Japanese earthquake

[Effingham]

Indeed, thank you for the update.

I've heard back from my friend up in the north, and the family is okay.

We've apparently lost some folks who had homes in or around Fukushima and Soma, though.

My cousin the former JAL exec and I are still hoping to visit Japan next year.

 

[LaMedicine]

Tokyo yesterday (Saturday, April 2nd) afternoon.

Since it seems that there's a great misconception that Tokyo is unlivable due to destruction from the earthquake and tsunami, a few photos I took of the neighborhood I live in, yesterday afternoon.

The cherry blossoms in 1/4 bloom a few minutes from my home, along the Kanda River, a very popular walking course.

Along the pedstrian walk by the Kanda River. Our condo building on the left, the Kanda River on the right.

Looking out on the neighboring houses from the north balcony of our condo.

More photos in the following album.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=298988&id=735249678&l=511b598e64

The situation at Fukushima Daiichi is taking a new turn everyday, a lot which is of big concern, but on the other hand, efforts of bringing the situation under control is progressing, even if it's very very slow, and only a little at a time.
The leak into the sea is of concern, but as far as airborne radioactive material and radioactivity are concerned, other than the 10 mile radius of the power plant --Tokyo is some 140 miles away-- the radioactivity is background level or slightly higher, so for the time being, not high enough to cause any concern about either short term or long term health issues.

 

[Effingham]

Waaaa.... the Kandagawa -- hanami --

Damn, but I miss Tokyo.

Maybe next year...

 

[LaMedicine]

Pretty strong aftershock. Richter scale 7.4, along with tsunami warnings, though the expected height is about 1/10 of the Big One.

 

[rue]

I heard about it on the news. Scary when a 7.4 is considered an aftershock. Be safe LaMedicine.

 

[scotrace]

The Universe can leave Japan alone any time now.

 

[LaMedicine]

Uggg......another strong aftershock with tsunami alert.

 

[TM]

Strong aftershocks are the worst. You can't tell if it's real bad or just a tumbler. Especially with aftershocks of this magnitude. It's very worrisome andit makes it hard to sleep or even concentrate. I can only compare it to the Los Angeles Northridge earthquake, which pales in comparison. My thoughts again go out to all suffering from this.
Tony

 

[DanielJones]

With the magnitude and duration of every after shock it makes me wonder if they are after shocks or the fault zone sort of unzipping or collapsing along the fault. Looking at the maps it looks like the quakes are going down the coast and the other day I heard from one gent over there that said that there was one inland that was a pretty good shaker.

Are there any concerns about Mt. Fuji and any activity there? If I recall correctly the last major quake to strike Japan of this kind of strength made Fuji erupt, and earthquakes and volcanoes so hand in hand when they are so close to each other. Has there been any mention of that in the local news there that CNN hasn't picked up on yet?

Cheers!

Dan

 

[Speedway]

If people could help spread the word that there's still a need for aid in northern Japan we'd appreciate it more than you'll know. The TV networks don't care about the people still living in shelters, the kids without a change of clothing or the elderly living far from government aid. TV networks can't sell advertising unless they can shock viewers, and as bad as it sounds, people living in shelters doesn't really shock television viewers. These people still need a lot of help. Our work is far from done. If you'd like to do something, please visit the Sendai Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Group page here: http://www.facebook.com/SETRG
You can what we're up to here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.1815672946405.2099851.1077534665&l=03a41e2c7c

 

[LaMedicine]

Yes, more than a month now and still around 140,000 people living in shelters spread out all over the Tohoku and other unaffected areas as well, and still many areas that are isolated and lack social infrastructure. Electricity , water, sewage systems. Flu patients are on the rise, as are pnemonia patients. The former due to living in close quarters with each other and lack of hygine due to lack of running water and effective sewage system, and the latter due to the dust caused by the drying mud left by the tsunamis.

People still need food, water, and change of clothing including underwear, as those who survived were those who ran for safe heights with only the clothes on their backs and nothing else. The sea caught up with many of those who wasted precious minutes to collect something just in case. We've come to know an old local saying when a tsunami strikes, "Tsunami tendeko" which means, in case of tsunami, run for your lives and save your own life, never mind anyone else. Pretty tough to think only of yourself, not even of loved ones, but that's the only way for anyone/everyone to survive.

It's going to take a long time before everyone still in shleters be able to find some place to live because of the extensive damage and debris that need to be cleared out first before anything can be rebuilt locally, and the majority do not want to leave their local areas, so, even though many municipalities all over Japan are offering free or low cost housing, few are moving out of their local area.

One fact that is rather outstanding with this earthquake/tsunami is that many city/town workers were lost--some up to 1/3--, including one town that lost its mayor and almost all of the town workers who held adminisrtative positions, as the tsunami hit when the mayor was holding a staff meeting in the parking lot of the town office. Another mayor lost his wife to the tsunami, who hasn't been found/identified yet, because the mayor has put his duty first. A lot of the city/town offices were damaged as well, some even wiped out, by the raging sea. All of this caused at least temporarily, the almost complete wipe out of effective administrative systems that should help in organising disater relief. Japan also has a very thorough resident registration system which should help keep track of who lives where, and how many people are missing, but these records were also damaged or wiped out, which also interfered with effectively organizing the relief structure, sorting out the needs of the various areas and starting reconstructing the most urgently needed infrastructure. This, along with the topography of the region--the irregular coastline that is like the teeth of a saw and the land subsidence that left spots of seawater in many places-- caused especially initially, for many people to be left out of the relief network, especially those isolated in their homes rather than shelters, as well as small shelters in the isolated communities. Many municipalities, including Tokyo, are sending out teams of civil servants long term to assist the local governments until they can function fully on their own.

As well as taking care of the immediate needs for daily living, another task at hand is the need for long term assistance while rebuilding the various social structures, and volunteers and experienced professionals are needed for both tasks.
For instance, there are many areas where medical and elderly care infrastructure were knocked out, so, after the immediate disater relief teams have departed, various medical and related professional associations have stepped in to constantly send teams of drs and nurses, professional elderly care workers to assist the local drs, nurses, hospitals and elderly care institutions while they are rebuilding and reorganising their structure and activities. We--I am medical director of a geriatric care facility in Tokyo-- will be sending out one of our veteran care workers next month, and will be sending more out in turns. In fact, quite a few of our staff have raised their hands to go.

There are a whole lot more I could write about all this, and I haven't written yet the answer to Danel Jone's Q. The short of it is, although there's been passing mention of Mt Fuji and other volcanic activities, there is no real concern around here. The quake/eruptioin that Dan mentions, that was in 1707, and the quake was located south, not north, in relation to Tokyo. Here, the 2011 East Japan Great Earthquake/Tsunami is compared to the Jyogan Earthquake/Tsunami in 869 (listed as 869 Sanriku Earthquake and tsunami in Wikipedia) in area and extent. Mt Fuji erupted during this era, too, but it was in 864, 5 years prior to the earthquake, so it's unlikely that it's related.

Incidentally, for those of you who have no real image of how large/small Japan is, and how much area actually covers the hard hit areas, some info.
Japan is a tad smaller than the state of Montana, a tad larger than Germany. Honshu, the largest island, is approximately 810 miles (1,300km) long, and comprises 60% of the land. Tokyo is located approximately in the middle of Honshu on the Pacific coast side, though not along the coastline, but along the Tokyo bay, which opens to the south into the Pacific.
The earthquake hit along the northern Pacific coast of Honshu, the hypocenter --the plate line the moved-- approx. 300 miles N-S, 125miles E-W (500 km, 200 km respectively) parallel to the coast.

Lastly. If you think of sending clothing for the refugees, please take into consideration that the majority of Japanese are much smaller than Americans and Europeans. The average height for women is 5'2", for men, 5' 7", the majority of women weigh less than 150lbs, the men less than 180lbs. The elderly can be much smaller.