; I never heard from any of my neighbors, but with the stream of glimpses into other people’s experiences, I never felt alone.
In the late evening, Jim said via Facebook that he was getting on his bicycle, and he was heading home.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sandra Barron is a writer.
By SANDRA BARRON
Crisis Points gathers personal accounts of moments of turmoil around the world.
Tags: Earthquakes, Japan, Twitter
TOKYO — The first thing I was worried about was where to put my tea. I’d been sitting on the heated carpet in my apartment, working on a blog post about Japanese chewing gum. I stood up few seconds after the room started to sway. The TV was jumping. Buildings outside were swaying. A six-foot tall cabinet full of books was rocking. Things were falling in the kitchen and water was sloshing over the edge of the balcony, spilling from something above. I moved out from under the light fixtures and held onto a small table. I wanted to put down my tea cup, but there were no stable surfaces. Things were sliding around the floor.
After maybe three long minutes of shaking, it stopped and I tried to call my boyfriend, Jim, at work. The phone didn’t ring. It didn’t make any sounds at all. I tried a few times and gave up. I sent text messages to say I was O.K. and to ask how he was, knowing they probably wouldn’t go through.
Then I turned to Twitter. When there’s a quake, everyone who uses Twitter tends to tweet about it. (The United States Geological Survey has even announced that it will start monitoring these reports as part of its surveillance.) This time I waited until the first round of shaking had died down. Then I wrote: “That rearranged my kitchen.” It had. Drawers were open. Bottles had hit the floor.
The lid of a bottle of Captain Morgan’s had broken, and the spilled rum left the kitchen floor sticky and smelling of vanilla. The impact worked the cork in the Glenfiddich halfway out, but it stayed intact. I tweeted that too, and a flurry of messages came from people I’d never talked to before — from Australia, from England, from the United States — with funny comments about keeping the booze nearby.
I was in my apartment, alone. Aside from some pasta sauce and broken glass on the floor, everything was fine. I had power, water, heat and food. Not much to see here.
Outside, a few buildings had been evacuated, and people were standing on the corners, some wearing protective salmon-colored padded hoods. A vending machine restocking truck was on one corner, and a uniformed delivery man with a bicycle cart was talking to people on another. I took a photograph and posted it.
Tweets were flying by faster than I could read them. It was soothing somehow to see what people were experiencing and pass it along.
.Someone else reported on Twitter that the copier guy had just delivered a box of paper to their office, as if nothing had happened. It jibed with what I was seeing, so I retweeted it. My former co-workers tweeted about hiding under their steel desks, and a friend who worked nearby tweeted that she was getting ready for a three-hour walk from her office home to make sure her dog, a corgi, was O.K. Text messaging still wasn’t working, so I tweeted back that she should stop by for provisions. I sent her off with a bag full of Easter candy.
Twitter was filled with some more useful updates as well, but information is often unreliable after a disaster, and I worried about spreading mistakes. Still, I tentatively repeated someone’s announcement that Narita Airport was closed. And then that it was reopened. And then I tweeted his correction, that he’d meant a different airport. I finally decided I wouldn’t add to the noise by tweeting hard news. I thought the best I could do, the only things I could repeat with confidence, were people’s own experiences. I focused only on what people said they saw directly.
One man said it was “very strange to feel the earth moving while you are walking.” A woman wrote about making “an army” of rice balls for people trapped in her husband’s office. Another man posted a picture of flooding and smoke he’d taken after coming up out of the subway. These small details added up to a larger picture about what was happening.
Tweets were flying by faster than I could read them. It was soothing somehow to see what people were experiencing and pass it along. Some were useful, like photos of personal emergency kits or tips for preparing for aftershocks, and some were funny, like proposals to hit karaoke parlors.
My friend Niki, 250 miles away with her family in Osaka, tweeted to me, “Your guy is trying to reach you on Facebook.” Jim was in his office near Tokyo Station, on the 22nd floor of a relatively new building. I found out hours later that he and his office mates had put on the orange or white helmets that they all kept in emergency bags, and then hunkered down under their desks as the building swayed. He had popped up from under the desk to dash off a few messages. “Massive quake. Still swaying. Sandra please report.” I had been deeply engrossed in Twitter and hadn’t even checked or updated Facebook. We chatted briefly in the comments section of that post, and he advised me to put together a go-bag.
I still had the bright orange fanny-pack emergency kit that I was issued at some point in post 9/11 New York, most of its contents untouched. I pulled a few plastic bottles out of our recycling bag and filled them with water. Poured mixed nuts and cranberries into a big Ziploc bag. Grabbed the huge old flashlight from under the bed and tucked it into the bag, even though its light was weak. Arranged our hiking shoes by the door neatly, the way I imagined a Japanese person would. I tucked a smaller, more powerful flashlight into my pocket. I cleaned out the tub and filled it with cold water.
Related
Crisis Points: In Tokyo, the Search for Solid Ground An Unpredictable Test of Japan’s Resilience.
And then? What else could I do? I looked outside again. People were still standing on the corners. They looked calm. I was afraid if I went out and started talking to them, they would insist I not go back in my building, where it could be more dangerous. But I felt safer inside than I thought I would out there. In the street, who knows what could roll off of a balcony or rooftop?
On Sept. 11, 2001, I was working in New York for Kyodo News, Japan’s equivalent of the Associated Press. As I headed toward the scene, I remember wishing that I could tell people that I was O.K., and what I was seeing. But with cell phones down, I didn’t have any way to communicate. The way technology has changed in these last few years continues to amaze me.
As the day grew dark, people started tweeting about how long their journeys home were, where they were finding food and phones, and how quickly noodles and bentos were disappearing from the convenience stores. I shared anything that I thought was helpful, interesting or encouraging. I was by myself all day with no working phone; I never heard from any of my neighbors, but with the stream of glimpses into other people’s experiences, I never felt alone.
In the late evening, Jim said via Facebook that he was getting on his bicycle, and he was heading home.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sandra Barron is a writer.
How Shifting Plates Caused the Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan
Shifting plates and rising water
The sudden movement of the Pacific tectonic plate under the North American plate caused a massive earthquake and a tsunami.
Magnitude of shaking.
An 8.9-magnitude earthquake struck the coast of Japan on Friday at a depth of about 17 miles below the earth's surface. Dozens of aftershocks, some of magnitude 6.0 or greater, were felt after the quake.
Source: U.S. Geological Survey
Predicted tsunami wave heights.
The tsunami set off warnings for much of the Pacific basin including the west coast of the United States and South America. Officials say waves have not caused major damage in Hawaii and pose no flooding danger in California.
Source: NOAA Center for Tsunami Research, Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory
By JOE BURGESS, JONATHAN CORUM, AMANDA COX, MATTHEW ERICSON, XAQUÍN G.V., ALAN McLEAN, TOMOEH MURAKAMI-TSE, HAEYOUN PARK, GRAHAM ROBERTS, AMY SCHOENFELD, ARCHIE TSE, JOE WARD and JEREMY WHITE
The sudden movement of the Pacific tectonic plate under the North American plate caused a massive earthquake and a tsunami.
Magnitude of shaking.
An 8.9-magnitude earthquake struck the coast of Japan on Friday at a depth of about 17 miles below the earth's surface. Dozens of aftershocks, some of magnitude 6.0 or greater, were felt after the quake.
Source: U.S. Geological Survey
Predicted tsunami wave heights.
The tsunami set off warnings for much of the Pacific basin including the west coast of the United States and South America. Officials say waves have not caused major damage in Hawaii and pose no flooding danger in California.
Source: NOAA Center for Tsunami Research, Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory
By JOE BURGESS, JONATHAN CORUM, AMANDA COX, MATTHEW ERICSON, XAQUÍN G.V., ALAN McLEAN, TOMOEH MURAKAMI-TSE, HAEYOUN PARK, GRAHAM ROBERTS, AMY SCHOENFELD, ARCHIE TSE, JOE WARD and JEREMY WHITE
12/03 Japan Scrambles to Avert Meltdown After Another Nuclear Reactor Fails
March 12, 2011
By MICHAEL WINES and MATTHEW L. WALD
TOKYO — Japanese officials announced Sunday that the cooling system at a second nuclear reactor crippled by Japan’s devastating earthquake had failed completely, even as they took the extraordinary step of flooding a separate reactor with seawater in a last-ditch effort to avoid a nuclear meltdown.
The announcement Sunday compounded what was already the worst nuclear accident in Japan’s history — and perhaps the worst involving a nuclear plant since the Chernobyl disaster 25 years ago — as the nation was reeling from the aftermath of the largest recorded earthquake in its history.
The cooling systems at three other reactors at a second nuclear plant had also failed, officials said. While backup systems might still be revived, if they could not, these reactors too could require emergency cooling, they said.
For now, the most pressing concern stemmed from a radiation leak and explosion at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station on Saturday, which prompted the government to expand an evacuation order to affect 170,000 people in the plant’s vicinity.
By early Sunday, the plant’s operator issued an emergency notice that the second reactor at the aging plant had also experienced a critical failure of its cooling system. A makeshift way to inject water into the reactor to cool it was urgently being sought. But electricity outages from the 8.9-magnitude quake have hampered the efforts.
The plant was preparing to release vapor to ease pressure from the reactor so the water could be injected, said Naoki Tsunoda, a spokesman for the operator, Tokyo Electric Power. The vapor could contain trace amounts of radiation, the Japanese Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency has warned.
Operators were urgently working to cool off three reactors at the nearby Fukushima Daini power plant, Mr. Tsunoda said.
At a press conference, Yukio Edano, the chief cabinet secretary, called for calm. “If these measures can be taken, we will be able to ensure the safety of the reactor,” he said.
The government said radiation emanating from the first reactor appeared to be decreasing after the blast Saturday afternoon destroyed part of the facility, and they said that they had filled it with seawater to prevent full meltdown of the nuclear fuel. That step would only be taken in extreme circumstances because ocean water is likely to permanently disable the reactor.
The Japanese Nuclear and Industrial safety agency said as many as 160 people may have been exposed to radiation around the plant, and Japanese news media said three workers at the facility were suffering from full-on radiation sickness.
The handling of the crisis and the vulnerability of Japan’s extensive nuclear facilities to earthquakes and tsunamis will also add to long-simmering grass-roots resistance against nuclear power within Japan, where people have learned to doubt the industry’s reliability as well as anodyne official statements about safety.
Even if Japan manages to avoid large, uncontrolled releases of radiation that would result from a meltdown, the problems at the Fukushima facility already amounted to the worst nuclear accident in Japan’s history and perhaps the biggest accident at a nuclear plant since the Chernobyl disaster 25 years ago, the worst ever.
Even before the explosion on Saturday, officials said they had detected radioactive cesium, which is created when uranium fuel is split, an indication that some of the nuclear fuel in the reactor was already damaged — a situation sometimes referred to as a partial meltdown. How much damage the fuel suffered remained uncertain, though safety officials insisted repeatedly through the day that radiation leaks outside the plant remained small and did not pose a major health risk.
However, they also told the International Atomic Energy Agency that they were making preparations to distribute iodine, which helps protect the thyroid gland from radiation exposure, to people living near the Daiichi (or No. 1) plant and a second nuclear plant that suffered damage in the quake, Daini (or No. 2), about 10 miles away.
Worries about the safety of the two plants worsened on Saturday because government officials and executives of Tokyo Electric Power gave confusing accounts of the causes of the dramatic midday explosion and the damage it caused. Late Saturday night, officials said that the explosion at Daiichi occurred in a structure housing turbines near its No. 1 reactor at the plant, rather than inside the reactor itself.
They said that the blast — apparently caused by a sharp buildup of hydrogen when the reactor’s cooling system failed after the quake — destroyed the concrete structure surrounding the reactor but did not collapse the critical steel container inside. They said that raised the chances that they could continue cooling the core, and thereby prevent the release of large amounts of radioactive material and a full core meltdown.
“We’ve confirmed that the reactor container was not damaged,” Mr. Edano said in a news conference on Saturday night. “The explosion didn’t occur inside the reactor container. As such there was no large amount of radiation leakage outside. At this point, there has been no major change to the level of radiation leakage outside, so we’d like everyone to respond calmly.”
Mr. Edano said that, in addition to filling the reactor with seawater, Tokyo Electric Power workers also added boric acid to the containment vessel on Saturday night to interrupt the nuclear chain reaction. Mr. Edano said that the operation could “prevent criticality.”
He said that radioactive materials had leaked outside the plant before the explosion, but that the blast did not worsen the leak and, in fact, measured levels of radioactive emission had been decreasing. He did not specify the levels of radiation involved.
On Sunday morning, an official with Tokyo Electric Power said that the emergency cooling system at the No. 3 reactor at Daiichi had stopped working. The official, Atsushi Sugiyama, said that urgent efforts were being made to cool the reactor with water, and that, as with the first reactor, there would be a release of vapor containing trace amounts of radiation to relieve a buildup of pressure.
Japanese nuclear safety officials and international experts said that because of crucial design differences, the release of radiation at Daiichi would most likely be much smaller than at Chernobyl even if the plant had a complete core meltdown, which they said it had not.
But the vulnerability of nuclear plants to earthquakes was underscored by the continuing problems with the cooling systems of reactors at the Daini plant, which prompted a evacuation of 30,000 from surrounding communities. Together, the authorities sought to move about 200,000 people around the two plants, an enormous logistical task at a time when rescue workers also sought to help people trapped or injured in the earthquake.
After a full day of worries about the radiation leaking at Daiichi, Tokyo Electric Power said an explosion occurred “near” the No. 1 reactor at Daiichi around 3:40 p.m. Japan time on Saturday. It said four of its workers were injured in the blast.
The decision to flood the reactor core with corrosive seawater, experts said, was an indication that Tokyo Electric Power and Japanese authorities had probably decided to scrap the plant. “This plant is almost 40 years old, and now it’s over for that place,” said Olli Heinonen, the former chief inspector for the I.A.E.A., and now a visiting scholar at Harvard.
Mr. Heinonen lived in Japan in the 1980s, monitoring its nuclear industry, and visited the stricken plant many times. Based on the reports he was seeing, he said he believed that the explosion was caused by a hydrogen formation, which could have begun inside the reactor core. “Now, every hour they gain in keeping the reactor cooling down is crucial,” he said.
But he was also concerned about the presence of spent nuclear fuel in a pool inside the same reactor building. The pool, too, needs to remain full of water to suppress gamma radiation and prevent the old fuel from melting. If the spent fuel is also exposed — and so far there are only sketchy reports about the condition of that building — it could also pose a significant risk to the workers trying to prevent a meltdown.
Both Daiichi and Daini were shut down by Friday’s earthquake, but the loss of power in the area and damage to the plants’ generators from the ensuing tsunami crippled the cooling systems. Those are crucial after a shutdown to cool down the nuclear fuel rods.
The malfunctions allowed pressure to build up beyond the design capacity of the reactors. Early Saturday, officials had said that small amounts of radioactive vapor were expected to be released into the atmosphere to prevent damage to the containment systems and that they were evacuating people in the area as a precaution.
Those releases apparently did not prevent the buildup of hydrogen inside the plant, which ignited and exploded Saturday afternoon, government officials said. They said the explosion itself did not increase the amount of radioactive material being released into the atmosphere. However, safety officials urged people who were not evacuating but still lived relatively nearby to cover their mouths and stay indoors.
David Lochbaum, who worked at three reactors in the United States with designs similar to Daiichi, and who was later hired by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to teach its personnel about that technology, said that judging by photographs of the stricken plant, the explosion appeared to have occurred in the turbine hall, not the reactor vessel or the containment that surrounds the vessel.
The Daiichi reactor is a boiling-water reactor. Inside the containment, the reactor sends its steam out to a turbine. The turbine converts the steam’s energy into rotary motion, which turns a generator and makes electricity.
But as the water goes through the reactor, some water molecules break up into hydrogen and oxygen. A system in the turbine hall usually scrubs out those gases. Hydrogen is also used in the turbine hall to cool the electric generator. Hydrogen from both sources has sometimes escaped and exploded, Mr. Lochbaum said, but in this case, there is an additional source of hydrogen: interaction of steam with the metal of the fuel rods. Operators may have vented that hydrogen into the turbine hall.
Earlier Saturday, before the explosion, a Japanese nuclear safety panel said the radiation levels were 1,000 times above normal in a reactor control room at Daiichi. Some radioactive material had also seeped outside, with radiation levels near the main gate measured at eight times normal levels, NHK, Japan’s public broadcaster, quoted nuclear safety officials as saying.
The emergency at Daiichi began shortly after the earthquake struck Friday afternoon. Emergency diesel generators, which kicked in to run the cooling system after the electrical power grid failed, shut down about an hour after the earthquake. There was speculation that the tsunami had flooded the generators, knocking them out of service.
For some time, the plant was able to operate in a battery-controlled cooling mode. Tokyo Electric Power said that by Saturday morning it had also installed a mobile generator to ensure that the cooling system would continue operating even after reserve battery power was depleted. Even so, the company said it needed to conduct “controlled containment venting” in order to avoid an “uncontrolled rupture and damage” to the containment unit.
Why the controlled release of pressure did not succeed in addressing the problem was not immediately explained. Tokyo Electric Power and government nuclear safety officials also did not explain the precise sequence of failures at the plant.
Daiichi and other nuclear facilities are designed with extensive backup systems that are supposed to function in emergencies to ensure the plants can be shut down safely.
At Daiichi, a pump run by steam, designed to function in the absence of electricity, was adding water to the reactor vessel, and as that water boiled off, the steam was being released. Such water is usually only slightly radioactive, according to nuclear experts.
As long as the fuel stays covered by water, it will remain intact, and the bulk of the radioactive material will stay inside. But if fresh water cannot be pumped into the containment vessel and the cooling water evaporates, the nuclear fuel is exposed, which can result in a meltdown.
Michael Wines reported from Tokyo, and Matthew L. Wald from Washington. Martin Fackler contributed reporting from Nakaminato, Japan, Hiroko Tabuchi from Tokyo and David E. Sanger from Washington.
By MICHAEL WINES and MATTHEW L. WALD
TOKYO — Japanese officials announced Sunday that the cooling system at a second nuclear reactor crippled by Japan’s devastating earthquake had failed completely, even as they took the extraordinary step of flooding a separate reactor with seawater in a last-ditch effort to avoid a nuclear meltdown.
The announcement Sunday compounded what was already the worst nuclear accident in Japan’s history — and perhaps the worst involving a nuclear plant since the Chernobyl disaster 25 years ago — as the nation was reeling from the aftermath of the largest recorded earthquake in its history.
The cooling systems at three other reactors at a second nuclear plant had also failed, officials said. While backup systems might still be revived, if they could not, these reactors too could require emergency cooling, they said.
For now, the most pressing concern stemmed from a radiation leak and explosion at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station on Saturday, which prompted the government to expand an evacuation order to affect 170,000 people in the plant’s vicinity.
By early Sunday, the plant’s operator issued an emergency notice that the second reactor at the aging plant had also experienced a critical failure of its cooling system. A makeshift way to inject water into the reactor to cool it was urgently being sought. But electricity outages from the 8.9-magnitude quake have hampered the efforts.
The plant was preparing to release vapor to ease pressure from the reactor so the water could be injected, said Naoki Tsunoda, a spokesman for the operator, Tokyo Electric Power. The vapor could contain trace amounts of radiation, the Japanese Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency has warned.
Operators were urgently working to cool off three reactors at the nearby Fukushima Daini power plant, Mr. Tsunoda said.
At a press conference, Yukio Edano, the chief cabinet secretary, called for calm. “If these measures can be taken, we will be able to ensure the safety of the reactor,” he said.
The government said radiation emanating from the first reactor appeared to be decreasing after the blast Saturday afternoon destroyed part of the facility, and they said that they had filled it with seawater to prevent full meltdown of the nuclear fuel. That step would only be taken in extreme circumstances because ocean water is likely to permanently disable the reactor.
The Japanese Nuclear and Industrial safety agency said as many as 160 people may have been exposed to radiation around the plant, and Japanese news media said three workers at the facility were suffering from full-on radiation sickness.
The handling of the crisis and the vulnerability of Japan’s extensive nuclear facilities to earthquakes and tsunamis will also add to long-simmering grass-roots resistance against nuclear power within Japan, where people have learned to doubt the industry’s reliability as well as anodyne official statements about safety.
Even if Japan manages to avoid large, uncontrolled releases of radiation that would result from a meltdown, the problems at the Fukushima facility already amounted to the worst nuclear accident in Japan’s history and perhaps the biggest accident at a nuclear plant since the Chernobyl disaster 25 years ago, the worst ever.
Even before the explosion on Saturday, officials said they had detected radioactive cesium, which is created when uranium fuel is split, an indication that some of the nuclear fuel in the reactor was already damaged — a situation sometimes referred to as a partial meltdown. How much damage the fuel suffered remained uncertain, though safety officials insisted repeatedly through the day that radiation leaks outside the plant remained small and did not pose a major health risk.
However, they also told the International Atomic Energy Agency that they were making preparations to distribute iodine, which helps protect the thyroid gland from radiation exposure, to people living near the Daiichi (or No. 1) plant and a second nuclear plant that suffered damage in the quake, Daini (or No. 2), about 10 miles away.
Worries about the safety of the two plants worsened on Saturday because government officials and executives of Tokyo Electric Power gave confusing accounts of the causes of the dramatic midday explosion and the damage it caused. Late Saturday night, officials said that the explosion at Daiichi occurred in a structure housing turbines near its No. 1 reactor at the plant, rather than inside the reactor itself.
They said that the blast — apparently caused by a sharp buildup of hydrogen when the reactor’s cooling system failed after the quake — destroyed the concrete structure surrounding the reactor but did not collapse the critical steel container inside. They said that raised the chances that they could continue cooling the core, and thereby prevent the release of large amounts of radioactive material and a full core meltdown.
“We’ve confirmed that the reactor container was not damaged,” Mr. Edano said in a news conference on Saturday night. “The explosion didn’t occur inside the reactor container. As such there was no large amount of radiation leakage outside. At this point, there has been no major change to the level of radiation leakage outside, so we’d like everyone to respond calmly.”
Mr. Edano said that, in addition to filling the reactor with seawater, Tokyo Electric Power workers also added boric acid to the containment vessel on Saturday night to interrupt the nuclear chain reaction. Mr. Edano said that the operation could “prevent criticality.”
He said that radioactive materials had leaked outside the plant before the explosion, but that the blast did not worsen the leak and, in fact, measured levels of radioactive emission had been decreasing. He did not specify the levels of radiation involved.
On Sunday morning, an official with Tokyo Electric Power said that the emergency cooling system at the No. 3 reactor at Daiichi had stopped working. The official, Atsushi Sugiyama, said that urgent efforts were being made to cool the reactor with water, and that, as with the first reactor, there would be a release of vapor containing trace amounts of radiation to relieve a buildup of pressure.
Japanese nuclear safety officials and international experts said that because of crucial design differences, the release of radiation at Daiichi would most likely be much smaller than at Chernobyl even if the plant had a complete core meltdown, which they said it had not.
But the vulnerability of nuclear plants to earthquakes was underscored by the continuing problems with the cooling systems of reactors at the Daini plant, which prompted a evacuation of 30,000 from surrounding communities. Together, the authorities sought to move about 200,000 people around the two plants, an enormous logistical task at a time when rescue workers also sought to help people trapped or injured in the earthquake.
After a full day of worries about the radiation leaking at Daiichi, Tokyo Electric Power said an explosion occurred “near” the No. 1 reactor at Daiichi around 3:40 p.m. Japan time on Saturday. It said four of its workers were injured in the blast.
The decision to flood the reactor core with corrosive seawater, experts said, was an indication that Tokyo Electric Power and Japanese authorities had probably decided to scrap the plant. “This plant is almost 40 years old, and now it’s over for that place,” said Olli Heinonen, the former chief inspector for the I.A.E.A., and now a visiting scholar at Harvard.
Mr. Heinonen lived in Japan in the 1980s, monitoring its nuclear industry, and visited the stricken plant many times. Based on the reports he was seeing, he said he believed that the explosion was caused by a hydrogen formation, which could have begun inside the reactor core. “Now, every hour they gain in keeping the reactor cooling down is crucial,” he said.
But he was also concerned about the presence of spent nuclear fuel in a pool inside the same reactor building. The pool, too, needs to remain full of water to suppress gamma radiation and prevent the old fuel from melting. If the spent fuel is also exposed — and so far there are only sketchy reports about the condition of that building — it could also pose a significant risk to the workers trying to prevent a meltdown.
Both Daiichi and Daini were shut down by Friday’s earthquake, but the loss of power in the area and damage to the plants’ generators from the ensuing tsunami crippled the cooling systems. Those are crucial after a shutdown to cool down the nuclear fuel rods.
The malfunctions allowed pressure to build up beyond the design capacity of the reactors. Early Saturday, officials had said that small amounts of radioactive vapor were expected to be released into the atmosphere to prevent damage to the containment systems and that they were evacuating people in the area as a precaution.
Those releases apparently did not prevent the buildup of hydrogen inside the plant, which ignited and exploded Saturday afternoon, government officials said. They said the explosion itself did not increase the amount of radioactive material being released into the atmosphere. However, safety officials urged people who were not evacuating but still lived relatively nearby to cover their mouths and stay indoors.
David Lochbaum, who worked at three reactors in the United States with designs similar to Daiichi, and who was later hired by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to teach its personnel about that technology, said that judging by photographs of the stricken plant, the explosion appeared to have occurred in the turbine hall, not the reactor vessel or the containment that surrounds the vessel.
The Daiichi reactor is a boiling-water reactor. Inside the containment, the reactor sends its steam out to a turbine. The turbine converts the steam’s energy into rotary motion, which turns a generator and makes electricity.
But as the water goes through the reactor, some water molecules break up into hydrogen and oxygen. A system in the turbine hall usually scrubs out those gases. Hydrogen is also used in the turbine hall to cool the electric generator. Hydrogen from both sources has sometimes escaped and exploded, Mr. Lochbaum said, but in this case, there is an additional source of hydrogen: interaction of steam with the metal of the fuel rods. Operators may have vented that hydrogen into the turbine hall.
Earlier Saturday, before the explosion, a Japanese nuclear safety panel said the radiation levels were 1,000 times above normal in a reactor control room at Daiichi. Some radioactive material had also seeped outside, with radiation levels near the main gate measured at eight times normal levels, NHK, Japan’s public broadcaster, quoted nuclear safety officials as saying.
The emergency at Daiichi began shortly after the earthquake struck Friday afternoon. Emergency diesel generators, which kicked in to run the cooling system after the electrical power grid failed, shut down about an hour after the earthquake. There was speculation that the tsunami had flooded the generators, knocking them out of service.
For some time, the plant was able to operate in a battery-controlled cooling mode. Tokyo Electric Power said that by Saturday morning it had also installed a mobile generator to ensure that the cooling system would continue operating even after reserve battery power was depleted. Even so, the company said it needed to conduct “controlled containment venting” in order to avoid an “uncontrolled rupture and damage” to the containment unit.
Why the controlled release of pressure did not succeed in addressing the problem was not immediately explained. Tokyo Electric Power and government nuclear safety officials also did not explain the precise sequence of failures at the plant.
Daiichi and other nuclear facilities are designed with extensive backup systems that are supposed to function in emergencies to ensure the plants can be shut down safely.
At Daiichi, a pump run by steam, designed to function in the absence of electricity, was adding water to the reactor vessel, and as that water boiled off, the steam was being released. Such water is usually only slightly radioactive, according to nuclear experts.
As long as the fuel stays covered by water, it will remain intact, and the bulk of the radioactive material will stay inside. But if fresh water cannot be pumped into the containment vessel and the cooling water evaporates, the nuclear fuel is exposed, which can result in a meltdown.
Michael Wines reported from Tokyo, and Matthew L. Wald from Washington. Martin Fackler contributed reporting from Nakaminato, Japan, Hiroko Tabuchi from Tokyo and David E. Sanger from Washington.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
11/03 nhật ký: Động đất vùng Đông bắc (Tohoku) và Kanto của Nhật Bản (1/2)
Trước hết, tôi mừng là tôi và mọi người trong gia đình tôi vẫn bình yên và chúng tôi đã về nhà. Sau đây là những sư việc tôi đã trãi nghiệm trong ngày 11 và 12 tháng 3 năm 2011.
Tôi hiện đang làm việc cho NTT data như là một cộng tác viên, tư vấn về Ngân Hàng, từ tháng 4 năm 2009. Hợp động cộng tác đến hết tháng 3 thì hết. Năm 2009 tôi được cử đi Hanoi để hổ trợ Ngân Hàng Phát Triển xây dựng Hệ Thống Quản Lý Rủi Ro, năm 2010 thì hổ trợ các hoạt động M&A, từ tháng 10 năm 2010 đến hết tháng 2 năm 2011, tôi phụ trách điều trâ và khai thác thị trường VN. Tôi vừa trở lại Nhật không được 1 tháng.
Động đất chiều thứ sáu hôm qua 11 tháng 3, lúc đó tôi đang làm việc tại văn phòng kinh doanh toàn cầu của công ty NTT data, khoảng 3 giờ chiều, thì cả phòng tôi (chiếm nữa từng lầu của toà nhà 37 tầng) mọi người cảm nhận được động đất với độ cao, tiếng co..óot ke..eet từ trong các cột thép dấu trong tường như đang rên siết (các toà nhà của NB thường là khối cấu trúc thép chớ không phải bê tông cốt sắt) ... rồi chấn động liên tiếp đến ... và tôi cũng thấy bắt đầu hoảng sợ và vài lần chui xuống gầm bàn ôm chặc cái ghế (vì sợ một cái máy tính hay gì đó nó bay vào mình thì không chết cũng có thể gảy chân hay lỗ đầu). Một số người đứng xem thành phố đang trong cơn động đất.
Câu chuyện chung quanh tấm ảnh chụp chung với anh Nguyễn Văn Chuyển(đã mất năm 2008)-- Chuyện vãn tại hội ngộ hè 2007
Chuyện vãn tại hội ngộ hè 2007
Câu chuyện chung quanh tấm ảnh chụp chung với anh Nguyễn Văn Chuyển (đã mất năm 2008)
Câu chuyện chung quanh tấm ảnh chụp chung với anh Nguyễn Văn Chuyển (đã mất năm 2008)
Hàng đứng từ phải qua: Nguyễn Văn Nhã,Nguyễn Văn Chuyển(áo đen), Trần Hà Anh, Nguyễn Xuân Xanh, Phạm Nam Hương, Ngô Vĩnh Long, Nguyễn Hải
Hàng ngồi từ phải qua: Hằng Nga, Hà Ngọc Mai, Võ Thị Diệu Hằng
Nguyễn Thanh Lâm(đứng), Hồng Lê Thọ(đứng ngoài cùng)
HẰNG NGA (Nhịp Cầu Đầu Tư)
Họ là những Việt kiều (VK) đang sống, làm việc ở trong và ngoài nước. Đa số đều có “thâm niên” ở nước ngoài ngót ngét 30-40 năm, tranh thủ hẹn hò hàn huyên trong kỳ nghỉ hè này ở quê nhà.
Là buổi hội ngộ thú vị, bởi danh tính của hầu hết các Việt kiều có mặt tối hôm 21.8 đều đang ở độ “tri thiên mệnh” trong làng Việt kiều. Theo cách nói của Anh Nguyễn Văn Chuyển, 12 gương mặt Việt kiều tối hôm đó toàn là những “kẻ bụi đời”, song là những “bụi đời” cao cấp! Đa số biết nhau từ những ngày du học, “đồng cam cộng khổ” và có chung lý tưởng trong những năm tháng học và làm việc ở xứ người cho dù họ ở nhiều phương trời khác nhau.
“Chai sạn rồi mới hiểu bàn tay”
Các bạn im lặng nhé, Hồng Lê Thọ, VK Nhật, “nổ phát súng” vào cuộc, tôi xin tiết lộ, một người từ kinh đô ánh sáng, hò hẹn với một người ở xứ phù tang, sau khi về đến Việt Nam, hẹn cùng nhau uống cà phê ở Hà Nội, ra về sẽ… nắm tay nhau như 2 câu thơ của Lê Thị Kim: Anh nắm tay em bằng bàn tay thành thật. Chai sạn rồi mới hiểu bàn tay. Nhưng rồi lời “hẹn ước” không thành, người ở Pháp về đến sân bay Nội Bài lại bay thẳng vào Nha Trang… Mở một nụ cười dí dỏm, Hồng Lê Thọ “phán” tiếp, bây giờ hãy hai người nắm tay nhau trước mặt bạn bè đi! Anh Nguyễn Văn Chuyển, chuyên gia Dinh Dưỡng trở về từ xứ phù tang và Chị Võ Thị Diệu Hằng, chủ nhân trang web Vietsciences.free.fr từ Pháp trở về, cùng tham gia trong nhóm bio-vn, “dũng cảm” nắm tay nhau trước tiếng vỗ tay của mọi người. Không khí cuộc hội ngộ vỡ òa, cười nói rôm rả. Người ngồi bên trái Chị Diệu Hằng là nhà “Einsten học” Nguyễn Xuân Xanh cũng vội chìa tay ra bắt…như hiểu được câu thơ của Lê thị Kim !
Anh Nguyễn Văn Chuyển, chuyên gia Thực phẩm Dinh dưỡng, Giáo sư Trường Đại học Nihon Joshi (Nữ Nhật Bản), đã từng có cuộc trao đổi với Nhịp Cầu Đầu Tư vấn đề kết hợp “low tech” với “high tech” trong sản xuất hàng chất lượng xuất ra nước ngoài sau hội nhập. Về chuyên môn, GS Chuyển đang nghiên cứu nhiều vấn đề liên quan cải tạo tầm vóc các thế hệ tương lai như các nước châu Á khác đã làm và khá thành công. Trở về Việt Nam lần này, Anh đã tham gia Hội thảo chuyên đề dinh dưỡng tại Viện Dinh dưỡng Quốc gia, bệnh viện Bạch Mai ở Hà Nội và Hội thảo chuyên đề béo phì tại Viện Y Dược học TP.HCM. Nhiều nhận xét của anh chị Việt kiều tại buổi hội ngộ cho rằng, Anh Chuyển là một “tay Việt kiều” biết hài hước và dí dỏm thông minh khi chịu khó “đùa dai” với hai “con cưng chính phủ” là vợ chồng Trần Hà Anh và chị Hà Ngọc Mai, hai nhân vật trí thức lẫy lừng. Hỏi ra mới biết, cách đây trên 20 năm, TS.KH Trần Hà Anh được Chính phủ mời về đảm trách công việc tại Viện nghiên cứu hạt nhân Đà Lạt, ông được đánh giá là người đặt nền móng cho ngành điện hạt nhân Việt Nam. Cái danh “con cưng chính phủ” được anh em Việt kiều gọi đùa từ đó. Riêng với chị Mai, một nhà khoa học thành công nhiều trong lĩnh vực lai tạo giống lan và một số cây trồng tại Đà Lạt, lại được “anh chàng” Thọ quảng cáo: “Vị TS Sinh học nầy độc đáo ở chỗ là trồng cây này ra cây khác, thành loại cây mới như Phượng Tím ở trên ấy”(?!)
Ông Nguyễn Văn Nhã, Việt kiều Canada, một chuyên gia nuôi trồng tôm thành công trong nhiều năm tỏ ra rất nghiêm túc khi đề nghị Anh Chuyển tổ chức Hội thảo về đề tài “tai biến” ở lứa tuổi tri thiên mệnh. Hồng Lê Thọ vội đưa tay: “ tôi sẵn sàng làm người mẫu cho đề tài này. Bắt đầu lúc mấy giờ”. “8h sáng”. “Vậy có ăn sáng không?”.Thế là mọi người vỗ tay đồng ý ầm ĩ… Chả là cách đây một năm, nhân vật Thọ đã từng bị tai biến nhẹ, miệng bị kéo xệch một bên, chữa trị kết hợp Đông Tây y, châm cứu và uống thuốc liên tục 6 tháng mới “hoành tráng” trở lại. Nhân nói về tốc độ làm việc, liên tục có các bài viết “độc chiêu” về vệ sinh an toàn thực phẩm của Hồng Lê Thọ đăng lên Nhịp Cầu Đầu Tư vừa qua, Anh Trần Hà Anh “trả đũa”: Viết nhiều như ông Thọ méo miệng là phải thôi. “Miệng méo thế nào cũng được, nhưng đừng méo mó nghề nghiệp nghe bạn !” Phạm Nam Hương, Việt kiều Đức nhắn nhủ.
Ngồi đối diện ở giữa, Chị Diệu Hằng chợt thốt lời khen Anh Ngô Vĩnh Long có đôi mắt… đẹp một cách...tình tứ (lẳng lơ thì đúng hơn--HLT) làm vị giáo sư khả kính phải nhướng mắt tròn xoe cho mọi người chiêm ngưỡng !. Giải thích cho cái sự đẹp này, chị Diệu Hằng cho rằng: anh Long có trong người dòng máu người Bắc Hà!Thế là Nhiều người tự nhận mình có gốc Bắc cách đây cả mấy đời. anh Nguyễn Lương Dũng, trai Hà thành, tỏ ra khoái chí với nhận xét này, cứ tủm tỉm cười và liên tục bình… “loạn” về đôi mắt đẹp của người Hà thành. Ai đó ngâm nga: “Chai sạn rồi mới hiểu bàn tay.”…
Làm gì để phát triển kinh tế đất nước?
Câu hỏi đó dần toát lên ngày càng rõ trong cuộc hội ngộ. Chuyện vãn, hài hước dí dỏm, song bên trong là đau đáu những vấn đề chiến lược nghiêm túc, bởi sự phát triển của quê nhà. Các anh Nguyễn Văn Chuyển, Nguyễn Xuân Xanh, Nguyễn Văn Nhã, Nguyễn Thanh Lâm tranh nhau bàn chuyện làm ăn kinh tế. “Ông Nhã vẫn còn nuôi tôm à? Theo tôi, ông nên nuôi dê đi, có lợi hơn”, Anh Chuyển sốt sắng. Ngay lập tức, Lâm và Hương phản biện: Người dân Ninh Thuận đang “xấc bấc xang bang” với dê rồi. Tìm món làm ăn khác đi! “Có ai đầu tư vào chứng khoán không?”. Hình như ông Nhã đang “âm mưu” lĩnh vực này. Nguyễn Thanh Lâm đứng lên, phán một câu xanh rờn: “Ông chơi chứng khoán hả? Sẽ có ngày chứng khoán chơi lại ông!”. Lại tiếp tục rôm rả.
Anh Ngô Vĩnh Long, người Việt đầu tiên nhận được học bổng toàn phần của trường Đại học Harvard vào năm 1964 lại tỏ khá kiệm lời và chỉ cười liên tục trước những bong đùa của mọi người. Cách đây mấy hôm, tại UBNVNONN TP.HCM, Anh Long đã có buổi nói chuyện về ảnh hưởng kinh tế châu Á trước phản ứng của Mỹ đối với hàng hóa Trung Quốc. Có thể đấy là lý do để hôm nay vị GS này tự thưởng cho mình cơ hội được nghe và thư giãn với bạn bè bốn phương chăng?
Anh Chuyển chợt chuyển đề tài, phỏng vấn tại chỗ của TS Anh về chương trình phát triển điện hạt nhân cho quốc gia. Điềm đạm,anh Anh phân tích: Khi mà nguồn thủy điện ngày một cạn kiệt, đã đến lúc ta phải nghĩ đến nguồn điện hạt nhân thôi. Còn nhớ, xây dựng một nhà máy điện hạt nhân là ước nguyện được ấp ủ trong lòng vị TS Vật lý cách đây trên 25 năm. Bàn về vấn đề hạt nhân, theo TS Anh, an toàn hay không tùy thuộc một phần quan trọng vào người điều khiển”. Phạm Nam Hương, người vừa đưa lời nhận xét: “Càng ngày anh Xanh càng giống Enstein” ( Nguyễn Xuân Xanh, tác giả quyển sách Enstein, liên tục best seller từ ngày xuất bản và đã in được 6.000 bản), lại trở nên rất nghiêm túc khi phân tích tính cần thiết phát triển công nghệ hạt nhân quốc gia… TS Nguyễn Hải, người từng nhận chứng chỉ Microsoft Certified Trainer, VK Canada, đang tham gia giảng dạy tại Đại học Bách khoa TP.HCM tỏ ra e ngại với vấn đề này, song khá chịu khó nghe các đồng nghiệp phân tích trong khi đồng nghiệp của anh, PGS Nguyễn Lương Dũng lăng xăng mời mọi người thưởng thức các món ăn do anh đặt hàng…rồi nhẹ nhàng “cuốn gói” về trước để…cho con trai ngũ…trong khi mọi người vẫn còn sôi nổi với đề tài “hạt nhân” như muốn vỡ tung….
Hè 2007 tại TPHCM
* Từ ở Mỹ xa xôi, trưởng nhóm Bio-vn, qua TS Trần Hà Anh, TS Nguyễn Trọng Bình chuyển lời hỏi thăm đến mọi người tại buổi hội ngộ hè 2007.
*Từ Mỹ trở về có Giáo sư Tiến Sĩ (GS.TS) Ngô Vĩnh Long, GS.TS Nguyễn Văn Chuyển ở Nhật sang, Thạc sĩ Võ Thị Diệu Hằng ở Pháp về. 9 Việt kiều còn lại, hiện đang sống và làm việc trong nước gồm: TS Vật lý Trần Hà Anh (VK Pháp, Trưởng Ban Điều hành lâm thời Câu lạc bộ Khoa học và Kỹ thuật Việt kiều), TS Sinh học Hà Ngọc Mai (VK Pháp, phu nhân của TS Trần Hà Anh), Phó GT.TS Nguyễn Lương Dũng, TS Toán học Nguyễn Xuân Xanh, ông Phạm Nam Hương (Công ty Nam Phương) , ông Nguyễn Thanh Lâm (VietEuro) đều VK Đức; ông Nguyễn Văn Nhã và TS Nguyễn Hải (Canada) và Thạc sĩ Sử học Hồng Lê Thọ (VK Nhật)
mời xem thêm bài nầy:
Khóc Tiễn Bạn...
http://nguoilotgach.blogspot.com/2011/02/khoc-tien-ban.html
quà âm nhạc của anh Võ Tá Hân(Spore--nhận đêm 28/02/2011)
CÒN GẶP NHAU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4CEqzb0adY
Chuyện vãn tại hội ngộ hè 2007
HẰNG NGA (Nhịp Cầu Đầu Tư)
Họ là những Việt kiều (VK) đang sống, làm việc ở trong và ngoài nước. Đa số đều có “thâm niên” ở nước ngoài ngót ngét 30-40 năm, tranh thủ hẹn hò hàn huyên trong kỳ nghỉ hè này ở quê nhà.
Là buổi hội ngộ thú vị, bởi danh tính của hầu hết các Việt kiều có mặt tối hôm 21.8 đều đang ở độ “tri thiên mệnh” trong làng Việt kiều. Theo cách nói của Anh Nguyễn Văn Chuyển, 12 gương mặt Việt kiều tối hôm đó toàn là những “kẻ bụi đời”, song là những “bụi đời” cao cấp! Đa số biết nhau từ những ngày du học, “đồng cam cộng khổ” và có chung lý tưởng trong những năm tháng học và làm việc ở xứ người cho dù họ ở nhiều phương trời khác nhau.
“Chai sạn rồi mới hiểu bàn tay”
Các bạn im lặng nhé, Hồng Lê Thọ, VK Nhật, “nổ phát súng” vào cuộc, tôi xin tiết lộ, một người từ kinh đô ánh sáng, hò hẹn với một người ở xứ phù tang, sau khi về đến Việt Nam, hẹn cùng nhau uống cà phê ở Hà Nội, ra về sẽ… nắm tay nhau như 2 câu thơ của Lê Thị Kim: Anh nắm tay em bằng bàn tay thành thật. Chai sạn rồi mới hiểu bàn tay. Nhưng rồi lời “hẹn ước” không thành, người ở Pháp về đến sân bay Nội Bài lại bay thẳng vào Nha Trang… Mở một nụ cười dí dỏm, Hồng Lê Thọ “phán” tiếp, bây giờ hãy hai người nắm tay nhau trước mặt bạn bè đi! Anh Nguyễn Văn Chuyển, chuyên gia Dinh Dưỡng trở về từ xứ phù tang và Chị Võ Thị Diệu Hằng, chủ nhân trang web Vietsciences.free.fr từ Pháp trở về, cùng tham gia trong nhóm bio-vn, “dũng cảm” nắm tay nhau trước tiếng vỗ tay của mọi người. Không khí cuộc hội ngộ vỡ òa, cười nói rôm rả. Người ngồi bên trái Chị Diệu Hằng là nhà “Einsten học” Nguyễn Xuân Xanh cũng vội chìa tay ra bắt…như hiểu được câu thơ của Lê thị Kim !
Anh Nguyễn Văn Chuyển, chuyên gia Thực phẩm Dinh dưỡng, Giáo sư Trường Đại học Nihon Joshi (Nữ Nhật Bản), đã từng có cuộc trao đổi với Nhịp Cầu Đầu Tư vấn đề kết hợp “low tech” với “high tech” trong sản xuất hàng chất lượng xuất ra nước ngoài sau hội nhập. Về chuyên môn, GS Chuyển đang nghiên cứu nhiều vấn đề liên quan cải tạo tầm vóc các thế hệ tương lai như các nước châu Á khác đã làm và khá thành công. Trở về Việt Nam lần này, Anh đã tham gia Hội thảo chuyên đề dinh dưỡng tại Viện Dinh dưỡng Quốc gia, bệnh viện Bạch Mai ở Hà Nội và Hội thảo chuyên đề béo phì tại Viện Y Dược học TP.HCM. Nhiều nhận xét của anh chị Việt kiều tại buổi hội ngộ cho rằng, Anh Chuyển là một “tay Việt kiều” biết hài hước và dí dỏm thông minh khi chịu khó “đùa dai” với hai “con cưng chính phủ” là vợ chồng Trần Hà Anh và chị Hà Ngọc Mai, hai nhân vật trí thức lẫy lừng. Hỏi ra mới biết, cách đây trên 20 năm, TS.KH Trần Hà Anh được Chính phủ mời về đảm trách công việc tại Viện nghiên cứu hạt nhân Đà Lạt, ông được đánh giá là người đặt nền móng cho ngành điện hạt nhân Việt Nam. Cái danh “con cưng chính phủ” được anh em Việt kiều gọi đùa từ đó. Riêng với chị Mai, một nhà khoa học thành công nhiều trong lĩnh vực lai tạo giống lan và một số cây trồng tại Đà Lạt, lại được “anh chàng” Thọ quảng cáo: “Vị TS Sinh học nầy độc đáo ở chỗ là trồng cây này ra cây khác, thành loại cây mới như Phượng Tím ở trên ấy”(?!)
Ông Nguyễn Văn Nhã, Việt kiều Canada, một chuyên gia nuôi trồng tôm thành công trong nhiều năm tỏ ra rất nghiêm túc khi đề nghị Anh Chuyển tổ chức Hội thảo về đề tài “tai biến” ở lứa tuổi tri thiên mệnh. Hồng Lê Thọ vội đưa tay: “ tôi sẵn sàng làm người mẫu cho đề tài này. Bắt đầu lúc mấy giờ”. “8h sáng”. “Vậy có ăn sáng không?”.Thế là mọi người vỗ tay đồng ý ầm ĩ… Chả là cách đây một năm, nhân vật Thọ đã từng bị tai biến nhẹ, miệng bị kéo xệch một bên, chữa trị kết hợp Đông Tây y, châm cứu và uống thuốc liên tục 6 tháng mới “hoành tráng” trở lại. Nhân nói về tốc độ làm việc, liên tục có các bài viết “độc chiêu” về vệ sinh an toàn thực phẩm của Hồng Lê Thọ đăng lên Nhịp Cầu Đầu Tư vừa qua, Anh Trần Hà Anh “trả đũa”: Viết nhiều như ông Thọ méo miệng là phải thôi. “Miệng méo thế nào cũng được, nhưng đừng méo mó nghề nghiệp nghe bạn !” Phạm Nam Hương, Việt kiều Đức nhắn nhủ.
Ngồi đối diện ở giữa, Chị Diệu Hằng chợt thốt lời khen Anh Ngô Vĩnh Long có đôi mắt… đẹp một cách...tình tứ (lẳng lơ thì đúng hơn--HLT) làm vị giáo sư khả kính phải nhướng mắt tròn xoe cho mọi người chiêm ngưỡng !. Giải thích cho cái sự đẹp này, chị Diệu Hằng cho rằng: anh Long có trong người dòng máu người Bắc Hà!Thế là Nhiều người tự nhận mình có gốc Bắc cách đây cả mấy đời. anh Nguyễn Lương Dũng, trai Hà thành, tỏ ra khoái chí với nhận xét này, cứ tủm tỉm cười và liên tục bình… “loạn” về đôi mắt đẹp của người Hà thành. Ai đó ngâm nga: “Chai sạn rồi mới hiểu bàn tay.”…
Làm gì để phát triển kinh tế đất nước?
Câu hỏi đó dần toát lên ngày càng rõ trong cuộc hội ngộ. Chuyện vãn, hài hước dí dỏm, song bên trong là đau đáu những vấn đề chiến lược nghiêm túc, bởi sự phát triển của quê nhà. Các anh Nguyễn Văn Chuyển, Nguyễn Xuân Xanh, Nguyễn Văn Nhã, Nguyễn Thanh Lâm tranh nhau bàn chuyện làm ăn kinh tế. “Ông Nhã vẫn còn nuôi tôm à? Theo tôi, ông nên nuôi dê đi, có lợi hơn”, Anh Chuyển sốt sắng. Ngay lập tức, Lâm và Hương phản biện: Người dân Ninh Thuận đang “xấc bấc xang bang” với dê rồi. Tìm món làm ăn khác đi! “Có ai đầu tư vào chứng khoán không?”. Hình như ông Nhã đang “âm mưu” lĩnh vực này. Nguyễn Thanh Lâm đứng lên, phán một câu xanh rờn: “Ông chơi chứng khoán hả? Sẽ có ngày chứng khoán chơi lại ông!”. Lại tiếp tục rôm rả.
Anh Ngô Vĩnh Long, người Việt đầu tiên nhận được học bổng toàn phần của trường Đại học Harvard vào năm 1964 lại tỏ khá kiệm lời và chỉ cười liên tục trước những bong đùa của mọi người. Cách đây mấy hôm, tại UBNVNONN TP.HCM, Anh Long đã có buổi nói chuyện về ảnh hưởng kinh tế châu Á trước phản ứng của Mỹ đối với hàng hóa Trung Quốc. Có thể đấy là lý do để hôm nay vị GS này tự thưởng cho mình cơ hội được nghe và thư giãn với bạn bè bốn phương chăng?
Anh Chuyển chợt chuyển đề tài, phỏng vấn tại chỗ của TS Anh về chương trình phát triển điện hạt nhân cho quốc gia. Điềm đạm,anh Anh phân tích: Khi mà nguồn thủy điện ngày một cạn kiệt, đã đến lúc ta phải nghĩ đến nguồn điện hạt nhân thôi. Còn nhớ, xây dựng một nhà máy điện hạt nhân là ước nguyện được ấp ủ trong lòng vị TS Vật lý cách đây trên 25 năm. Bàn về vấn đề hạt nhân, theo TS Anh, an toàn hay không tùy thuộc một phần quan trọng vào người điều khiển”. Phạm Nam Hương, người vừa đưa lời nhận xét: “Càng ngày anh Xanh càng giống Enstein” ( Nguyễn Xuân Xanh, tác giả quyển sách Enstein, liên tục best seller từ ngày xuất bản và đã in được 6.000 bản), lại trở nên rất nghiêm túc khi phân tích tính cần thiết phát triển công nghệ hạt nhân quốc gia… TS Nguyễn Hải, người từng nhận chứng chỉ Microsoft Certified Trainer, VK Canada, đang tham gia giảng dạy tại Đại học Bách khoa TP.HCM tỏ ra e ngại với vấn đề này, song khá chịu khó nghe các đồng nghiệp phân tích trong khi đồng nghiệp của anh, PGS Nguyễn Lương Dũng lăng xăng mời mọi người thưởng thức các món ăn do anh đặt hàng…rồi nhẹ nhàng “cuốn gói” về trước để…cho con trai ngũ…trong khi mọi người vẫn còn sôi nổi với đề tài “hạt nhân” như muốn vỡ tung….
Hè 2007 tại TPHCM
* Từ ở Mỹ xa xôi, trưởng nhóm Bio-vn, qua TS Trần Hà Anh, TS Nguyễn Trọng Bình chuyển lời hỏi thăm đến mọi người tại buổi hội ngộ hè 2007.
*Từ Mỹ trở về có Giáo sư Tiến Sĩ (GS.TS) Ngô Vĩnh Long, GS.TS Nguyễn Văn Chuyển ở Nhật sang, Thạc sĩ Võ Thị Diệu Hằng ở Pháp về. 9 Việt kiều còn lại, hiện đang sống và làm việc trong nước gồm: TS Vật lý Trần Hà Anh (VK Pháp, Trưởng Ban Điều hành lâm thời Câu lạc bộ Khoa học và Kỹ thuật Việt kiều), TS Sinh học Hà Ngọc Mai (VK Pháp, phu nhân của TS Trần Hà Anh), Phó GT.TS Nguyễn Lương Dũng, TS Toán học Nguyễn Xuân Xanh, ông Phạm Nam Hương (Công ty Nam Phương) , ông Nguyễn Thanh Lâm (VietEuro) đều VK Đức; ông Nguyễn Văn Nhã và TS Nguyễn Hải (Canada) và Thạc sĩ Sử học Hồng Lê Thọ (VK Nhật)
mời xem thêm bài nầy:
Khóc Tiễn Bạn...
http://nguoilotgach.blogspot.com/2011/02/khoc-tien-ban.html
quà âm nhạc của anh Võ Tá Hân(Spore--nhận đêm 28/02/2011)
CÒN GẶP NHAU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4CEqzb0adY
Họ là những Việt kiều (VK) đang sống, làm việc ở trong và ngoài nước. Đa số đều có “thâm niên” ở nước ngoài ngót ngét 30-40 năm, tranh thủ hẹn hò hàn huyên trong kỳ nghỉ hè này ở quê nhà.
Là buổi hội ngộ thú vị, bởi danh tính của hầu hết các Việt kiều có mặt tối hôm 21.8 đều đang ở độ “tri thiên mệnh” trong làng Việt kiều. Theo cách nói của Anh Nguyễn Văn Chuyển, 12 gương mặt Việt kiều tối hôm đó toàn là những “kẻ bụi đời”, song là những “bụi đời” cao cấp! Đa số biết nhau từ những ngày du học, “đồng cam cộng khổ” và có chung lý tưởng trong những năm tháng học và làm việc ở xứ người cho dù họ ở nhiều phương trời khác nhau.
“Chai sạn rồi mới hiểu bàn tay”
Các bạn im lặng nhé, Hồng Lê Thọ, VK Nhật, “nổ phát súng” vào cuộc, tôi xin tiết lộ, một người từ kinh đô ánh sáng, hò hẹn với một người ở xứ phù tang, sau khi về đến Việt Nam, hẹn cùng nhau uống cà phê ở Hà Nội, ra về sẽ… nắm tay nhau như 2 câu thơ của Lê Thị Kim: Anh nắm tay em bằng bàn tay thành thật. Chai sạn rồi mới hiểu bàn tay. Nhưng rồi lời “hẹn ước” không thành, người ở Pháp về đến sân bay Nội Bài lại bay thẳng vào Nha Trang… Mở một nụ cười dí dỏm, Hồng Lê Thọ “phán” tiếp, bây giờ hãy hai người nắm tay nhau trước mặt bạn bè đi! Anh Nguyễn Văn Chuyển, chuyên gia Dinh Dưỡng trở về từ xứ phù tang và Chị Võ Thị Diệu Hằng, chủ nhân trang web Vietsciences.free.fr từ Pháp trở về, cùng tham gia trong nhóm bio-vn, “dũng cảm” nắm tay nhau trước tiếng vỗ tay của mọi người. Không khí cuộc hội ngộ vỡ òa, cười nói rôm rả. Người ngồi bên trái Chị Diệu Hằng là nhà “Einsten học” Nguyễn Xuân Xanh cũng vội chìa tay ra bắt…như hiểu được câu thơ của Lê thị Kim !
Anh Nguyễn Văn Chuyển, chuyên gia Thực phẩm Dinh dưỡng, Giáo sư Trường Đại học Nihon Joshi (Nữ Nhật Bản), đã từng có cuộc trao đổi với Nhịp Cầu Đầu Tư vấn đề kết hợp “low tech” với “high tech” trong sản xuất hàng chất lượng xuất ra nước ngoài sau hội nhập. Về chuyên môn, GS Chuyển đang nghiên cứu nhiều vấn đề liên quan cải tạo tầm vóc các thế hệ tương lai như các nước châu Á khác đã làm và khá thành công. Trở về Việt Nam lần này, Anh đã tham gia Hội thảo chuyên đề dinh dưỡng tại Viện Dinh dưỡng Quốc gia, bệnh viện Bạch Mai ở Hà Nội và Hội thảo chuyên đề béo phì tại Viện Y Dược học TP.HCM. Nhiều nhận xét của anh chị Việt kiều tại buổi hội ngộ cho rằng, Anh Chuyển là một “tay Việt kiều” biết hài hước và dí dỏm thông minh khi chịu khó “đùa dai” với hai “con cưng chính phủ” là vợ chồng Trần Hà Anh và chị Hà Ngọc Mai, hai nhân vật trí thức lẫy lừng. Hỏi ra mới biết, cách đây trên 20 năm, TS.KH Trần Hà Anh được Chính phủ mời về đảm trách công việc tại Viện nghiên cứu hạt nhân Đà Lạt, ông được đánh giá là người đặt nền móng cho ngành điện hạt nhân Việt Nam. Cái danh “con cưng chính phủ” được anh em Việt kiều gọi đùa từ đó. Riêng với chị Mai, một nhà khoa học thành công nhiều trong lĩnh vực lai tạo giống lan và một số cây trồng tại Đà Lạt, lại được “anh chàng” Thọ quảng cáo: “Vị TS Sinh học nầy độc đáo ở chỗ là trồng cây này ra cây khác, thành loại cây mới như Phượng Tím ở trên ấy”(?!)
Ông Nguyễn Văn Nhã, Việt kiều Canada, một chuyên gia nuôi trồng tôm thành công trong nhiều năm tỏ ra rất nghiêm túc khi đề nghị Anh Chuyển tổ chức Hội thảo về đề tài “tai biến” ở lứa tuổi tri thiên mệnh. Hồng Lê Thọ vội đưa tay: “ tôi sẵn sàng làm người mẫu cho đề tài này. Bắt đầu lúc mấy giờ”. “8h sáng”. “Vậy có ăn sáng không?”.Thế là mọi người vỗ tay đồng ý ầm ĩ… Chả là cách đây một năm, nhân vật Thọ đã từng bị tai biến nhẹ, miệng bị kéo xệch một bên, chữa trị kết hợp Đông Tây y, châm cứu và uống thuốc liên tục 6 tháng mới “hoành tráng” trở lại. Nhân nói về tốc độ làm việc, liên tục có các bài viết “độc chiêu” về vệ sinh an toàn thực phẩm của Hồng Lê Thọ đăng lên Nhịp Cầu Đầu Tư vừa qua, Anh Trần Hà Anh “trả đũa”: Viết nhiều như ông Thọ méo miệng là phải thôi. “Miệng méo thế nào cũng được, nhưng đừng méo mó nghề nghiệp nghe bạn !” Phạm Nam Hương, Việt kiều Đức nhắn nhủ.
Ngồi đối diện ở giữa, Chị Diệu Hằng chợt thốt lời khen Anh Ngô Vĩnh Long có đôi mắt… đẹp một cách...tình tứ (lẳng lơ thì đúng hơn--HLT) làm vị giáo sư khả kính phải nhướng mắt tròn xoe cho mọi người chiêm ngưỡng !. Giải thích cho cái sự đẹp này, chị Diệu Hằng cho rằng: anh Long có trong người dòng máu người Bắc Hà!Thế là Nhiều người tự nhận mình có gốc Bắc cách đây cả mấy đời. anh Nguyễn Lương Dũng, trai Hà thành, tỏ ra khoái chí với nhận xét này, cứ tủm tỉm cười và liên tục bình… “loạn” về đôi mắt đẹp của người Hà thành. Ai đó ngâm nga: “Chai sạn rồi mới hiểu bàn tay.”…
Làm gì để phát triển kinh tế đất nước?
Câu hỏi đó dần toát lên ngày càng rõ trong cuộc hội ngộ. Chuyện vãn, hài hước dí dỏm, song bên trong là đau đáu những vấn đề chiến lược nghiêm túc, bởi sự phát triển của quê nhà. Các anh Nguyễn Văn Chuyển, Nguyễn Xuân Xanh, Nguyễn Văn Nhã, Nguyễn Thanh Lâm tranh nhau bàn chuyện làm ăn kinh tế. “Ông Nhã vẫn còn nuôi tôm à? Theo tôi, ông nên nuôi dê đi, có lợi hơn”, Anh Chuyển sốt sắng. Ngay lập tức, Lâm và Hương phản biện: Người dân Ninh Thuận đang “xấc bấc xang bang” với dê rồi. Tìm món làm ăn khác đi! “Có ai đầu tư vào chứng khoán không?”. Hình như ông Nhã đang “âm mưu” lĩnh vực này. Nguyễn Thanh Lâm đứng lên, phán một câu xanh rờn: “Ông chơi chứng khoán hả? Sẽ có ngày chứng khoán chơi lại ông!”. Lại tiếp tục rôm rả.
Anh Ngô Vĩnh Long, người Việt đầu tiên nhận được học bổng toàn phần của trường Đại học Harvard vào năm 1964 lại tỏ khá kiệm lời và chỉ cười liên tục trước những bong đùa của mọi người. Cách đây mấy hôm, tại UBNVNONN TP.HCM, Anh Long đã có buổi nói chuyện về ảnh hưởng kinh tế châu Á trước phản ứng của Mỹ đối với hàng hóa Trung Quốc. Có thể đấy là lý do để hôm nay vị GS này tự thưởng cho mình cơ hội được nghe và thư giãn với bạn bè bốn phương chăng?
Anh Chuyển chợt chuyển đề tài, phỏng vấn tại chỗ của TS Anh về chương trình phát triển điện hạt nhân cho quốc gia. Điềm đạm,anh Anh phân tích: Khi mà nguồn thủy điện ngày một cạn kiệt, đã đến lúc ta phải nghĩ đến nguồn điện hạt nhân thôi. Còn nhớ, xây dựng một nhà máy điện hạt nhân là ước nguyện được ấp ủ trong lòng vị TS Vật lý cách đây trên 25 năm. Bàn về vấn đề hạt nhân, theo TS Anh, an toàn hay không tùy thuộc một phần quan trọng vào người điều khiển”. Phạm Nam Hương, người vừa đưa lời nhận xét: “Càng ngày anh Xanh càng giống Enstein” ( Nguyễn Xuân Xanh, tác giả quyển sách Enstein, liên tục best seller từ ngày xuất bản và đã in được 6.000 bản), lại trở nên rất nghiêm túc khi phân tích tính cần thiết phát triển công nghệ hạt nhân quốc gia… TS Nguyễn Hải, người từng nhận chứng chỉ Microsoft Certified Trainer, VK Canada, đang tham gia giảng dạy tại Đại học Bách khoa TP.HCM tỏ ra e ngại với vấn đề này, song khá chịu khó nghe các đồng nghiệp phân tích trong khi đồng nghiệp của anh, PGS Nguyễn Lương Dũng lăng xăng mời mọi người thưởng thức các món ăn do anh đặt hàng…rồi nhẹ nhàng “cuốn gói” về trước để…cho con trai ngũ…trong khi mọi người vẫn còn sôi nổi với đề tài “hạt nhân” như muốn vỡ tung….
Hè 2007 tại TPHCM
* Từ ở Mỹ xa xôi, trưởng nhóm Bio-vn, qua TS Trần Hà Anh, TS Nguyễn Trọng Bình chuyển lời hỏi thăm đến mọi người tại buổi hội ngộ hè 2007.
*Từ Mỹ trở về có Giáo sư Tiến Sĩ (GS.TS) Ngô Vĩnh Long, GS.TS Nguyễn Văn Chuyển ở Nhật sang, Thạc sĩ Võ Thị Diệu Hằng ở Pháp về. 9 Việt kiều còn lại, hiện đang sống và làm việc trong nước gồm: TS Vật lý Trần Hà Anh (VK Pháp, Trưởng Ban Điều hành lâm thời Câu lạc bộ Khoa học và Kỹ thuật Việt kiều), TS Sinh học Hà Ngọc Mai (VK Pháp, phu nhân của TS Trần Hà Anh), Phó GT.TS Nguyễn Lương Dũng, TS Toán học Nguyễn Xuân Xanh, ông Phạm Nam Hương (Công ty Nam Phương) , ông Nguyễn Thanh Lâm (VietEuro) đều VK Đức; ông Nguyễn Văn Nhã và TS Nguyễn Hải (Canada) và Thạc sĩ Sử học Hồng Lê Thọ (VK Nhật)
mời xem thêm bài nầy:
Khóc Tiễn Bạn...
http://nguoilotgach.blogspot.com/2011/02/khoc-tien-ban.html
quà âm nhạc của anh Võ Tá Hân(Spore--nhận đêm 28/02/2011)
CÒN GẶP NHAU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4CEqzb0adY
11/03 Mail trong đêm không ngủ của anh Đinh Văn Phước
Anh Tho,
Sau day la thu toi viet cho ban nguoi nuoc ngoai:
It is over midnight now in Tokyo and I am sitting at my office room typing this mail to everybody.
Today I presided a Nation-wide Sales Meeting when the Earthquake came. It shaked the building both vertically and horizontally, the amplitude is large and the cycle is long. The duration is terribly long amplying my fear that the building will collapse. But fortunately it did not... You might cannot imagine but believe-me-or-not, you cannot do anything but to stay at your existing position. We have had to wait for the shaking die-down. But it lasted very long, the longest time lap I ever experienced during my half century long living in Japan. Since 2:40 PM we still have to face many many "residual" earthquakes even during the time I am typing this mail.
In several northern towns and sea-side villages, over 10 m high TSUNAMI swept over and cleaned off a large part of them. It needs time to have the accurate statistic of human losses...
I decided not to leave but to stayed at the Head Office Building with about 20 other colleagues including several office ladies. Trains were out of service. Travel by car is possible but you have to take risk of horrible traffic JAM. And it proves that my decision was right: 2 hours later we got phone from colleague who decided to leave by car, saying that they are barely at less than half-way of their journey. So tonight I will take a rest at my office.
-----
1. TV dua tin 350 nguoi chet, 550 nguoi mat tich/
2. Sendai dang bi chay du doi.
3. Nagano khoang 4:05 vua qua dong dat M6+, Nigata M6-, nghia la ca Plate Honshu va Hokkaido dang bi Plate Thai Binh Duong day ve phia Luc Dia Trung Quoc,
4. Nha May phat dien Nguyen tu Fukushima No. 1 dang co dau hieu truc trac bat buoc phai "xa" ap suat nhiem phong xa ra ngoai khi quyen, tuy nhien Nha nuoc tuyen bo khong co anh huong tai hai cho suc khoe dan chung?!
5. Mot so tuyen duong xe dien ngam va xe dien do tu nhan kinh doanh (shitetsu) da di vao hoat dong,
Mot dem khong ngu
DV Phuoc
Sau day la thu toi viet cho ban nguoi nuoc ngoai:
It is over midnight now in Tokyo and I am sitting at my office room typing this mail to everybody.
Today I presided a Nation-wide Sales Meeting when the Earthquake came. It shaked the building both vertically and horizontally, the amplitude is large and the cycle is long. The duration is terribly long amplying my fear that the building will collapse. But fortunately it did not... You might cannot imagine but believe-me-or-not, you cannot do anything but to stay at your existing position. We have had to wait for the shaking die-down. But it lasted very long, the longest time lap I ever experienced during my half century long living in Japan. Since 2:40 PM we still have to face many many "residual" earthquakes even during the time I am typing this mail.
In several northern towns and sea-side villages, over 10 m high TSUNAMI swept over and cleaned off a large part of them. It needs time to have the accurate statistic of human losses...
I decided not to leave but to stayed at the Head Office Building with about 20 other colleagues including several office ladies. Trains were out of service. Travel by car is possible but you have to take risk of horrible traffic JAM. And it proves that my decision was right: 2 hours later we got phone from colleague who decided to leave by car, saying that they are barely at less than half-way of their journey. So tonight I will take a rest at my office.
-----
1. TV dua tin 350 nguoi chet, 550 nguoi mat tich/
2. Sendai dang bi chay du doi.
3. Nagano khoang 4:05 vua qua dong dat M6+, Nigata M6-, nghia la ca Plate Honshu va Hokkaido dang bi Plate Thai Binh Duong day ve phia Luc Dia Trung Quoc,
4. Nha May phat dien Nguyen tu Fukushima No. 1 dang co dau hieu truc trac bat buoc phai "xa" ap suat nhiem phong xa ra ngoai khi quyen, tuy nhien Nha nuoc tuyen bo khong co anh huong tai hai cho suc khoe dan chung?!
5. Mot so tuyen duong xe dien ngam va xe dien do tu nhan kinh doanh (shitetsu) da di vao hoat dong,
Mot dem khong ngu
DV Phuoc
11/03 Japan’s Strict Building Codes Saved Lives
March 11, 2011
By JAMES GLANZ and NORIMITSU ONISHI
Hidden inside the skeletons of high-rise towers, extra steel bracing, giant rubber pads and embedded hydraulic shock absorbers make modern Japanese buildings among the sturdiest in the world during a major earthquake. And all along the Japanese coast, tsunami warning signs, towering seawalls and well-marked escape routes offer some protection from walls of water.
These precautions, along with earthquake and tsunami drills that are routine for every Japanese citizen, show why Japan is the best-prepared country in the world for the twin disasters of earthquake and tsunami — practices that undoubtedly saved lives, though the final death toll is unknown.
In Japan, where earthquakes are far more common than they are in the United States, the building codes have long been much more stringent on specific matters like how much a building may sway during a quake.
After the Kobe earthquake in 1995, which killed about 6,000 people and injured 26,000, Japan also put enormous resources into new research on protecting structures, as well as retrofitting the country’s older and more vulnerable structures. Japan has spent billions of dollars developing the most advanced technology against earthquakes and tsunamis.
Japan has gone much further than the United States in outfitting new buildings with advanced devices called base isolation pads and energy dissipation units to dampen the ground’s shaking during an earthquake.
The isolation devices are essentially giant rubber-and-steel pads that are installed at the very bottom of the excavation for a building, which then simply sits on top of the pads. The dissipation units are built into a building’s structural skeleton. They are hydraulic cylinders that elongate and contract as the building sways, sapping the motion of energy.
Of course, nothing is entirely foolproof. Structural engineers monitoring the events from a distance cautioned that the death toll was likely to rise as more information became available. Dr. Jack Moehle, a structural engineer at the University of California, Berkeley, said that video of the disaster seemed to show that some older buildings had indeed collapsed.
The country that gave the world the word tsunami, especially in the 1980s and 1990s, built concrete seawalls in many communities, some as high as 40 feet, which amounted to its first line of defense against the water. In some coastal towns, in the event of an earthquake, networks of sensors are set up to set off alarms in individual residences and automatically shut down floodgates to prevent waves from surging upriver.
Critics of the seawalls say they are eyesores and bad for the environment. The seawalls, they say, can instill a false sense of security among coastal residents and discourage them from participating in regular evacuation drills. Moreover, by literally cutting residents’ visibility of the ocean, the seawalls reduce their ability to understand the sea by observing wave patterns, critics say.
Waves from Friday’s tsunami spilled over some seawalls in the affected areas. “The tsunami roared over embankments in Sendai city, washing cars, houses and farm equipment inland before reversing directions and carrying them out to sea,” according to a statement by a Japanese engineer, Kit Miyamoto, circulated by the American Society of Civil Engineers. “Flames shot from some of the houses, probably because of burst gas pipes.”
But Japan’s “massive public education program” could in the end have saved the most lives, said Rich Eisner, a retired tsunami preparedness expert who was attending a conference on the topic at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Md., on Friday.
In one town, Ofunato, which was struck by a major tsunami in 1960, dozens of signs in Japanese and English mark escape routes, and emergency sirens are tested three times a day, Mr. Eisner said.
Initial reports from Ofunato on Friday suggested that hundreds of homes had been swept away; the death toll was not yet known. But Matthew Francis of URS Corporation and a member of the civil engineering society’s tsunami subcommittee, said that education may have been the critical factor.
“For a trained population, a matter of 5 or 10 minutes is all you may need to get to high ground,” Mr. Francis said.
That would be in contrast to the much less experienced Southeast Asians, many of whom died in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami because they lingered near the coast. Reports in the Japanese news media indicate that people originally listed as missing in remote areas have been turning up in schools and community centers, suggesting that tsunami education and evacuation drills were indeed effective.
Unlike Haiti, where shoddy construction vastly increased the death toll last year, or China, where failure to follow construction codes worsened the death toll in the devastating 2008 Sichuan earthquake, Japan enforces some of the world’s most stringent building codes. Japanese buildings tend to be much stiffer and stouter than similar structures in earthquake-prone areas in California as well, said Mr. Moehle, the Berkeley engineer: Japan’s building code allows for roughly half as much sway back and forth at the top of a high rise during a major quake.
The difference, Mr. Moehle said, comes about because the United States standard is focused on preventing collapse, while in Japan — with many more earthquakes — the goal is to prevent any major damage to the buildings because of the swaying.
New apartment and office developments in Japan flaunt their seismic resistance as a marketing technique, a fact that has accelerated the use of the latest technologies, said Ronald O. Hamburger, a structural engineer in the civil engineering society and Simpson Gumpertz & Heger, a San Francisco engineering firm.
“You can increase the rents by providing a sort of warranty — ‘If you locate here you’ll be safe,’ ” Mr. Hamburger said.
Although many older buildings in Japan have been retrofitted with new bracing since the Kobe quake, there are many rural residences of older construction that are made of very light wood that would be highly vulnerable to damage. The fate of many of those residences is still unknown.
Mr. Miyamoto, the Japanese engineer, described a nation in chaos as the quake also damaged or disabled many elements of the transportation system. He said that he and his family were on a train near the Ikebukuro station when the earthquake struck. Writing at 1:30 a.m., he said that “we are still not far from where the train stopped.”
“Japan Railway actually closed down the stations and sent out all commuters into the cold night,” he said. “They announced that they are concerned about structural safety. Continuous aftershocks make me feel like car sickness as my family and I walk on the train tracks.”
James Glanz reported from New York, and Norimitsu Onishi from Jakarta, Indonesia.
By JAMES GLANZ and NORIMITSU ONISHI
Hidden inside the skeletons of high-rise towers, extra steel bracing, giant rubber pads and embedded hydraulic shock absorbers make modern Japanese buildings among the sturdiest in the world during a major earthquake. And all along the Japanese coast, tsunami warning signs, towering seawalls and well-marked escape routes offer some protection from walls of water.
These precautions, along with earthquake and tsunami drills that are routine for every Japanese citizen, show why Japan is the best-prepared country in the world for the twin disasters of earthquake and tsunami — practices that undoubtedly saved lives, though the final death toll is unknown.
In Japan, where earthquakes are far more common than they are in the United States, the building codes have long been much more stringent on specific matters like how much a building may sway during a quake.
After the Kobe earthquake in 1995, which killed about 6,000 people and injured 26,000, Japan also put enormous resources into new research on protecting structures, as well as retrofitting the country’s older and more vulnerable structures. Japan has spent billions of dollars developing the most advanced technology against earthquakes and tsunamis.
Japan has gone much further than the United States in outfitting new buildings with advanced devices called base isolation pads and energy dissipation units to dampen the ground’s shaking during an earthquake.
The isolation devices are essentially giant rubber-and-steel pads that are installed at the very bottom of the excavation for a building, which then simply sits on top of the pads. The dissipation units are built into a building’s structural skeleton. They are hydraulic cylinders that elongate and contract as the building sways, sapping the motion of energy.
Of course, nothing is entirely foolproof. Structural engineers monitoring the events from a distance cautioned that the death toll was likely to rise as more information became available. Dr. Jack Moehle, a structural engineer at the University of California, Berkeley, said that video of the disaster seemed to show that some older buildings had indeed collapsed.
The country that gave the world the word tsunami, especially in the 1980s and 1990s, built concrete seawalls in many communities, some as high as 40 feet, which amounted to its first line of defense against the water. In some coastal towns, in the event of an earthquake, networks of sensors are set up to set off alarms in individual residences and automatically shut down floodgates to prevent waves from surging upriver.
Critics of the seawalls say they are eyesores and bad for the environment. The seawalls, they say, can instill a false sense of security among coastal residents and discourage them from participating in regular evacuation drills. Moreover, by literally cutting residents’ visibility of the ocean, the seawalls reduce their ability to understand the sea by observing wave patterns, critics say.
Waves from Friday’s tsunami spilled over some seawalls in the affected areas. “The tsunami roared over embankments in Sendai city, washing cars, houses and farm equipment inland before reversing directions and carrying them out to sea,” according to a statement by a Japanese engineer, Kit Miyamoto, circulated by the American Society of Civil Engineers. “Flames shot from some of the houses, probably because of burst gas pipes.”
But Japan’s “massive public education program” could in the end have saved the most lives, said Rich Eisner, a retired tsunami preparedness expert who was attending a conference on the topic at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Md., on Friday.
In one town, Ofunato, which was struck by a major tsunami in 1960, dozens of signs in Japanese and English mark escape routes, and emergency sirens are tested three times a day, Mr. Eisner said.
Initial reports from Ofunato on Friday suggested that hundreds of homes had been swept away; the death toll was not yet known. But Matthew Francis of URS Corporation and a member of the civil engineering society’s tsunami subcommittee, said that education may have been the critical factor.
“For a trained population, a matter of 5 or 10 minutes is all you may need to get to high ground,” Mr. Francis said.
That would be in contrast to the much less experienced Southeast Asians, many of whom died in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami because they lingered near the coast. Reports in the Japanese news media indicate that people originally listed as missing in remote areas have been turning up in schools and community centers, suggesting that tsunami education and evacuation drills were indeed effective.
Unlike Haiti, where shoddy construction vastly increased the death toll last year, or China, where failure to follow construction codes worsened the death toll in the devastating 2008 Sichuan earthquake, Japan enforces some of the world’s most stringent building codes. Japanese buildings tend to be much stiffer and stouter than similar structures in earthquake-prone areas in California as well, said Mr. Moehle, the Berkeley engineer: Japan’s building code allows for roughly half as much sway back and forth at the top of a high rise during a major quake.
The difference, Mr. Moehle said, comes about because the United States standard is focused on preventing collapse, while in Japan — with many more earthquakes — the goal is to prevent any major damage to the buildings because of the swaying.
New apartment and office developments in Japan flaunt their seismic resistance as a marketing technique, a fact that has accelerated the use of the latest technologies, said Ronald O. Hamburger, a structural engineer in the civil engineering society and Simpson Gumpertz & Heger, a San Francisco engineering firm.
“You can increase the rents by providing a sort of warranty — ‘If you locate here you’ll be safe,’ ” Mr. Hamburger said.
Although many older buildings in Japan have been retrofitted with new bracing since the Kobe quake, there are many rural residences of older construction that are made of very light wood that would be highly vulnerable to damage. The fate of many of those residences is still unknown.
Mr. Miyamoto, the Japanese engineer, described a nation in chaos as the quake also damaged or disabled many elements of the transportation system. He said that he and his family were on a train near the Ikebukuro station when the earthquake struck. Writing at 1:30 a.m., he said that “we are still not far from where the train stopped.”
“Japan Railway actually closed down the stations and sent out all commuters into the cold night,” he said. “They announced that they are concerned about structural safety. Continuous aftershocks make me feel like car sickness as my family and I walk on the train tracks.”
James Glanz reported from New York, and Norimitsu Onishi from Jakarta, Indonesia.
Friday, March 11, 2011
11/03 Huge Earthquake Triggers Tsunami Off Japan’s Coast with 74 Readers' Comments
March 11, 2011
By MARTIN FACKLER and KEVIN DREW
TOKYO — A huge earthquake struck Japan on Friday, churning up a devastating tsunami that swept over cities and farmland along the northern part of the country and threatened coastal areas throughout the Pacific.
Walls of water whisked away houses and cars in northern Japan, where terrified residents fled the coast. Trains were shut down across central and northern Japan, including Tokyo, and air travel was severely disrupted. A ship carrying more than 100 people was swept away by the tsunami, tKyodo News reported. A fire broke out at the nuclear plant in Onagawa, but Japanese officials said it was extinguished.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan said the disaster caused major damage across wide areas. Several hours after the quake, Kyodo News was reporting 48 deaths, but with rescue efforts just getting under way, the extent of injuries and damage is not yet known.
The United States Geological Survey said the earthquake had a magnitude of 8.9, and occurred at about 230 miles northeast of Tokyo and at a revised depth of about 17 miles. The Japanese Meteorological Agency said the quake had a magnitude of 8.8, which would make it among the biggest in a century.
The quake occurred at 2:46 p.m. Tokyo time and hit off Honshu, Japan’s most populous island. The quake was so powerful that buildings in central Tokyo, designed to withstand major earthquakes, swayed.
“This tremor was unlike any I’ve experienced previously, and I’ve lived here for eight years. It was a sustained rolling that made it impossible to stand, almost like vertigo,” said Matt Alt, an American writer and translator living in Tokyo.
Gerard Fryer, a geophysicist with the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, told CNN that residents in Hawaii and the West Coast should prepare for coastal flooding. He said that there was a “full coastal evacuation” underway in Hawaii.
Gauges at Midway Island in the Pacific were registering a wave amplitude of about five feet, he said, but that might increase by the time the waves reached Hawaii. Even a five-foot wave can be devastating, he said, because of the nature of tsunami waves.
“There’s a tremendous amount of water” in them, he said. Mr. Fryer said that concerns that the waves might wash over entire low-lying islands in the Pacific were unfounded. “Washing over islands is not going to happen,” he told CNN.
Television images showed waves of more than 12 feet roaring inland in Japan. The tsunami drew a line of white fury across the ocean, heading toward the shoreline. Cars and trucks were still moving on highways as the water rushed toward them.
The floodwaters, thick with floating debris shoved inland, pushed aside heavy trucks as if they were toys, in some places carrying blazing buildings toward factories, fields, highways, bridges and homes. The spectacle was all the more remarkable for being carried live on television, even as the waves engulfed flat farmland that offered no resistance.
The force of the waves washed away cars on coastal roads and crashed into buildings along the shore. Television footage showed a tsunami wave bearing down on the Japanese coastline near the community of Sendai.
NHK television transmitted aerial images of columns of flame rising from an oil refinery and flood waters engulfing Sendai airport, where survivors clustered on the roof of the airport building. The runway was partially submerged. The refinery fire sent a plume of thick black smoke from blazing spherical storage tanks. A television commentator called the blaze an “inferno.”
The images showed survivors in a home surrounded by water, waving white sheets from the upper floors of buildings. News reports said the earthquake had forced the Tokyo subways to empty while airports were closed and many residents took to the streets, desperately trying to leave the city.
Initial television coverage from coastal areas showed very few people actually in the water. The initial impact of the wave seemed to have been enormous, tipping two huge cargo vessels on their sides at one port and tearing others from their moorings.
Smaller vessels, including what looked like commercial fishing trawlers, were carried inland, smashing into the superstructure of bridges as the waters surged. A senior Japanese official said foreign countries had offered to help and Japan was prepared to seek overseas assistance.
Japanese television showed major tsunami damage in northern Japan. Public broadcaster NHK reported that a large ship swept away by the tsunami rammed directly into a breakwater in Kesennuma city in Miyagi prefecture. Video footage also showed buildings on fire in the Odaiba district of Tokyo, The Associated Press reported.
“It just seemed to go on and on,” Katherine Wallace told the BBC, who was in an office building in Tokyo, said of the quake tremor.
A second major earthquake of 7.4 magnitude was reported as aftershocks shook the region. Japanese media reported mobile phone networks were not working.
Power blackouts were affecting about 2 million residents around Tokyo alone, the government said. Cell phone service was severely affected across central and northern Japan as residents rushed to call friends and relatives as aftershocks struck.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center extended a tsunami warning across most of the Pacific Ocean, and said the tsunami would threaten coastal areas of Russia, Taiwan, Hawaii, Indonesia, the Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea and Australia later in the day. The agency, based in Hawaii, added the west coasts of the United States, Mexico, Central America and South America to the list of regions that were given tsunami alerts.
The tsunami warning was later expanded to include much of Alaska, all of the California coast north from Santa Barbara, and Oregon. The rest of Southern California, Washington and British Columbia were under an advisory, the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center said. A warning means that people in low-lying areas should evacuate due to the threat of flooding; an advisory cautions that the tsunami could cause dangerous currents and waves but that major flooding is not expected. The center said that initial tsunami waves could hit Homer, Alaska, about 100 miles southwest of Anchorage, shortly after 4 a.m. local time GMT, and that waves could hit California and Oregon about an hour later, or about 7 a.m. local time.
In Honolulu, a tsunami watch was upgraded to a tsunami warning at about 9:30 pm local time, with the wave, if it materialized, forecast to arrive in the Hawaiian islands at 2:59 a.m. The tsunami warning sirens were briefly sounded. In the Waikiki district, lines formed at gas stations.
Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry said that the tsunami had reached the Russian-controlled Kurile Islands north of Hokkaido, Japan at about 6 p.m. local time. “The tsunami has reached three population centers in the Kurile Island chain. The average height of the wave has been recorded at less than one meter. There have been no casualties or damage,” the ministry said in a statement. In response to the tsunami threat, about 11,000 people have been evacuated from four population centers in the Kuriles, the ministry said.
The quake occurred in what is called a subduction zone, where one of the Earth’s tectonic plates is sliding beneath another. In this case, the Pacific plate is sliding beneath the North American at a rate of about 3 inches a year. The earthquake occurred at a depth of about 15 miles, which while relatively shallow by global standards is about normal for quakes in this zone, said Emily So, an engineer with the United States Geological Survey in Golden, Colo.
Ms. So said that according to her agency’s calculations, the quake was of magnitude 8.9. It had been preceded by what seismologists call foreshocks — smaller quakes in the same area. The largest of these was a magnitude 7.2 quake two days before, centered about 25 miles south of the spot where the earthquake struck Friday.
In a subduction quake that occurs underwater, as this one did, the sudden movement of a portion of one of the plates can displace enormous amounts of water, triggering a tsunami. As the tsunami waves approach shallow coastal areas, they tend to increase in height.
The devastation often comes from a succession of waves, with the first few being relatively small. The waves can propagate across oceans at speeds of 500 miles an hour or greater. With Friday’s quake occurring only about 80 miles offshore, people in the closest coastal areas would not have had much time to evacuate.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, was briefed on the disaster during a trip to Brussels. Geoffrey Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, said there were no reports of damage to American military facilities or naval vessels.
At the headquarters of the Navy’s Seventh Fleet in Yokosuka, Japan, sailors were preparing for a potential tsunami. “We’ve issued instructions to our pierside ships in Yokosuka to stand by their lines to be prepared to quickly adjust them as necessary to prevent damage during any resulting tsunami,” said Cmdr. Jeff Davis, the Seventh Fleet spokesman.
It was unclear on Friday morning to what extent the American military in the Pacific was preparing to help with disaster response.
The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong and the Straits Times in Singapore slumped after news of the quake, ending about 1.6 percent and 1 percent down, respectively.
Martin Fackler reported from Tokyo, and Kevin Drew from Hong Kong. Daniel Krieger contributed from Osaka, Japan, Bettina Wassener from Hong Kong, Alan Cowell and Richard Berry from Paris, Michael Schwirtz from Moscow, Henry Fountain from New York, Mike Hale from Honolulu, and Elisabeth Bumiller from Brussels.
74 Readers' Comments
74. LesleyMaryland March 11th, 20118:09 am
Here's wishing the people of Japan safety. They are very much in my thoughts.
Just wondering whether there was/could be any warning at all of such disasters.
73. J TraenPortland, OR, March 11th, 20118:09 am
I wonder what President Obama is doing right now? Are the citizens of Hawaii getting to higher ground? We have yet to see how the rest of the Pacific will be affected. How will the first world aid the recovery of the Pacific Islands?
72. HIGHLIGHT (what's this?) Irie Otoko, Minami Nagasaki, Tokyo, March 11th, 20118:08 am
The gym wasn't so crowded in Higashi Nakano when the quake struck. Most people, being used to earthquakes, kept working out except the building kept shaking. Staff were quick to assemble us to a safe space and many people stood around watching the TV. The tension was obvious in the reporter's voice and people instantly grabbed their cellphones. Outside was slightly overcast and while some people returned to the machines staff advised us to leave. As folks got dressed, staff handed out towels and bowed us goodbye. The afternoon was still and balmy; no sirens or panicking yet clusters of people came out into the street to gather around TVs in used shops. Many mom and pops stores were unattended. At a nearby bus depot drivers stood in a drill and many office workers mulled about talking, consoling, supporting each other. What's amazing is that everyone I saw: cops on their white bicycles; boys reading comics in alleys; kids walking home with their parents,etc. appeared graceful under this unexpected disaster. Eerie however were the usually crowded speeding trains now desolate on their tracks. Facebook has lots of updates and it is good to know that most people, so far, are safe and sound. I haven't made my emergency bag but am now compelled to do so.
71. Connie B. New York, NY; March 11th, 20118:08 am
Referencing #1 Patrice Aymes: You are right to fault the Tea Party folks for discounting the role of government in establishing building codes, building and maintaining our public infrastructure. Discounting our public responsibility in maintaining infrastructure dates back to Ronald Reagan, however. It didn't start with alleged groups of women having tea.
As a matter of fact, you may not be aware that the original Tea Party was all about strong-armed males tossing loads of tea into the Boston harbor in defiance of the British. Today's Tea Party is a mix of male billionaires and white guys driving pick-ups.
70. Prashant Solomon, New Delhi, India, March 11th, 20118:07 am
This is shocking and terrifying! My heart goes out to the Japanese people at this time. I also pray that those in over 20 other Pacific Rim nations are safe when the tsunami undoubtedly strikes. It is a real eye opener that we are like gnats compared to the awesome power of nature. It really makes you wonder how foolish we are to fight with each other over mundane things when we as a species are always at Mother Nature's mercy.
69. Mike Hipp, Atlanta, 30092, March 11th, 20118:04 am
The video coming out of Japan is just amazing. Secular best wishes and thoughts go out to all the victims from all the nations that will be affected.
68. markpuertolas, London, March 11th, 20118:04 am
This is just the begining!
67. CaliCalifornia, March 11th, 20118:04 am
In Indonesia 220,000 died when the 2004 tsunami hit.
In Japan just five have died so far.
An amazing difference.
66. PMG Pillai 19235, Mannar Allpuzha Kerala, India, March 11th, 20118:03 am
ear on line editor, Japan may have uptodate earth quack constrictions but then the forecast of the force of quack on richser scale can not be forecast but I think that with modern science a special study on the sea bottom must be conducted.Bottom soils structure can give some clue to this.Strtrength and force of earthe quack will decide the tusanami force and locatonetc A team os scietist with intelligence, innovation, sharp andpenetrating inteligence with fiocussing pinpit directions may be able to arrive at poosible reasons of quack andonce the foirce of quack isknown then strength oftsunami can be measuree but ateammust be ble toforecast well inadavance, detct the location etc must be there buttravelling t the bottom of the sea floor with divig suit and workibg there may be difficut but this can be overcome by research dated Friday March11th2011 Tme 1510Hrs iusr PM
65. Shel SteinS. Florida, March 11th, 20118:03 am
We need to pray,pray, pray....
For the victims
For our planet
For world peace
For the safety of our world and it's people
My G-d protect us all
2012 will soon be upon us
Hopefully this may be an unrelated event, and not the beginning
64. Marylintoyko, JP, March 11th, 20118:03 am
I was alone in my apartment in Tokyo during the whole thing. Scariest experience of my life. It felt like it went on forever! things fell over drawers, and the whole apartment and its walls shook like nothing I have seen before. Still shaking. My thoughts to the people up north in Miyagi prefecture and Sendai...
63. Mr JPNYC, March 11th, 20118:02 am
Just saw the news, our hearts go out to our brothers and sisters across the Pacific.
62. Shaun Joel Ketch, Tokyo, Tokyo, March 11th, 20117:56 am
I snapped this picture from my Tokyo office window moments after the first megaquake:
http://i.imgur.com/vOJbL.jpg
61. German bloke, Tokyo, March 11th, 20117:55 am
These rate easily among the scariest moments in my life. Hard to stay on your feet, yet the building I was in did not take the slightest damage, not even giving threatening sounds, except for moving shelves and falling things. Incredible what these buildings can withstand.
60. Paul Brinkman, New Zealand, March 11th, 20114:30 am
Really sad to see such devastation visited on Japan. Last month Japan kindly sent search and rescue teams to help New Zealand recover from the Christchurch quake. This was even before anyone knew 25 Japanese students had lost their lives in the Christchurch quake. Well if karma is real, then hopefully not many lives will be lost in this Japanese quake. Hopefully NZ can send our (tired) search and rescue teams to show that we care about them too.
59. Andrew, Tokyo, March 11th, 20114:30 am
I was on the 9th (top) floor of recently built, thin (30' square) and very flexible apartment building in Sumida, Tokyo. Living here has been a little unsettling as even small vibrations -- a large truck passing by, for example -- tend to set the structure quivering. Now I appreciate its amazing engineering. It flexed and bounced like an airliner in turbulence.
The shaking went on for so long that I had ample time to get up, put my shoes on and go out onto the emergency stairs. The neighborhood -- largely 3-15 story buildings -- looked like a set of children's blocks teetering on a shaken table. It looked more dreamlike than scary. Each building is topped with a lightning rod; they became metronomes swaying in competing directions. Old women moved to the middle of the street and stood motionless, looking at each other. After what must have been 2 or 3 minutes, the neighborhood public address system came online with a cheerful, slightly inappropriate recorded message: "This is Sumida City. Just now, a large earthquake happened. Please be careful."
It was only when I turned on the television and saw live footage of a tsunami closing in on cars driving down the road that I understood the severity of what happened.
Three hours later, things continue to rock every few minutes.
58. adamas, JPN, March 11th, 20114:22 am
Be careful and stay calm! People who live near coast around the world.
In Japan, earthquake has been hit almost every 10min. since around 14:46 with a magnitude of 3 to 6. Now at 18, it's sitll going on, mainly at the region of north east Japan. I just worry about the nuclear power station in Fukushima prefecture. Tsunami seems to be unstopable. Take care!
57. Babs, Hawaii, March 11th, 20114:16 am
Here in Hawaii we have had tsunami warnings and sirens blowing. There are long lines at the gas stations and bottled water has flown out of the stores. We are tentatively expecting water rise over six feet around all islands and people are being evacuated out of potential flood zones. The phones are jammed and people are being asked to stay off the phone and leave the streets clear for emergency traffic as we prepare. Imagine the concerns of the hotels in Waikiki - fortunately there are long standing plans and procedures and drill exercises have been done.
56. Student in Japan, Tokyo, JAPAN, March 11th, 20114:16 am
I was in school when the earthquake hit. The quake felt like it lasted for at least five minutes. As we were evacuating, I saw that almost all of the books in our library had fallen out of the shelves. Even the minimal damage was just surreal. We were evacuated onto our football field and spent nearly two hours waiting for highways to open and other services to come back. As of now, there is still no landline, cell-phone service and many areas do not have power. My thoughts go out to those who have been impacted severely by the quake in other parts of Japan and to those who are in tsunami zones. Please take care and stay safe.
55. S. J. Japan, March 11th, 20114:15 am
Watching the live footage on NHK, people fleeing in cars, on foot, panicked and not knowing which way to go was heartbreaking. There must have been massive casualties which will take weeks if not months to sort out.
54. Midori, Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan, March 11th, 20114:03 am
Here in Tokyo, we are also still getting strong shakes even now (almost 3 hours after first quake) - it is very scary.... There is no gas, elevator is stopped but at least we are still having electricity.
My teenager niece is stuck at her school(miles away from home) because there is no train running - and no one knows when the train will be starting to run at the moment.
We Japanese are trained to prepare for those earthquake from when we are small child, but the truth is, when this size of earthquake happens, it is difficult to act accordingly. As I write this message, it is shaking.... :X
53. Isabelle, Tokyo, Japan, March 11th, 20114:03 am
I am an international student from NYC living in Tokyo. I am very nauseated because the ground keeps on shaking here. We are stranded in center Tokyo because all the trains have stopped working. My university cancelled afternoon classes but many students here can not get home. My cell phone is the only one I know that works, thank you softbank prepaid. Chiba is having big problems with fire because of an oil rig and north of here in Ibaraki there is massive flooding. Sendai's airport has been hit really badly. Narita internaional airport (Japan's biggest airport) has also been hit. There has been no tsunami in Tokyo though.
52. dancebackthesea, Paris, March 11th, 20114:03 am
USGS link to earthquake information and maps, comprehensive geology.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/...
51. Pete Christchurch, NZChristchurch, New Zealand, March 11th, 20114:02 am
Shocking images coming through of the Japan quake and tsunami. Seems all too real after our Christchurch quake just over 2 weeks ago but this is at another level altogether. The Japaneses sent urban S&R to Christchurch and hope NZ can return the favour and any assistance. Tsunami alert even posted for NZ and due to hit in 8hrs time. Shocking.
50. YA, Tokyo, Japan, March 11th, 20113:54 am
I'm not surprised. It finally came and how my house shook here in Kamakura!
I felt like a giant had taken my house lifted it up and whacked it on the ground again!!
55. S. J.Japan, March 11th, 20114:15 am
Watching the live footage on NHK, people fleeing in cars, on foot, panicked and not knowing which way to go was heartbreaking. There must have been massive casualties which will take weeks if not months to sort out.
54. Midori, Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan, March 11th, 20114:03 am
Here in Tokyo, we are also still getting strong shakes even now (almost 3 hours after first quake) - it is very scary.... There is no gas, elevator is stopped but at least we are still having electricity.
My teenager niece is stuck at her school(miles away from home) because there is no train running - and no one knows when the train will be starting to run at the moment.
We Japanese are trained to prepare for those earthquake from when we are small child, but the truth is, when this size of earthquake happens, it is difficult to act accordingly. As I write this message, it is shaking.... :X
53. Isabelle, Tokyo, Japan, March 11th, 20114:03 am
I am an international student from NYC living in Tokyo. I am very nauseated because the ground keeps on shaking here. We are stranded in center Tokyo because all the trains have stopped working. My university cancelled afternoon classes but many students here can not get home. My cell phone is the only one I know that works, thank you softbank prepaid. Chiba is having big problems with fire because of an oil rig and north of here in Ibaraki there is massive flooding. Sendai's airport has been hit really badly. Narita internaional airport (Japan's biggest airport) has also been hit. There has been no tsunami in Tokyo though.
52. dancebackthesea, Paris, March 11th, 20114:03 am
USGS link to earthquake information and maps, comprehensive geology.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/...
51. Pete Christchurch, NZ, Christchurch, New Zealand, March 11th, 20114:02 am
Shocking images coming through of the Japan quake and tsunami. Seems all too real after our Christchurch quake just over 2 weeks ago but this is at another level altogether. The Japaneses sent urban S&R to Christchurch and hope NZ can return the favour and any assistance. Tsunami alert even posted for NZ and due to hit in 8hrs time. Shocking.
50. YATokyo, Japan, March 11th, 20113:54 am
I'm not surprised. It finally came and how my house shook here in Kamakura!
I felt like a giant had taken my house lifted it up and whacked it on the ground again!!
49. Gonewest, Hamamatsu, Japan, March 11th, 20113:54 am
I somehow didn't feel this at all - was driving at the time here in Shizuoka Prefecture, they are predicting a 3 meter tsunami to be hitting the coastline here shortly - fortunately the tide is very low here at the moment so that provides some margin.
BTW - it's true that the earthquake standards for big/modern buildings are quite strict, but there are plenty of older buildings that would go in the first decent shake, and a lot of them are
loaded with asbestos, which Japan is about 30 or more years behind the US in regulating/abating.
Also, there are any number of plans for disasters here, but the level of individual's preparations are pretty low - almost no one I ask keeps water on hand, for example, which is a simple but critical item. A further problem is that if the disaster doesn't occur according to the plan, the chances of people thinking on their feet and making quick decisions to meet the circumstances tends to be pretty low.
The comments about the US west coast brought to mind the account of local Indians observing the San Francisco earthquake in Tom Robbins' Even Cowgirls Get the Blues - they take the quake in stride, but are incredulous when, afterwards, people start right back building again - unable to take a (to the Indians) really obvious hint that they should rethink their whole approach..
Best of luck to those in the affected areas..
48. JeffKendo, Kyoto, Japan, March 11th, 20113:53 am
It's very bad now. Major aftershocks. Another one just now at 5.4 off the coast of Chiba prefecture and Fukushima, just north of Tokyo. The news and every channel is on this. Major explosions and damage at refineries and coastal locations.
47. amboycharlie, Nagoya, Japan, March 11th, 20113:53 am
I'm in Nagoya, a few hundred miles away and my building rocked for a good thirty seconds or so. Hard to tell how long it was. I'm guessing the expected Tokaido Quake, no some ten years overdue will be the next to strike. I can only wonder what that will be like. The tidal waves were a real shocker. I hope there was no loss of life, but I cannot imagine there wasn't. It only took a few minutes for the tidal wave to strike.
46. anonymous, pittsburgh, March 11th, 20113:53 am
Google Person Finder available after earthquake in Japan information about loved ones. http://t.co/EBqywWa
45. C. Durietz, Honolulu, HI, March 11th, 20113:52 am
I'm packing. We did this just about a year ago, and that amounting to nothing. Still, always best to be prepared. This time it really looks like something to pack for. Wish us luck, America.
44. Bob Skye, Hoboken, NJ, March 11th, 20113:51 am
@ 3 dogs... Experts say that the equipment nearest the epicenters 'top off' at a certain point (i.e. 7.9)and then are destroyed. When the readings come in from nearest intact equipment, they measure the distance between the two and do some heavy math...
43. LyrindaBerkeley, CA, March 11th, 20113:51 am
Our turn in CA will come. There is small comfort in knowing that we cannot have a quake quite as severe as a subduction quake since we are "only" on a strike/slip fault. I pray for those affected.
42. owenfinn, Yokohama, Japan, March 11th, 20113:50 am
that was absolutely terrifying here in Yokohama. Very, very strong and apparently the epicenter was 200 miles to the north. Lots of aftershocks, during one, I witnessed a 10 story building swaying an unbelievable amount. I could imagine how the people in the high rises must have felt. The TV is full of images of burning industrial areas. Worried about chemicals and the nuclear plants in northern Japan. Have power but the phones don`t work - can`t get through to my wife in Tokyo. The trains aren`t running and traffic is at a standstill.
41. nkPortland, OR, March 11th, 20113:50 am
I have been calling the front desk at the Tokyo Imperial Hotel (Ginza) many times for the past 2 hours and could not get through. One of our co-workers is there at the hotel or at our company office 2 blocks from there. Does anyone know how that area is? Please post any info. Hope everyone is safe there.
40. carryonjeeves, tokyo, March 11th, 20113:50 am
Spending part of my formative years in Alaska, earthquakes ("tremors" we called them) were not uncommon, and met with a kind of cool insouciance.
But an earthquake in Tokyo is an entirely different experience. Then you are surrounded on all sides by multistory office buildings, each swaying to their own rhythm.
It makes you dizzy to look out the window!
39. BillKauai, Hawaii, March 11th, 20113:49 am
We're expecting a tsunami to hit Hawaii starting at 2:59 am HT (7:59 EST) here on Kauai, then moving down our island chain over 30 minutes. More to follow...
38. Mike, Peterborough, NH, March 11th, 20113:49 am
We are 400 miles from Sendai, here in Kobe. the magnitude of this quake is at least that of the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995. People are calm here, yet a little anxious. Watching the sea now for tsunami.
37. KC, TOKYO, March 11th, 20113:49 am
I live in Tokyo.
Epicenter:Sanriku coast(38.0° north and 142.9° east)
magnitude:8.4
depth: About 20km
It was a very big roll.
Rumbling of the earth was ahead of the severe earthquake.
It became yucky like seasickness because of a big roll.
The aftershock continues still.
The damage of the tsunami has occurred here and there, too.
The train stops, and Tokyo Metropolitan Expressway has been closed.
The train stops and, therefore, a lot of taxis are not caught by people who cannot come home either.People who try to return to home walking to the inside seem also to have come out.
I have come to be able to see the state of damage here and there in the image though I am looking at news turning on the television.
A big roll seems also to have the thing that the shake rather grows in the skyscraper.
36. Don Hutton, Toronto, Canada, March 11th, 20113:30 am
Many Japanese Science Fiction shows are set in some place inevitably named "Neo-Tokyo" as, historically speaking, Tokyo is destroyed about once every generation. Something like this makes it easy to see why. For example, last time I checked about 20% of Tokyo is below sea-level: separated from the Pacific by a mile or so of intervening higher ground which would easily be breached by something like this. Note also that the Tokyo Fire Department doesn't promise to get to you in under half-an-hour; a consequence of Tokyo's fractal street layout and traffic congestion. Fire drills are therefore taken *very* seriously there.
Whatever happens, the Japanese people will just get right back up and start over again. They're a great people.
Recommend Recommended by 15 Readers .
35.AshleighNew ZealandMarch 11th, 20113:28 am
The people of Japan have been so generous to my people since our earthquake last month, it is devastatingly unfair that they have been dealt the same blow.
Kia kaha (stay strong) Japan, our thought are with you.
Recommend Recommended by 45 Readers .
34.Taro HBC, CanadaMarch 11th, 20113:26 am
At this time(5:25pm JP time), according to BBC and NTimes, currently all the super trains in northern Japan have been disabled, as well as Narita International Airport and Sendai Airport. Sendai Airport, which is only 30+ km away from Sendai, a city of 10,000,000, is actually suffering from the tsunami at the time. The video of tsunami washing away cars and ships that was posted on BBC takes place in Kesennuma, a middle-sized city of fishermen. The video of tsunami sweeping away greenhouses takes place in Sendai city, about 40~50 km away from downtown, Sendai. There has been a serious fire on a gas refinary in Chiba prefecture, the region right beside Tokyo and where Narita AP is in. There are 5 nuclear plants in northern Japan, which are obviously closed; however there has been a case in Niigata pref. where, after a Mag.8 level earthquake, leaking of nuclear material was confirmed.
Recommend Recommended by 15 Readers .
33.Donald Rogerson Bowling Green, OHMarch 11th, 20113:25 am
I am only on 14F of a 17F building in Iidabashi. It is a fairly old building, but it swayed gracefully absorbing the tremors, although long enough to induce a certain queasy feeling - walking along the corridor was a bit like being on a boat. The main problem has been bookcases toppling, spilling their contents, and light fixtures coming adrift from ceilings. The maintainance team is already at work refixing the lights, even as the building continues to sway intermittantly. For most of the Japanese colleagues, this is about as severe and prolonged as they have ever experienced, but there is a calm, good-humour.
Recommend Recommended by 30 Readers .
32.NorgeironHonoluluMarch 11th, 20113:25 am
The Civil Defense sirens just went off here on Oahu. The tsunami waves are expected between two and three o'clock this morning, as we are three thousand miles away from Japan.
31.Julie McNamaraMcLean, VAMarch 11th, 20113:25 am
Video of the tsunami damage in the nearest coastal areas is sobering. This is an example of what to expect during the inevitable Cascadia subduction zone earthquake (offshore Oregon, Washington).
30. 3 DogsHiroshima, JapanMarch 11th, 20113:24 amWhat I don't understand is how the US can call it a 8.9 but here in Japan, where it occurred it still being classified as a 7.9... I think that if it had been 8.9 there would have been a lot more damage and loss of life than we are seeing.
29. eldiePennsylvaniaMarch 11th, 20113:16 am
3:00a.m: Talked to daughter via Skype. Works in Tokyo on the 26th floor of the Atago Hills Mori building. They rode out the Tokyo-epicentered second quake (CNN?) under desks and left the building when the shaking stopped. Her apartment in Higashi Azabu, Minato-ku, is walking distance from her job and she is there now with a friend; no damage to apartment, just books thrown to floor from bookcase. While we were talking, the aftershocks seemed to be coming at 3 minute intervals. I couldn't see the tremors and only knew they were happening because of the narration "another one" and the fact that they both took another sip of white wine. Video Skype is great, but I'm not sure that, to a mother so many miles away, it hasn't become TMI.
28. patsyann0cookeville, TNMarch 11th, 20113:13 am
Frank Lloyd Wright's Imperial Hotel survived the 1923 violent quake. It was dismantled in 1965 and replaced by a highrise Imperial Hotel. I wonder if the newer Imperial survived in tact.
Recommend Recommended by 2 Readers .27.billyHawaiiMarch 11th, 20113:13 amugggg - sirens were just tested here.
26.NY PochoCNYMarch 11th, 20113:13 am
I find it odd that people constantly ascribe supernatural designs to natural phenomena. I still remember when Mount St. Helens blew up -- the windows rattled in our apartment in Green Lakes and my son woke up. We live on an insignificant planet circling a small star in a remote region of our galaxy. Our universe is one of many multiverses --- there are no end times -- it is just the natural movement of the plates. And when you live in and among these fault lines -- well the earth naturally adjusts....it is not magic!
Recommend Recommended by 68 Readers .
25.Teaching in WeihaiCHINAMarch 11th, 20113:11 am
I have been in Tokyo during an earthquake.....the chandeliers in the building were shaking...remarkable how the Japanese can design buildings to withstand them
Recommend Recommended by 19 Readers .
24.Mark SeiboldPortland OregonMarch 11th, 20113:11 am
I hope and pray that the damage reports are not as bad as could be imagined. Japan has made great efforts to restructure for earthquakes better than the Western US. As a local Portland Oregonian my entire life, I just read in the NY Times about a year ago that after Japan, Oregon was the one state in the US that has begun a better restructuring program for earthquakes more than any other American state and we started with all the school houses in the state. Our local PBS radio just broadcasted a warning for a potential Tsunami to arrive resulting from the Japan quake at the Oregon and Washington state coasts by 7:30 AM Friday morning.
Recommend Recommended by 17 Readers .23.whoopsterBern, Swiss-o-landMarch 11th, 20113:10 amDoes anyone else think that it's time to investigate exactly what HAARP is doing?
22.tokyo billtokyoMarch 11th, 20113:10 am
I was swimming my afternoon laps in the pool on the ground floor of the Izumi Garden Tower (same building as the poster above). My fellow swimmers and I were sloshed around like rubber duckies in a bathtub. Have now seen footage of the tsunami coming ashore near Sendai. Incredible. My thoughts are with all affected people. Echoing sentiment: stay safe.
21.josephso-calMarch 11th, 20113:09 am
Thank goodness for Japanese engineering. It sounds like it has literally saved lives today. Best wishes from across the Pacific.
20.ronettehulseBuena Park, CAMarch 11th, 20113:09 am
God Bless Japan.
Just heard the news and Pray for Federal Emergency Medical Assistance/Rescue to the country and the people.
19.BaibaMililani HIMarch 11th, 20113:09 am
Tsunami warning just posted for Hawaii.
18.Mysterious StrangerDenver, COMarch 11th, 20113:09 amWhat a shock even in a seismically active country. I offer prayers for your loss, suffering and safety.
17.Eileen Gaffney GreenAmelia Island, FLMarch 11th, 20113:08 am
We can only hope that the strict building codes the Japanese have had for years will lessen the loss of lives and property. The double whammy of tsunamis must feel frightening and overwhelming.
Japan has sent rescue workers and engineers to Christchurch, NZ, to help with the aftermath of the devastating Christchurch earthquake. Hopefully, there will be a similar response from Japan's neighbors and allies. The Japanese have dealt with high magnitude earthquakes before, and they will prevail. In the meantime, our hearts go out to the Japanese people and to others who are living, studying, working and traveling in Japan.
16.LiangSuzhou, ChinaMarch 11th, 20113:08 am
Wish these poor people to make this through
15.American ex-patJapanMarch 11th, 20113:07 am
Yokohama is still shaking an hour later...
14.Emil BlatzBoca Raton, FLMarch 11th, 20113:07 am
Holy schnikes, this doesn't sound so great.
Recommend Recommended by 2 Readers .13.Nye LavalleOrlandoMarch 11th, 20113:06 amGod bless the Japanese people. This is awful, simply awful! I have never seen anything like this! SIGHHHHHH
12. HIGHLIGHT (what's this?) Shaun Joel Ketch Tokyo, Tokyo March 11th, 20112:55 am
I'm on the 36F of Izumi Garden Tower in Tokyo. Earlier I saw a massive fire from behind Tokyo Tower and the Rainbow Bridge. The way this building swayed was surreal. Internet is up, cell lines are down, land lines working, trains and subways are stopped. My office window overlooks the embassy of Sweeden and Spain, and I see scores of diplomats gathered outside. I can only imagine what if felt like for those closer to the epicenter. Everyone stay safe!
11. shelledAsiaMarch 11th, 20112:55 am
What is happening? We are existing between disasters.
Recommend Recommended by 8 Readers .10.MarkBaltimoreMarch 11th, 20112:55 amHere's hoping the precautions the Japanese people have taken over the years will work out. This is a big one.
Recommend Recommended by 24 Readers .9.lisa kayakssacramentoMarch 11th, 20112:55 amI can't imagine the damage and loss. My heart goes out to the Japanese people.
8. Faraway Joe Tokyo March 11th, 20112:55 am
In 20 years this is the biggest I've felt. Thanks to great Japanese engineering damage is far less than it could have been.
7. Lady Gagas Biggest FanMars March 11th, 20112:55 am
Earthquakes are part of the Japanese life so their buildings are not so vulnerable as those in say Los Angeles.
Recommend Recommended by 10 Readers .6.K. T. SmithMarina, CAMarch 11th, 20112:55 amUnbelievable video. What massive devastation is going on right now. Being from California, it makes me really nervous to see such sights.
6. K. T. SmithMarina, CA March 11th, 20112:55 am
Unbelievable video. What massive devastation is going on right now. Being from California, it makes me really nervous to see such sights.
5. Jen W. Chicago March 11th, 20112:55 am
Wow. My heart goes out to all those who are hurt by this. All I can say is that natural disasters seem to be part of the bigger plan. It's hard to argue with the creator that he is wrong.
I too have suffered and lost loved ones. And the only consolation I have found is that those who we've lost are in a better place and those who are still here and struggling will be stronger for it.
Don't ask why me. Prove that you are learning from the horrible lesson cast upon you.
4. J. DanielBrooklyn, NY March 11th, 20112:55 am
God be with them - I pray for all of the poor who were trapped, may we all see stories of survival flood our news and may they all be safe. For those who have passed, may you be in God's arms and at peace.
3. Hope786, Atlanta March 11th, 20112:55 am
Most o the Japanese buildings are built to resist earth quakes. But 8.9 power can break down any building.
Lets pray there is no human loss. Frequent earth quakes are sign of the end of times.
2. KomaGawa Japan March 11th, 20112:55 am
Yes, quite interesting. Here in Saitama, regarded as one of the most stable areas in the country, I actually got up off the floor and stepped into the doorway to watch my book shelves shaking and unimportant matter sprinkle down. There is the sound of ambulances outside as this town is full of old farmers, the men. As for the women it will take more than a 7.9 earthquake to bring them down. ohhh another aftershock. My greatest concern was loss of internet services.
1. Patrice Ayme High Mountains Somewhere March 11th, 20112:55 am
Japan has up to date earthquake resistant buildings. Unlike, say the USA.
Wait until the totally unprepared West Coast of the USA is struck by its own monster quake... Richter 9 quakes have happened there in the last 3 centuries (Seatle).
Meaning, even the San Francisco mayor said that thousands of so called "soft story" houses, in San Francisco alone (10% of the SF Bay Area) could collapse.
Recent quakes in New Zealand have shown clearly that recent quake codes are insufficient. So what does the government waits for ordering the refurbishing of all the buildings? With thousands of unemployed construction workers, should be easy... Ah, but I forgot the tea party, little ladies having a cup of tea, who think life is a party... And the government the enemy.
http://patriceayme.wordpress.com/
By MARTIN FACKLER and KEVIN DREW
TOKYO — A huge earthquake struck Japan on Friday, churning up a devastating tsunami that swept over cities and farmland along the northern part of the country and threatened coastal areas throughout the Pacific.
Walls of water whisked away houses and cars in northern Japan, where terrified residents fled the coast. Trains were shut down across central and northern Japan, including Tokyo, and air travel was severely disrupted. A ship carrying more than 100 people was swept away by the tsunami, tKyodo News reported. A fire broke out at the nuclear plant in Onagawa, but Japanese officials said it was extinguished.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan said the disaster caused major damage across wide areas. Several hours after the quake, Kyodo News was reporting 48 deaths, but with rescue efforts just getting under way, the extent of injuries and damage is not yet known.
The United States Geological Survey said the earthquake had a magnitude of 8.9, and occurred at about 230 miles northeast of Tokyo and at a revised depth of about 17 miles. The Japanese Meteorological Agency said the quake had a magnitude of 8.8, which would make it among the biggest in a century.
The quake occurred at 2:46 p.m. Tokyo time and hit off Honshu, Japan’s most populous island. The quake was so powerful that buildings in central Tokyo, designed to withstand major earthquakes, swayed.
“This tremor was unlike any I’ve experienced previously, and I’ve lived here for eight years. It was a sustained rolling that made it impossible to stand, almost like vertigo,” said Matt Alt, an American writer and translator living in Tokyo.
Gerard Fryer, a geophysicist with the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, told CNN that residents in Hawaii and the West Coast should prepare for coastal flooding. He said that there was a “full coastal evacuation” underway in Hawaii.
Gauges at Midway Island in the Pacific were registering a wave amplitude of about five feet, he said, but that might increase by the time the waves reached Hawaii. Even a five-foot wave can be devastating, he said, because of the nature of tsunami waves.
“There’s a tremendous amount of water” in them, he said. Mr. Fryer said that concerns that the waves might wash over entire low-lying islands in the Pacific were unfounded. “Washing over islands is not going to happen,” he told CNN.
Television images showed waves of more than 12 feet roaring inland in Japan. The tsunami drew a line of white fury across the ocean, heading toward the shoreline. Cars and trucks were still moving on highways as the water rushed toward them.
The floodwaters, thick with floating debris shoved inland, pushed aside heavy trucks as if they were toys, in some places carrying blazing buildings toward factories, fields, highways, bridges and homes. The spectacle was all the more remarkable for being carried live on television, even as the waves engulfed flat farmland that offered no resistance.
The force of the waves washed away cars on coastal roads and crashed into buildings along the shore. Television footage showed a tsunami wave bearing down on the Japanese coastline near the community of Sendai.
NHK television transmitted aerial images of columns of flame rising from an oil refinery and flood waters engulfing Sendai airport, where survivors clustered on the roof of the airport building. The runway was partially submerged. The refinery fire sent a plume of thick black smoke from blazing spherical storage tanks. A television commentator called the blaze an “inferno.”
The images showed survivors in a home surrounded by water, waving white sheets from the upper floors of buildings. News reports said the earthquake had forced the Tokyo subways to empty while airports were closed and many residents took to the streets, desperately trying to leave the city.
Initial television coverage from coastal areas showed very few people actually in the water. The initial impact of the wave seemed to have been enormous, tipping two huge cargo vessels on their sides at one port and tearing others from their moorings.
Smaller vessels, including what looked like commercial fishing trawlers, were carried inland, smashing into the superstructure of bridges as the waters surged. A senior Japanese official said foreign countries had offered to help and Japan was prepared to seek overseas assistance.
Japanese television showed major tsunami damage in northern Japan. Public broadcaster NHK reported that a large ship swept away by the tsunami rammed directly into a breakwater in Kesennuma city in Miyagi prefecture. Video footage also showed buildings on fire in the Odaiba district of Tokyo, The Associated Press reported.
“It just seemed to go on and on,” Katherine Wallace told the BBC, who was in an office building in Tokyo, said of the quake tremor.
A second major earthquake of 7.4 magnitude was reported as aftershocks shook the region. Japanese media reported mobile phone networks were not working.
Power blackouts were affecting about 2 million residents around Tokyo alone, the government said. Cell phone service was severely affected across central and northern Japan as residents rushed to call friends and relatives as aftershocks struck.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center extended a tsunami warning across most of the Pacific Ocean, and said the tsunami would threaten coastal areas of Russia, Taiwan, Hawaii, Indonesia, the Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea and Australia later in the day. The agency, based in Hawaii, added the west coasts of the United States, Mexico, Central America and South America to the list of regions that were given tsunami alerts.
The tsunami warning was later expanded to include much of Alaska, all of the California coast north from Santa Barbara, and Oregon. The rest of Southern California, Washington and British Columbia were under an advisory, the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center said. A warning means that people in low-lying areas should evacuate due to the threat of flooding; an advisory cautions that the tsunami could cause dangerous currents and waves but that major flooding is not expected. The center said that initial tsunami waves could hit Homer, Alaska, about 100 miles southwest of Anchorage, shortly after 4 a.m. local time GMT, and that waves could hit California and Oregon about an hour later, or about 7 a.m. local time.
In Honolulu, a tsunami watch was upgraded to a tsunami warning at about 9:30 pm local time, with the wave, if it materialized, forecast to arrive in the Hawaiian islands at 2:59 a.m. The tsunami warning sirens were briefly sounded. In the Waikiki district, lines formed at gas stations.
Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry said that the tsunami had reached the Russian-controlled Kurile Islands north of Hokkaido, Japan at about 6 p.m. local time. “The tsunami has reached three population centers in the Kurile Island chain. The average height of the wave has been recorded at less than one meter. There have been no casualties or damage,” the ministry said in a statement. In response to the tsunami threat, about 11,000 people have been evacuated from four population centers in the Kuriles, the ministry said.
The quake occurred in what is called a subduction zone, where one of the Earth’s tectonic plates is sliding beneath another. In this case, the Pacific plate is sliding beneath the North American at a rate of about 3 inches a year. The earthquake occurred at a depth of about 15 miles, which while relatively shallow by global standards is about normal for quakes in this zone, said Emily So, an engineer with the United States Geological Survey in Golden, Colo.
Ms. So said that according to her agency’s calculations, the quake was of magnitude 8.9. It had been preceded by what seismologists call foreshocks — smaller quakes in the same area. The largest of these was a magnitude 7.2 quake two days before, centered about 25 miles south of the spot where the earthquake struck Friday.
In a subduction quake that occurs underwater, as this one did, the sudden movement of a portion of one of the plates can displace enormous amounts of water, triggering a tsunami. As the tsunami waves approach shallow coastal areas, they tend to increase in height.
The devastation often comes from a succession of waves, with the first few being relatively small. The waves can propagate across oceans at speeds of 500 miles an hour or greater. With Friday’s quake occurring only about 80 miles offshore, people in the closest coastal areas would not have had much time to evacuate.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, was briefed on the disaster during a trip to Brussels. Geoffrey Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, said there were no reports of damage to American military facilities or naval vessels.
At the headquarters of the Navy’s Seventh Fleet in Yokosuka, Japan, sailors were preparing for a potential tsunami. “We’ve issued instructions to our pierside ships in Yokosuka to stand by their lines to be prepared to quickly adjust them as necessary to prevent damage during any resulting tsunami,” said Cmdr. Jeff Davis, the Seventh Fleet spokesman.
It was unclear on Friday morning to what extent the American military in the Pacific was preparing to help with disaster response.
The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong and the Straits Times in Singapore slumped after news of the quake, ending about 1.6 percent and 1 percent down, respectively.
Martin Fackler reported from Tokyo, and Kevin Drew from Hong Kong. Daniel Krieger contributed from Osaka, Japan, Bettina Wassener from Hong Kong, Alan Cowell and Richard Berry from Paris, Michael Schwirtz from Moscow, Henry Fountain from New York, Mike Hale from Honolulu, and Elisabeth Bumiller from Brussels.
74 Readers' Comments
74. LesleyMaryland March 11th, 20118:09 am
Here's wishing the people of Japan safety. They are very much in my thoughts.
Just wondering whether there was/could be any warning at all of such disasters.
73. J TraenPortland, OR, March 11th, 20118:09 am
I wonder what President Obama is doing right now? Are the citizens of Hawaii getting to higher ground? We have yet to see how the rest of the Pacific will be affected. How will the first world aid the recovery of the Pacific Islands?
72. HIGHLIGHT (what's this?) Irie Otoko, Minami Nagasaki, Tokyo, March 11th, 20118:08 am
The gym wasn't so crowded in Higashi Nakano when the quake struck. Most people, being used to earthquakes, kept working out except the building kept shaking. Staff were quick to assemble us to a safe space and many people stood around watching the TV. The tension was obvious in the reporter's voice and people instantly grabbed their cellphones. Outside was slightly overcast and while some people returned to the machines staff advised us to leave. As folks got dressed, staff handed out towels and bowed us goodbye. The afternoon was still and balmy; no sirens or panicking yet clusters of people came out into the street to gather around TVs in used shops. Many mom and pops stores were unattended. At a nearby bus depot drivers stood in a drill and many office workers mulled about talking, consoling, supporting each other. What's amazing is that everyone I saw: cops on their white bicycles; boys reading comics in alleys; kids walking home with their parents,etc. appeared graceful under this unexpected disaster. Eerie however were the usually crowded speeding trains now desolate on their tracks. Facebook has lots of updates and it is good to know that most people, so far, are safe and sound. I haven't made my emergency bag but am now compelled to do so.
71. Connie B. New York, NY; March 11th, 20118:08 am
Referencing #1 Patrice Aymes: You are right to fault the Tea Party folks for discounting the role of government in establishing building codes, building and maintaining our public infrastructure. Discounting our public responsibility in maintaining infrastructure dates back to Ronald Reagan, however. It didn't start with alleged groups of women having tea.
As a matter of fact, you may not be aware that the original Tea Party was all about strong-armed males tossing loads of tea into the Boston harbor in defiance of the British. Today's Tea Party is a mix of male billionaires and white guys driving pick-ups.
70. Prashant Solomon, New Delhi, India, March 11th, 20118:07 am
This is shocking and terrifying! My heart goes out to the Japanese people at this time. I also pray that those in over 20 other Pacific Rim nations are safe when the tsunami undoubtedly strikes. It is a real eye opener that we are like gnats compared to the awesome power of nature. It really makes you wonder how foolish we are to fight with each other over mundane things when we as a species are always at Mother Nature's mercy.
69. Mike Hipp, Atlanta, 30092, March 11th, 20118:04 am
The video coming out of Japan is just amazing. Secular best wishes and thoughts go out to all the victims from all the nations that will be affected.
68. markpuertolas, London, March 11th, 20118:04 am
This is just the begining!
67. CaliCalifornia, March 11th, 20118:04 am
In Indonesia 220,000 died when the 2004 tsunami hit.
In Japan just five have died so far.
An amazing difference.
66. PMG Pillai 19235, Mannar Allpuzha Kerala, India, March 11th, 20118:03 am
ear on line editor, Japan may have uptodate earth quack constrictions but then the forecast of the force of quack on richser scale can not be forecast but I think that with modern science a special study on the sea bottom must be conducted.Bottom soils structure can give some clue to this.Strtrength and force of earthe quack will decide the tusanami force and locatonetc A team os scietist with intelligence, innovation, sharp andpenetrating inteligence with fiocussing pinpit directions may be able to arrive at poosible reasons of quack andonce the foirce of quack isknown then strength oftsunami can be measuree but ateammust be ble toforecast well inadavance, detct the location etc must be there buttravelling t the bottom of the sea floor with divig suit and workibg there may be difficut but this can be overcome by research dated Friday March11th2011 Tme 1510Hrs iusr PM
65. Shel SteinS. Florida, March 11th, 20118:03 am
We need to pray,pray, pray....
For the victims
For our planet
For world peace
For the safety of our world and it's people
My G-d protect us all
2012 will soon be upon us
Hopefully this may be an unrelated event, and not the beginning
64. Marylintoyko, JP, March 11th, 20118:03 am
I was alone in my apartment in Tokyo during the whole thing. Scariest experience of my life. It felt like it went on forever! things fell over drawers, and the whole apartment and its walls shook like nothing I have seen before. Still shaking. My thoughts to the people up north in Miyagi prefecture and Sendai...
63. Mr JPNYC, March 11th, 20118:02 am
Just saw the news, our hearts go out to our brothers and sisters across the Pacific.
62. Shaun Joel Ketch, Tokyo, Tokyo, March 11th, 20117:56 am
I snapped this picture from my Tokyo office window moments after the first megaquake:
http://i.imgur.com/vOJbL.jpg
61. German bloke, Tokyo, March 11th, 20117:55 am
These rate easily among the scariest moments in my life. Hard to stay on your feet, yet the building I was in did not take the slightest damage, not even giving threatening sounds, except for moving shelves and falling things. Incredible what these buildings can withstand.
60. Paul Brinkman, New Zealand, March 11th, 20114:30 am
Really sad to see such devastation visited on Japan. Last month Japan kindly sent search and rescue teams to help New Zealand recover from the Christchurch quake. This was even before anyone knew 25 Japanese students had lost their lives in the Christchurch quake. Well if karma is real, then hopefully not many lives will be lost in this Japanese quake. Hopefully NZ can send our (tired) search and rescue teams to show that we care about them too.
59. Andrew, Tokyo, March 11th, 20114:30 am
I was on the 9th (top) floor of recently built, thin (30' square) and very flexible apartment building in Sumida, Tokyo. Living here has been a little unsettling as even small vibrations -- a large truck passing by, for example -- tend to set the structure quivering. Now I appreciate its amazing engineering. It flexed and bounced like an airliner in turbulence.
The shaking went on for so long that I had ample time to get up, put my shoes on and go out onto the emergency stairs. The neighborhood -- largely 3-15 story buildings -- looked like a set of children's blocks teetering on a shaken table. It looked more dreamlike than scary. Each building is topped with a lightning rod; they became metronomes swaying in competing directions. Old women moved to the middle of the street and stood motionless, looking at each other. After what must have been 2 or 3 minutes, the neighborhood public address system came online with a cheerful, slightly inappropriate recorded message: "This is Sumida City. Just now, a large earthquake happened. Please be careful."
It was only when I turned on the television and saw live footage of a tsunami closing in on cars driving down the road that I understood the severity of what happened.
Three hours later, things continue to rock every few minutes.
58. adamas, JPN, March 11th, 20114:22 am
Be careful and stay calm! People who live near coast around the world.
In Japan, earthquake has been hit almost every 10min. since around 14:46 with a magnitude of 3 to 6. Now at 18, it's sitll going on, mainly at the region of north east Japan. I just worry about the nuclear power station in Fukushima prefecture. Tsunami seems to be unstopable. Take care!
57. Babs, Hawaii, March 11th, 20114:16 am
Here in Hawaii we have had tsunami warnings and sirens blowing. There are long lines at the gas stations and bottled water has flown out of the stores. We are tentatively expecting water rise over six feet around all islands and people are being evacuated out of potential flood zones. The phones are jammed and people are being asked to stay off the phone and leave the streets clear for emergency traffic as we prepare. Imagine the concerns of the hotels in Waikiki - fortunately there are long standing plans and procedures and drill exercises have been done.
56. Student in Japan, Tokyo, JAPAN, March 11th, 20114:16 am
I was in school when the earthquake hit. The quake felt like it lasted for at least five minutes. As we were evacuating, I saw that almost all of the books in our library had fallen out of the shelves. Even the minimal damage was just surreal. We were evacuated onto our football field and spent nearly two hours waiting for highways to open and other services to come back. As of now, there is still no landline, cell-phone service and many areas do not have power. My thoughts go out to those who have been impacted severely by the quake in other parts of Japan and to those who are in tsunami zones. Please take care and stay safe.
55. S. J. Japan, March 11th, 20114:15 am
Watching the live footage on NHK, people fleeing in cars, on foot, panicked and not knowing which way to go was heartbreaking. There must have been massive casualties which will take weeks if not months to sort out.
54. Midori, Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan, March 11th, 20114:03 am
Here in Tokyo, we are also still getting strong shakes even now (almost 3 hours after first quake) - it is very scary.... There is no gas, elevator is stopped but at least we are still having electricity.
My teenager niece is stuck at her school(miles away from home) because there is no train running - and no one knows when the train will be starting to run at the moment.
We Japanese are trained to prepare for those earthquake from when we are small child, but the truth is, when this size of earthquake happens, it is difficult to act accordingly. As I write this message, it is shaking.... :X
53. Isabelle, Tokyo, Japan, March 11th, 20114:03 am
I am an international student from NYC living in Tokyo. I am very nauseated because the ground keeps on shaking here. We are stranded in center Tokyo because all the trains have stopped working. My university cancelled afternoon classes but many students here can not get home. My cell phone is the only one I know that works, thank you softbank prepaid. Chiba is having big problems with fire because of an oil rig and north of here in Ibaraki there is massive flooding. Sendai's airport has been hit really badly. Narita internaional airport (Japan's biggest airport) has also been hit. There has been no tsunami in Tokyo though.
52. dancebackthesea, Paris, March 11th, 20114:03 am
USGS link to earthquake information and maps, comprehensive geology.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/...
51. Pete Christchurch, NZChristchurch, New Zealand, March 11th, 20114:02 am
Shocking images coming through of the Japan quake and tsunami. Seems all too real after our Christchurch quake just over 2 weeks ago but this is at another level altogether. The Japaneses sent urban S&R to Christchurch and hope NZ can return the favour and any assistance. Tsunami alert even posted for NZ and due to hit in 8hrs time. Shocking.
50. YA, Tokyo, Japan, March 11th, 20113:54 am
I'm not surprised. It finally came and how my house shook here in Kamakura!
I felt like a giant had taken my house lifted it up and whacked it on the ground again!!
55. S. J.Japan, March 11th, 20114:15 am
Watching the live footage on NHK, people fleeing in cars, on foot, panicked and not knowing which way to go was heartbreaking. There must have been massive casualties which will take weeks if not months to sort out.
54. Midori, Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan, March 11th, 20114:03 am
Here in Tokyo, we are also still getting strong shakes even now (almost 3 hours after first quake) - it is very scary.... There is no gas, elevator is stopped but at least we are still having electricity.
My teenager niece is stuck at her school(miles away from home) because there is no train running - and no one knows when the train will be starting to run at the moment.
We Japanese are trained to prepare for those earthquake from when we are small child, but the truth is, when this size of earthquake happens, it is difficult to act accordingly. As I write this message, it is shaking.... :X
53. Isabelle, Tokyo, Japan, March 11th, 20114:03 am
I am an international student from NYC living in Tokyo. I am very nauseated because the ground keeps on shaking here. We are stranded in center Tokyo because all the trains have stopped working. My university cancelled afternoon classes but many students here can not get home. My cell phone is the only one I know that works, thank you softbank prepaid. Chiba is having big problems with fire because of an oil rig and north of here in Ibaraki there is massive flooding. Sendai's airport has been hit really badly. Narita internaional airport (Japan's biggest airport) has also been hit. There has been no tsunami in Tokyo though.
52. dancebackthesea, Paris, March 11th, 20114:03 am
USGS link to earthquake information and maps, comprehensive geology.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/...
51. Pete Christchurch, NZ, Christchurch, New Zealand, March 11th, 20114:02 am
Shocking images coming through of the Japan quake and tsunami. Seems all too real after our Christchurch quake just over 2 weeks ago but this is at another level altogether. The Japaneses sent urban S&R to Christchurch and hope NZ can return the favour and any assistance. Tsunami alert even posted for NZ and due to hit in 8hrs time. Shocking.
50. YATokyo, Japan, March 11th, 20113:54 am
I'm not surprised. It finally came and how my house shook here in Kamakura!
I felt like a giant had taken my house lifted it up and whacked it on the ground again!!
49. Gonewest, Hamamatsu, Japan, March 11th, 20113:54 am
I somehow didn't feel this at all - was driving at the time here in Shizuoka Prefecture, they are predicting a 3 meter tsunami to be hitting the coastline here shortly - fortunately the tide is very low here at the moment so that provides some margin.
BTW - it's true that the earthquake standards for big/modern buildings are quite strict, but there are plenty of older buildings that would go in the first decent shake, and a lot of them are
loaded with asbestos, which Japan is about 30 or more years behind the US in regulating/abating.
Also, there are any number of plans for disasters here, but the level of individual's preparations are pretty low - almost no one I ask keeps water on hand, for example, which is a simple but critical item. A further problem is that if the disaster doesn't occur according to the plan, the chances of people thinking on their feet and making quick decisions to meet the circumstances tends to be pretty low.
The comments about the US west coast brought to mind the account of local Indians observing the San Francisco earthquake in Tom Robbins' Even Cowgirls Get the Blues - they take the quake in stride, but are incredulous when, afterwards, people start right back building again - unable to take a (to the Indians) really obvious hint that they should rethink their whole approach..
Best of luck to those in the affected areas..
48. JeffKendo, Kyoto, Japan, March 11th, 20113:53 am
It's very bad now. Major aftershocks. Another one just now at 5.4 off the coast of Chiba prefecture and Fukushima, just north of Tokyo. The news and every channel is on this. Major explosions and damage at refineries and coastal locations.
47. amboycharlie, Nagoya, Japan, March 11th, 20113:53 am
I'm in Nagoya, a few hundred miles away and my building rocked for a good thirty seconds or so. Hard to tell how long it was. I'm guessing the expected Tokaido Quake, no some ten years overdue will be the next to strike. I can only wonder what that will be like. The tidal waves were a real shocker. I hope there was no loss of life, but I cannot imagine there wasn't. It only took a few minutes for the tidal wave to strike.
46. anonymous, pittsburgh, March 11th, 20113:53 am
Google Person Finder available after earthquake in Japan information about loved ones. http://t.co/EBqywWa
45. C. Durietz, Honolulu, HI, March 11th, 20113:52 am
I'm packing. We did this just about a year ago, and that amounting to nothing. Still, always best to be prepared. This time it really looks like something to pack for. Wish us luck, America.
44. Bob Skye, Hoboken, NJ, March 11th, 20113:51 am
@ 3 dogs... Experts say that the equipment nearest the epicenters 'top off' at a certain point (i.e. 7.9)and then are destroyed. When the readings come in from nearest intact equipment, they measure the distance between the two and do some heavy math...
43. LyrindaBerkeley, CA, March 11th, 20113:51 am
Our turn in CA will come. There is small comfort in knowing that we cannot have a quake quite as severe as a subduction quake since we are "only" on a strike/slip fault. I pray for those affected.
42. owenfinn, Yokohama, Japan, March 11th, 20113:50 am
that was absolutely terrifying here in Yokohama. Very, very strong and apparently the epicenter was 200 miles to the north. Lots of aftershocks, during one, I witnessed a 10 story building swaying an unbelievable amount. I could imagine how the people in the high rises must have felt. The TV is full of images of burning industrial areas. Worried about chemicals and the nuclear plants in northern Japan. Have power but the phones don`t work - can`t get through to my wife in Tokyo. The trains aren`t running and traffic is at a standstill.
41. nkPortland, OR, March 11th, 20113:50 am
I have been calling the front desk at the Tokyo Imperial Hotel (Ginza) many times for the past 2 hours and could not get through. One of our co-workers is there at the hotel or at our company office 2 blocks from there. Does anyone know how that area is? Please post any info. Hope everyone is safe there.
40. carryonjeeves, tokyo, March 11th, 20113:50 am
Spending part of my formative years in Alaska, earthquakes ("tremors" we called them) were not uncommon, and met with a kind of cool insouciance.
But an earthquake in Tokyo is an entirely different experience. Then you are surrounded on all sides by multistory office buildings, each swaying to their own rhythm.
It makes you dizzy to look out the window!
39. BillKauai, Hawaii, March 11th, 20113:49 am
We're expecting a tsunami to hit Hawaii starting at 2:59 am HT (7:59 EST) here on Kauai, then moving down our island chain over 30 minutes. More to follow...
38. Mike, Peterborough, NH, March 11th, 20113:49 am
We are 400 miles from Sendai, here in Kobe. the magnitude of this quake is at least that of the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995. People are calm here, yet a little anxious. Watching the sea now for tsunami.
37. KC, TOKYO, March 11th, 20113:49 am
I live in Tokyo.
Epicenter:Sanriku coast(38.0° north and 142.9° east)
magnitude:8.4
depth: About 20km
It was a very big roll.
Rumbling of the earth was ahead of the severe earthquake.
It became yucky like seasickness because of a big roll.
The aftershock continues still.
The damage of the tsunami has occurred here and there, too.
The train stops, and Tokyo Metropolitan Expressway has been closed.
The train stops and, therefore, a lot of taxis are not caught by people who cannot come home either.People who try to return to home walking to the inside seem also to have come out.
I have come to be able to see the state of damage here and there in the image though I am looking at news turning on the television.
A big roll seems also to have the thing that the shake rather grows in the skyscraper.
36. Don Hutton, Toronto, Canada, March 11th, 20113:30 am
Many Japanese Science Fiction shows are set in some place inevitably named "Neo-Tokyo" as, historically speaking, Tokyo is destroyed about once every generation. Something like this makes it easy to see why. For example, last time I checked about 20% of Tokyo is below sea-level: separated from the Pacific by a mile or so of intervening higher ground which would easily be breached by something like this. Note also that the Tokyo Fire Department doesn't promise to get to you in under half-an-hour; a consequence of Tokyo's fractal street layout and traffic congestion. Fire drills are therefore taken *very* seriously there.
Whatever happens, the Japanese people will just get right back up and start over again. They're a great people.
Recommend Recommended by 15 Readers .
35.AshleighNew ZealandMarch 11th, 20113:28 am
The people of Japan have been so generous to my people since our earthquake last month, it is devastatingly unfair that they have been dealt the same blow.
Kia kaha (stay strong) Japan, our thought are with you.
Recommend Recommended by 45 Readers .
34.Taro HBC, CanadaMarch 11th, 20113:26 am
At this time(5:25pm JP time), according to BBC and NTimes, currently all the super trains in northern Japan have been disabled, as well as Narita International Airport and Sendai Airport. Sendai Airport, which is only 30+ km away from Sendai, a city of 10,000,000, is actually suffering from the tsunami at the time. The video of tsunami washing away cars and ships that was posted on BBC takes place in Kesennuma, a middle-sized city of fishermen. The video of tsunami sweeping away greenhouses takes place in Sendai city, about 40~50 km away from downtown, Sendai. There has been a serious fire on a gas refinary in Chiba prefecture, the region right beside Tokyo and where Narita AP is in. There are 5 nuclear plants in northern Japan, which are obviously closed; however there has been a case in Niigata pref. where, after a Mag.8 level earthquake, leaking of nuclear material was confirmed.
Recommend Recommended by 15 Readers .
33.Donald Rogerson Bowling Green, OHMarch 11th, 20113:25 am
I am only on 14F of a 17F building in Iidabashi. It is a fairly old building, but it swayed gracefully absorbing the tremors, although long enough to induce a certain queasy feeling - walking along the corridor was a bit like being on a boat. The main problem has been bookcases toppling, spilling their contents, and light fixtures coming adrift from ceilings. The maintainance team is already at work refixing the lights, even as the building continues to sway intermittantly. For most of the Japanese colleagues, this is about as severe and prolonged as they have ever experienced, but there is a calm, good-humour.
Recommend Recommended by 30 Readers .
32.NorgeironHonoluluMarch 11th, 20113:25 am
The Civil Defense sirens just went off here on Oahu. The tsunami waves are expected between two and three o'clock this morning, as we are three thousand miles away from Japan.
31.Julie McNamaraMcLean, VAMarch 11th, 20113:25 am
Video of the tsunami damage in the nearest coastal areas is sobering. This is an example of what to expect during the inevitable Cascadia subduction zone earthquake (offshore Oregon, Washington).
30. 3 DogsHiroshima, JapanMarch 11th, 20113:24 amWhat I don't understand is how the US can call it a 8.9 but here in Japan, where it occurred it still being classified as a 7.9... I think that if it had been 8.9 there would have been a lot more damage and loss of life than we are seeing.
29. eldiePennsylvaniaMarch 11th, 20113:16 am
3:00a.m: Talked to daughter via Skype. Works in Tokyo on the 26th floor of the Atago Hills Mori building. They rode out the Tokyo-epicentered second quake (CNN?) under desks and left the building when the shaking stopped. Her apartment in Higashi Azabu, Minato-ku, is walking distance from her job and she is there now with a friend; no damage to apartment, just books thrown to floor from bookcase. While we were talking, the aftershocks seemed to be coming at 3 minute intervals. I couldn't see the tremors and only knew they were happening because of the narration "another one" and the fact that they both took another sip of white wine. Video Skype is great, but I'm not sure that, to a mother so many miles away, it hasn't become TMI.
28. patsyann0cookeville, TNMarch 11th, 20113:13 am
Frank Lloyd Wright's Imperial Hotel survived the 1923 violent quake. It was dismantled in 1965 and replaced by a highrise Imperial Hotel. I wonder if the newer Imperial survived in tact.
Recommend Recommended by 2 Readers .27.billyHawaiiMarch 11th, 20113:13 amugggg - sirens were just tested here.
26.NY PochoCNYMarch 11th, 20113:13 am
I find it odd that people constantly ascribe supernatural designs to natural phenomena. I still remember when Mount St. Helens blew up -- the windows rattled in our apartment in Green Lakes and my son woke up. We live on an insignificant planet circling a small star in a remote region of our galaxy. Our universe is one of many multiverses --- there are no end times -- it is just the natural movement of the plates. And when you live in and among these fault lines -- well the earth naturally adjusts....it is not magic!
Recommend Recommended by 68 Readers .
25.Teaching in WeihaiCHINAMarch 11th, 20113:11 am
I have been in Tokyo during an earthquake.....the chandeliers in the building were shaking...remarkable how the Japanese can design buildings to withstand them
Recommend Recommended by 19 Readers .
24.Mark SeiboldPortland OregonMarch 11th, 20113:11 am
I hope and pray that the damage reports are not as bad as could be imagined. Japan has made great efforts to restructure for earthquakes better than the Western US. As a local Portland Oregonian my entire life, I just read in the NY Times about a year ago that after Japan, Oregon was the one state in the US that has begun a better restructuring program for earthquakes more than any other American state and we started with all the school houses in the state. Our local PBS radio just broadcasted a warning for a potential Tsunami to arrive resulting from the Japan quake at the Oregon and Washington state coasts by 7:30 AM Friday morning.
Recommend Recommended by 17 Readers .23.whoopsterBern, Swiss-o-landMarch 11th, 20113:10 amDoes anyone else think that it's time to investigate exactly what HAARP is doing?
22.tokyo billtokyoMarch 11th, 20113:10 am
I was swimming my afternoon laps in the pool on the ground floor of the Izumi Garden Tower (same building as the poster above). My fellow swimmers and I were sloshed around like rubber duckies in a bathtub. Have now seen footage of the tsunami coming ashore near Sendai. Incredible. My thoughts are with all affected people. Echoing sentiment: stay safe.
21.josephso-calMarch 11th, 20113:09 am
Thank goodness for Japanese engineering. It sounds like it has literally saved lives today. Best wishes from across the Pacific.
20.ronettehulseBuena Park, CAMarch 11th, 20113:09 am
God Bless Japan.
Just heard the news and Pray for Federal Emergency Medical Assistance/Rescue to the country and the people.
19.BaibaMililani HIMarch 11th, 20113:09 am
Tsunami warning just posted for Hawaii.
18.Mysterious StrangerDenver, COMarch 11th, 20113:09 amWhat a shock even in a seismically active country. I offer prayers for your loss, suffering and safety.
17.Eileen Gaffney GreenAmelia Island, FLMarch 11th, 20113:08 am
We can only hope that the strict building codes the Japanese have had for years will lessen the loss of lives and property. The double whammy of tsunamis must feel frightening and overwhelming.
Japan has sent rescue workers and engineers to Christchurch, NZ, to help with the aftermath of the devastating Christchurch earthquake. Hopefully, there will be a similar response from Japan's neighbors and allies. The Japanese have dealt with high magnitude earthquakes before, and they will prevail. In the meantime, our hearts go out to the Japanese people and to others who are living, studying, working and traveling in Japan.
16.LiangSuzhou, ChinaMarch 11th, 20113:08 am
Wish these poor people to make this through
15.American ex-patJapanMarch 11th, 20113:07 am
Yokohama is still shaking an hour later...
14.Emil BlatzBoca Raton, FLMarch 11th, 20113:07 am
Holy schnikes, this doesn't sound so great.
Recommend Recommended by 2 Readers .13.Nye LavalleOrlandoMarch 11th, 20113:06 amGod bless the Japanese people. This is awful, simply awful! I have never seen anything like this! SIGHHHHHH
12. HIGHLIGHT (what's this?) Shaun Joel Ketch Tokyo, Tokyo March 11th, 20112:55 am
I'm on the 36F of Izumi Garden Tower in Tokyo. Earlier I saw a massive fire from behind Tokyo Tower and the Rainbow Bridge. The way this building swayed was surreal. Internet is up, cell lines are down, land lines working, trains and subways are stopped. My office window overlooks the embassy of Sweeden and Spain, and I see scores of diplomats gathered outside. I can only imagine what if felt like for those closer to the epicenter. Everyone stay safe!
11. shelledAsiaMarch 11th, 20112:55 am
What is happening? We are existing between disasters.
Recommend Recommended by 8 Readers .10.MarkBaltimoreMarch 11th, 20112:55 amHere's hoping the precautions the Japanese people have taken over the years will work out. This is a big one.
Recommend Recommended by 24 Readers .9.lisa kayakssacramentoMarch 11th, 20112:55 amI can't imagine the damage and loss. My heart goes out to the Japanese people.
8. Faraway Joe Tokyo March 11th, 20112:55 am
In 20 years this is the biggest I've felt. Thanks to great Japanese engineering damage is far less than it could have been.
7. Lady Gagas Biggest FanMars March 11th, 20112:55 am
Earthquakes are part of the Japanese life so their buildings are not so vulnerable as those in say Los Angeles.
Recommend Recommended by 10 Readers .6.K. T. SmithMarina, CAMarch 11th, 20112:55 amUnbelievable video. What massive devastation is going on right now. Being from California, it makes me really nervous to see such sights.
6. K. T. SmithMarina, CA March 11th, 20112:55 am
Unbelievable video. What massive devastation is going on right now. Being from California, it makes me really nervous to see such sights.
5. Jen W. Chicago March 11th, 20112:55 am
Wow. My heart goes out to all those who are hurt by this. All I can say is that natural disasters seem to be part of the bigger plan. It's hard to argue with the creator that he is wrong.
I too have suffered and lost loved ones. And the only consolation I have found is that those who we've lost are in a better place and those who are still here and struggling will be stronger for it.
Don't ask why me. Prove that you are learning from the horrible lesson cast upon you.
4. J. DanielBrooklyn, NY March 11th, 20112:55 am
God be with them - I pray for all of the poor who were trapped, may we all see stories of survival flood our news and may they all be safe. For those who have passed, may you be in God's arms and at peace.
3. Hope786, Atlanta March 11th, 20112:55 am
Most o the Japanese buildings are built to resist earth quakes. But 8.9 power can break down any building.
Lets pray there is no human loss. Frequent earth quakes are sign of the end of times.
2. KomaGawa Japan March 11th, 20112:55 am
Yes, quite interesting. Here in Saitama, regarded as one of the most stable areas in the country, I actually got up off the floor and stepped into the doorway to watch my book shelves shaking and unimportant matter sprinkle down. There is the sound of ambulances outside as this town is full of old farmers, the men. As for the women it will take more than a 7.9 earthquake to bring them down. ohhh another aftershock. My greatest concern was loss of internet services.
1. Patrice Ayme High Mountains Somewhere March 11th, 20112:55 am
Japan has up to date earthquake resistant buildings. Unlike, say the USA.
Wait until the totally unprepared West Coast of the USA is struck by its own monster quake... Richter 9 quakes have happened there in the last 3 centuries (Seatle).
Meaning, even the San Francisco mayor said that thousands of so called "soft story" houses, in San Francisco alone (10% of the SF Bay Area) could collapse.
Recent quakes in New Zealand have shown clearly that recent quake codes are insufficient. So what does the government waits for ordering the refurbishing of all the buildings? With thousands of unemployed construction workers, should be easy... Ah, but I forgot the tea party, little ladies having a cup of tea, who think life is a party... And the government the enemy.
http://patriceayme.wordpress.com/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)