8.9 Earthquake hits Japan

[Tsk Tsk]

This is the 5th strongest earthquake to happen since 1900.. The videos are insane, my heart goes out to those in Japan.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/11/japan.quake/index.html?hpt=T1&iref=BN1

http://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h337/gsinurtia/tsunami.jpg

http://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h337/gsinurtia/houseinflames.jpg

http://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h337/gsinurtia/whirlpool.jpg

http://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h337/gsinurtia/debris.jpg

[Fatsix]

and on top of it, a tsunami.

http://www.cnn.com/video/world/2011/03/11/vo.quake.cars.water.mov.avn.640x480.jpg

[Tsk Tsk]

I'll be adding pictures of the damage as I find them.

[Wyrmx]

Wow, that was one massive earth quake. The devastation between the earthquake itself and ensuing tsunami waves is incredible, i can't imagine what those people must be going through right now.

[Fatsix]

Should be hitting California soon, albeit small...

[Malvadere]

Damn you Supermoon!!!

[NocturnalRob]

Damn you Supermoon!!!
i laughed.

EXTREME SUPERMOON!!!

[LMingrone]

http://i.imgur.com/XefZU.png

[Stry]

CNN has some incredible videos of this. I was watching most of it live last night.

http://cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2011/03/11/nhk.rikuzentataka.tsunami.nhk

Freaking rediculous.


Check out this whirlpool.

http://cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2011/03/11/vo.whirlpool.earthquake.nhk

[diethx]

i laughed.

x2 :/

lol

[Cephalopod]

http://i.imgur.com/jV5NF.gif

[diethx]

Oh my god Nachos rofl

[NocturnalRob]

holy. fucking. shit.

Nachos, I just passed that to roughly everyone I know.

[DCSL]

http://i.imgur.com/jV5NF.gif

I'm kind of worried about a friend near Osaka but I still laughed. Am I a horrible person?

[NocturnalRob]

Am I a horrible person?
Yes, but for totally separate reasons.

[DCSL]

Yes, but for totally separate reasons.

I'll take your word for it, as an authority on the subject.

[NocturnalRob]

I'll take your word for it, as an authority on the subject.
Of what? Identifying horrible people?

You need to work on wording your insults. I'm an authority on that too.

[DCSL]

Of what? Identifying horrible people?

You need to work on wording your insults. I'm an authority on that too.

I had no idea you knew me so well, Rob.

[NocturnalRob]

I had no idea you knew me so well, Rob.
Well enough to know that you like crimping your hair and that you think kamikazes are acceptable drinks. I think the sheer esoteric nature of that knowledge base says volumes.

[DCSL]

Well enough to know that you like crimping your hair and that you think kamikazes are acceptable drinks. I think the sheer esoteric nature of that knowledge base says volumes.

Hn. Okay.

[NocturnalRob]

Hn. Okay.
http://mystuffspace.com/graphic/yippee-its-friday.jpg

[RichardCranium]

Excuse me while I HHHNNNNGGGGG.

[Kid Danger]

Just wanted to apologize for starting another thread on this subject. My bad, I apologize, that is all.

[RichardCranium]

Just wanted to apologize for starting another thread on this subject. My bad, I apologize, that is all.

Don't. Next time tell Rob to choke on a porno cahk.

[diethx]

Don't. Next time tell Rob to choke on a porno cahk.

Words of wisdom right here. And it applies to EVERYTHING.

[Kid Danger]

The article didn't deserve it's own thread if there was already one on the same subject. Here is the pic and the article link which really belongs here:
http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/wiredscience/2011/03/japan-earthquake-tsunami-map-planet.jpg

Even if its magnitude is downgraded in the coming days, as sometimes happens as more data are analyzed, the quake will remain a benchmark in a country that has seen many major quakes. It ranks fifth on the list of biggest quakes this past century. The Indonesian earthquake that spawned 2004’s devastating Indian Ocean tsunami was a magnitude 9.1.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/03/biggest-japanese-earthquake/



Don't. Next time tell Rob to choke on a porno cahk.

I thought the "Fuck you" was a bit much but then I realized he's in New York, NY where "fuck you" means "I love you man but I don't agree with you!" ;)

[NocturnalRob]

Don't. Next time tell Rob to choke on a porno cahk.
Pfft...not with my gag reflex. Wait, what?

I thought the "Fuck you" was a bit much but then I realized he's in New York, NY where "fuck you" means "I love you man but I don't agree with you!" ;)
Precisely.

[waywardgs]

Fuck you still means fuck you here, it's just that there are a lot more fuck you's to distribute.

[NocturnalRob]

Fuck you still means fuck you here, it's just that there are a lot more fuck you's to distribute.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTOKJTRHMdw

[LMingrone]

http://img851.imageshack.us/img851/8049/ifail.jpg

First of all, sign your rep. Second of all, my wife might be in Japan right now. I haven't talked to her in weeks, and have no clue where she is. A dumb joke helped me a little bit. This whole situation isn't funny to me. Humor, sometimes, helps make you feel a little better.

http://i.imgur.com/Unyfz.jpg

[HJFudge]

I've a friend that just got to Japan a week ago. I think he's in Kyoto? Anyway, I havent been able to get in touch with him. Bit worrisome.

[LMingrone]

I've a friend that just got to Japan a week ago. I think he's in Kyoto? Anyway, I havent been able to get in touch with him. Bit worrisome.

Hope he's safe. Don't try to use the phone systems. They're overloaded, and probably much better to keep as open as possible for the local people to have open lines. There are a bunch of social media sites that are working pretty well. Their internet is still holding up. Hope your friend is okay.

[Nilandia]

There's been an explosion at a nuclear power plant.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/12/japan.nuclear/index.html?hpt=T1

Let's hope it doesn't allow more radiation to escape than already has.

Gretchen

[LMingrone]

Caesium-137 is a bitch. Everything below is copypasta. Read it if you'd like. Might get scary.

Wiki:

Caesium-137 (
137
55
Cs, Cs-137) is a radioactive (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactivity) isotope (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotope) of caesium (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesium) which is formed mainly as a fission product (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fission_product) by nuclear fission (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fission). It has a half-life (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-life) of about 30.1 years, and decays (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_decay) by beta emission (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_emission) to a metastable (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metastable) nuclear isomer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_isomer) of barium-137 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barium-137): barium-137m (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barium-137m) (137mBa, Ba-137m). (About 95 percent of the nuclear decay (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_decay) leads to this isomer. The other 5.0 percent directly populates the ground state, which is stable.) Ba-137m has a half-life of about 2.55 minutes, and it is responsible for all of the emissions of gamma rays (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma_ray). One gram of caesium-137 has an activity (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activity_%28radioactivity%29) of 3.215 terabecquerel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Becquerel) (TBq)[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesium-137#cite_note-1).
The photon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photon) energy of Ba-137m is 662 keV. These photons can be useful in food irradiation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_irradiation) and in the radiotherapy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiotherapy) of cancer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancer). Caesium-137 is not widely-used for industrial radiography (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiography) because it is quite chemically reactive, and hence, difficult to handle. Also the salts of caesium are very soluble in water, and this complicates the safe handling of caesium. Cobalt-60 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobalt-60),
60
27
Co, is preferred for radiography, since it is chemically a rather nonreactive metal offering higher energy gamma-ray photons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photon). Caesium-137 can be found in some moisture and density gauges, flow meters, and related sensors.

Small amounts of cesium-134 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesium-134) and caesium-137 were released into the environment during nearly all nuclear weapon tests (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapon_test) and some nuclear accidents (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_accident), most notably the Chernobyl disaster (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster). As of 2005, caesium-137 is the principal source of radiation in the zone of alienation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_of_alienation) around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_nuclear_power_plant). Together with cesium-134 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesium-134), iodine-131 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iodine-131), and strontium-90 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strontium-90), caesium-137 was among the isotopes with greatest health impact distributed by the reactor explosion.


137

[Rolis]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/12/AR2011031201452.html


"TOKYO - With much of its northeastern coastline already under water and reduced to matchstick wreckage, Japan faced another emerging crisis on Saturday after an explosion at a nuclear reactor in Fukushima Prefecture prompted evacuations within a 12-mile radius. "

... Goes on to says..

"According to initial reports from Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, there seemed to be no further major damage to the nuclear reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi plant despite the explosion.

The nuclear container at station's Unit 1 did not rupture and did not cause any leakage of radioactive materials, according to a government spokesman. The plant, operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co., is 150 miles north of Tokyo."


There was some kind of explosion at the plant but goes on to say that the "nuclear container" which I can only assume they mean the reactor vessel did not rupture.

I am currently working as a controls system engineer for a local power company's nuclear division where I work with a boiling water reactor (4th generation). Even if there was an explosion in the vessel, this would be a steam explosion due to the inability to properly release the pressure due to the boiling process because the fuel for these reactions are not weapon grade.

The primary containment systems that these reaction vessels have around them is designed to contain all of the radioactive by productions of the fission if there is an accident.

[Warriorbird]

I think the only possible upshot here is if it heralds the rebirth of Godzilla for the Japanese people.

I'm also really glad that America didn't scrap the aircraft carrier as a concept and we're sending help fast.

[Drakefang]

I hadn't seen what our national response was, yet. Beyond the wow, damn, we're sorries. What assets are we sending to assist?

[Warriorbird]

I hadn't seen what our national response was, yet. Beyond the wow, damn, we're sorries. What assets are we sending to assist?

They sent 1 rather local aircraft carrier. Apart from that I don't know of much. It was one of the first bits of foreign aid that arrived.

EDIT:

They're also apparently sending another and the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit. American servicemen there have already been mobilized.

Also a third carrier going to be arriving.

[Rinualdo]

They sent 1 rather local aircraft carrier.

The GW was already in Japan.
I'm supposed to be heading out to do some work on that carrier in like 3 weeks. i highly doubt that is still on schedule.

Big frownies for the whole country.

[Stanley Burrell]

Man. Even if you build earthquake-safe infrastructure, you still get fucked over if it affects the ocean. Hopefully the coastal areas had quake proofing. Not sure if giant-frickin'-tsunami architecture is inherent to the pagodas on stilts around the waters, yo.

Edit: And I hope their nuclear plants don't asplode, because they've already gotten enough gamma rays...

[mgoddess]

The Daichi 1 reactor is still in tact, even if the material inside is melted some. The explosion was a small hydrogen+oxygen explosion with very, very little (if any) radiation, letting off pressure, and collapsed a wall of the outside concrete building. Those reactors have two layers of "shielding", the steel around the reactor vessel itself, and the larger, concrete building around the steel, which was built for seismic & tsunami protection.

The "melt-down" of the fuel inside the reactor is perfectly okay, so long as it doesn't leak (which it won't, so long as the steel shielding around it stays in tact). It just means the fuel & reactor won't be usable anymore.

Some links a friend of mine on Facebook who is following the situation posted:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/11/us-japan-quake-nuclear-us-idUSTRE72A8DD20110311

http://e.nikkei.com/e/fr/tnks/Nni20110312D12JF516.htm

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/12/japan-quake-pressure-idUSTKG00707620110312

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-03-12/japan-reactor-may-have-started-to-melt-down-agency-says.html

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/12_56.html


And, a much better and simpler explanation:
http://bravenewclimate.com/2011/03/13/fukushima-simple-explanation/

[Clove]

Well the containment vessel of one reactor is compromised. And you thought Mothra was bad.

[longshot]

Yes, I'm okay.

[Asha]

Good luck with everything.