Pacific Tsunami.

[sgtbeefheart]

Best wishes go out to those affected by the Pacific Tsunami,
and good luck to those about to be hit by it.

Coincidentally, I was talking to a friend yesterday about the Pacific Trash Vortex,
which may be about to be dumped on the West coast of the Americas.

 

[Voxman]

Then we'll get a second chance at proper recycling ... seems all those trillions of plastic bottles are the same raw material used in clothing! It was an interesting show on the the science channel :)

 

[oldrockfan]

looks like that caused massive damage in japan. Condolences go out to all impacted. Reports said nuc plant was not able to keep cool. Hope it doesn't turn into another meltdown scenario.

 

[Voxman]

Japanese nuclear officials say radiation levels inside a nuclear power plant have surged to 1,000 times their normal levels after the cooling system failed.

The nuclear safety agency said early Saturday that some radiation has also seeped outside the plant, prompting calls for further evacuations of the area. Some 3,000 people have already been urged to leave their homes.

The cooling system for a reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant failed on Friday after a massive earthquake caused a power outage. :-\ ???

 

[sgtbeefheart]

I believe that the levels are now 8000+ times normal.

Has anyone heard from Yori?

I hope he and his family are OK.

 

[Yori Halford]

Dear guys,

We are safe, thank you. John (guitarweasel) kindly gave an e-mail asking if we were OK. We live in Kyoto, far away from the suffered areas. There is no serious damage here. However, those areas are now still in danger due to repeating aftershocks. There was an explosion at the nuclear power plant but it was not the containment vessel. I don't know exactly how much radiation leaked and the government issued an evacuation advisory to the people living around the power plant.

Actually there is so much information that we can't get the clear picture of the situation. There is no predicting what will happen.

Thank you very much, you guys are so nice to care about us...

Yori

 

[Westy Q]

Glad your safe Yori-san, I work for a Japanese company and yesterday morning sent a message to all of our Expat employees offering the assistance of my division as a number one priority. There was much angst among them and understandably so. So far from home as the are.

If you have any news, please let me know.

 

[oldrockfan]

the nuke plant situation doesn't sound too good. Reports of the explosion and doubling the evac zone to 12 miles but then said the rad levels went down. Something about that doesn't sound right to me. Might be case of them trying not to panic the population. I hope it doesn't get worse. I read there were 17 nuke plants in Japan and more than one of them experienced some damage. Hopefully others are not as bad so no rad leaks.

The photos of the areas look really bad. Terrible for anyone to have to go thru such a disaster. I hope basic needs are being met for the people in the damaged areas. Good to hear you missed the damage Yori. Do keep us updated on how things are going over there. Times like this are when people tend to really pull together and work as a team to recover so hopefully it will be the case this time.

 

[iblive]

[quote author=Yori Halford link=topic=21470.msg257757#msg257757 date=1299932173]
We are safe, thank you.

Thank you very much, you guys are so nice to care about us...

Yori
[/quote]

Glad you're okay Yori.

 

[Dorian]

 

[guitarweasel]

As of today things are getting pretty nasty over there. Yori, if you're around, give us an update.

 

[Yori Halford]

guys,

First of all, I thank you very much for many countries' rescue teams coming here to help us. And my family and I are quite safe and living as usual.

Well, it's a nightmare. Things are going pretty bad. At the nuke power plant, a certain amount of radiation is leaking... Over 10 thousand people are still missing... Some towns were completely devastated by tsunami... Main roads were destroyed so it is hard to transport foods and supplies... Rolling blackouts... Total confusion. Other part of Japan (especially west/south part of Japan) is normally functioning at the moment. But many people are in fear because there's no telling what will happen. Well...I don't know what else to say, my English is far poor to explain the situation exactly.

I read some news articles in the yahoo USA and they are exactly the same as the information we got from the news in Japan. So for more detail, I think those news articles are the most informative.

Anyways, we must hang on and overcome difficulties.

Last but not least, again, thank you very much for your country's support to us.

Yori

P.S. I'm sorry my English is not good so I'm not quite sure if I could explain appropriately...

 

[guitarweasel]

Thanks for the update Yori. I know a lot of us here have been following the news of the situation over there. Just know that our thoughts and prayers are with everybody in your country. I hope for the best for all of you. :)

Keep us posted when you can and be safe.

 

[oldrockfan]

+1 what weas said. I'll add that Yori, I think your english is very good and impressive that you write in english very well.

My main fear is those nuclear reactors... I am afraid the gov is not telling us the full story about how bad they are. If you have one or more reactors fully meltdown, the long term radiation could be dangerous not just for those around the reactor but anywhere the winds carried the radiation. I saw on the news that the prevailing winds shifted towards tokyo.

Be safe and I'd recommend you get yourself some good quality dust masks and potasium iodide pills on hand just in case things get really bad.

 

[Zeppelin Rules]

Good to know you're okay Yori. This really is tragedy on a massive scale.

 

[Spunky]

The power plant workers are really heroes to stay in those places considering the risks.
Unfortunately even with their expert help and sacrifice, the situation is getting worse by the hour.
It is a sad thing to watch my Japanese Brothers suffer so. I work for a Japanese company and we are very concerned about the health and the suffering of the victims of the tsunami in addition to the quake. Now we may have an even worse event that will affect the entire nation of Japan and the West Coast of the USA.
I pray for us all now.

 

[Ne_buddy]

We're keeping you and all the good people of Japan in our thoughts and prayers, Yori.

 

[oldrockfan]

don't know how many are still following the Japan situation but the nuke plant isn't looking good at all. Reported smoke coming out of it and had to evacuate the workers that had remained to try to get cooling back to the damaged reactors. I hate to say it but it now looks like a total meltdown is in the works. The recovery from this series of events is going to take a long time. If anyone can bounce back, the people of Japan can do it but right now things look pretty dark for the country. Latest reports are over 250billion in damage and death toll is climbing daily now. Very, very sad news.

 

[sgtbeefheart]

The authorities are saying there is no "immediate" health risk.

Deaths from cancer won't appear for decades.

 

[oldrockfan]

Yep, no doubt the full impact of this will take decades to become evident. If I lived over there, I think I would seriously consider moving somewhere else rather than take the chance.