prayers for Japan.

[draggar]

Uh-oh....

[3:00 p.m. ET, 5:00 a.m. Tokyo] Japanese authorities have informed the IAEA’s Incident and Emergency Centre that today’s earthquake and tsunami cut the supply of off-site power to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. In addition, diesel generators intended to provide back-up electricity to the plant’s cooling system were disabled by tsunami flooding, and efforts to restore the diesel generators are continuing.

At Fukushima Daiichi, officials have declared a nuclear emergency situation, and at the nearby Fukushima Daini nuclear power plant, officials have declared a heightened alert condition.

So far been no release of radiation from any of the nuclear power plants affected by today’s earthquake and aftershocks. The IEC continues to liaise with the Japanese authorities, and is in full response mode to monitor the situation closely round the clock.

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/11...hquake/?hpt=T1

[monolayth]

heard from the boy's great grandfather. He is ok.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I was wondering if anyone here was in Japan; I thought there was at least one, so I'm glad you are OK. Saw the yahoo article when I went to check my email this morning. Went to the gym after work and the treadmill I use is right in front of the TV that is tuned to CNN (in Espanol, but the sound is off anyway). They kept showing the video of the water just rolling in and taking out buildings and cars (looked like a farm, with rows of greenhouses or something)...over and over again. I pretty much just walked and stared at the TV.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Yeah, the nuclear plant is potentially a Very Very Very Bad Thing.

Anybody know if I can access streaming video in English anywhere? I'm listening to NHK's news in English right now.

[flybye023]

Just heard from my uncle, my cousin is ok. She's in the Kobe area. Whew!

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Woooooowwwww..

Tsunami damages much of the Crescent City, CA harbor. 4 people were swept into the sea; 1 is feared dead.

And to think that about 6 months ago, I was right there, on the ocean, getting tourism information in a building on the sea.

[Food Lady]

My mom's in CA, but so far inland that she's fine. She's been constantly watching news coverage. She told me the shaking lasted 5 minutes. OK, that doesn't seem long unless you've been in a quake. I've been terrified from less than 30 seconds of shaking, 70 miles from the epicenter.

[El Pollo Guerrera]

I saw that footage on TV last night, with the water just sweeping into that community and just washing it away...

I'm not a real religious man, but my prayers and hopes are out to the family and friends of the lost.

[fma_fanatic]

If anyone has U-Verse, AT&T is showing a free preview of TV Japan until March 17th. The message popped up while I was watching Cartoon Network:

Today we made TV Japan, the 24-hour Japanese news channel, available for free to all U-verse TV customers so you can keep up with the latest news and recovery efforts from Japan. TV Japan is available to all U-verse TV customers for free through March 17 on channel 3680.

Also, to help the Red Cross with support efforts in Japan, text "redcross" to 90999 to give a $10 donation. No text message fees apply.

If you get the "you don't subscribe to this channel" message, just restart the U-Verse box (not the gateway, the box that allows you to watch tv).

[draggar]

(CNN) -- The powerful earthquake that unleashed a devastating tsunami Friday appears to have moved the main island of Japan by 8 feet (2.4 meters) and shifted the Earth on its axis.

"At this point, we know that one GPS station moved (8 feet), and we have seen a map from GSI (Geospatial Information Authority) in Japan showing the pattern of shift over a large area is consistent with about that much shift of the land mass," said Kenneth Hudnut, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

Reports from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Italy estimated the 8.9-magnitude quake shifted the planet on its axis by nearly 4 inches (10 centimeters).

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapc...ex.html?hpt=T1

Quite humbling for the human race...

Edit: Large explosions reported at a nuclear power plant.

9500 missing in one town.

[Fire_on_High]

Yeah, the nuclear plant is potentially a Very Very Very Bad Thing.

Most recent news I've seen looks fairly positive. It's messy, the reactor's gonna be a total writeoff, but the reactor itself isn't breached and they've got a solid plan to keep it cooled now. If nothing more goes wrong the worst is over, and a lot of the scary looking numbers being bandied around are being selectively chosen for exactly that...looking scary. The absolute numbers don't make for near as impressive of a story.

[Chromatix]

The news on the explosion seems to be that some hydrogen-oxygen mixture lit off, and collapsed the outer building around the reactor. The containment vessel appears to be intact. They also report that the radiation levels, while still much higher than normal, are decreasing and that the pressure in the reactor chamber is under control. The reactor itself was shut down very early on, but is still hot due to the cooling system failure.

Apparently they are performing a controlled release of internal gases (mostly steam) in order to relieve the reactor pressure. These gases are mildly radioactive because they have been in contact with the reactor, but since the area has already been evacuated, they prefer this than risking a major containment breach.

Personally, I'm encouraged by the forthrightness of the reporting here, even though some elements of the media are predictably being alarmist about it. The very worst thing would have been a coverup.

[fireheart]

I checked in on a couple of my exchange student friends. Both are OK thankfully

Unfortunately it looks like Papua New Guinea were the ones who bore the brunt of the tsunami heading my way, as we had a tsunami warning ourselves.

[Plaidman]

Zero word from my mom's ex coworker who moved to Japan. (Not sure where). Both of us are worried.

[Misty]

FYI:

http://www.savethechildren.org/site/...e=wellpaqke311