Strongest Ever Japan Earthquake
and Tsunami News updates for
March 19-25, 2011
This page is a continuation of my main Strongest
Ever Japan
Earthquake and Tsunami
page, reflecting Mar. 19-25, 2011 news updates for the 2nd week after
the initial quake. Thanks so much for your concern, and please continue
to remember in your thoughts and prayers those 10's of thousands of
people who, even 1 year after the disaster, are still suffering right
now, many of whom still haven't heard from their over 3000 missing
family members.
News Updates for
2nd Week after Japan Earthquake and Tsunami -- Mar. 19-25, 2011
(JST=UT+9 hrs., or CDT+14 hrs., e.g. 8 am in Houston = 10 pm in Tokyo):
Mar. 25, 2011
23:55 (JST): Is Japan's Bureaucracy Strangling Humanitarian
Aid? -
After some wrangling, volunteer foreign doctors were told that because
they didn't have Japanese medical licenses, they could conduct only the
"minimum necessary medical procedures" in the disaster zone.
Some medicine donations from overseas haven't reached the many elderly
suffering in the earthquake's aftermath because Japanese regulatory
agencies have not yet given the drugs approval. Local logistics
companies have complained -- off the record, for fear of angering the
bureaucrats whom they depend on for future licensing -- of days-long
waits for permission from the central government to deliver donated
goods. Only when their trucks get the magic pass can they start moving
toward Tohoku. Until then, the boxes of relief goods, some of which
were donated just hours after the earthquake and tsunami hit, sit in
Tokyo warehouses. (Source: Time.com)
Mar. 25, 2011
17:50 (JST): Panasonic to airfreight batteries to Japan from
overseas plants
-
Panasonic Corp. plans to import by air dry-cell batteries, one of the
items that consumers rushed to buy and quickly emptied store shelves in
Japan following the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami earlier this
month, company officials said Friday.
Manufacturers ship home-use batteries by sea and rarely by air because
of their heavy weight, but even doing this produces thin profit
margins. Panasonic will shoulder additional costs for airfreight and
will not pass them on to retailers, they said. (Source: Kyodo News)
Mar.
25, 2011
9:40 (JST): Pray for Japan - My Tokyo
singer-songwriter friend Greg Irwin recorded the song "The Prayer" with
his sister, Sharon Hahn, when he was home in Wisconsin last Xmas. Last
night his friend Ken made this video using the song as a tribute to the
brave people who suffered through the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami two
weeks ago today. Pray for Japan. God Bless.
Click HERE
to see the lyrics to this
beautiful song, "The Prayer."
I pray you'll be
our eyes, and watch us where we go
And help us to be
wise in times when we don't know
Let this be our prayer, when we lose
our way
Lead us to a place, guide us with your grace
To a place where
we'll be safe
I pray we'll find your light (I pray we'll find your
light)
and hold it in our hearts (and hold it in our hearts)
When stars go out each night (when stars go out each night)
Remind us where you are (remind us where you are)
Let this be our prayer (let this be our prayer)
when shadows fill our days (when shadows fill our days)
Lead us to a place, guide us with your grace
To a place where we'll be
safe
A world where pain and sorrow will be ended
And every heart that's
broken will be mended
And we'll remember we are all God's children
Reaching out to touch you, reaching to the sky
We ask that life be kind
(we ask that life be kind)
And watch us from above (and watch us from
above)
We hope each soul will find (we hope each soul will find)
Another soul to love (another soul to love)
Let this be our prayer
Just
like every child (just like every child)
Needs to find a place
Guide us
with your grace
Give us faith so we'll be safe
Lead us to a place,
guide us with your grace
Give us faith so we'll be safe
Mar. 25, 2011
8:45 (JST): Excessive radioactivity found in Tokyo spinach -
Japan's health ministry says radiation above the legal limit has been
detected in a vegetable grown in Tokyo. This is the first time that
radioactive cesium exceeding the legal limit has been found in a Tokyo
vegetable.
The ministry says the radioactive cesium was detected on Thursday in a
leafy vegetable taken from a field in Edogawa ward on Wednesday. The
vegetable is called Komatsuna, or Japanese mustard spinach. The
radioactive level was 890 becquerels per kilogram, exceeding the legal
limit of 500. (Source: nhk.or.jp)
Excessive radioactivity found in Tokyo spinach
Mar. 25, 2011
0:30 (JST): 56 patients die in disaster-hit areas -
NHK has found that inadequate medical care following the March 11th
earthquake has left at least 56 hospital patients dead.
NHK surveyed 255 hospitals with 100 beds or more in Iwate, Miyagi and
Fukushima prefectures hit hardest by the massive quake and tsunami.
A major hospital in Tagajo City in Miyagi says 13 patients in their 80s
died after the tsunami flooded its generator system, shorting out
heating and medical equipment. (Source: nhk.or.jp)
Mar. 24, 2011
22:10 (JST): Foreign airlines to resume flights to and from
Narita airport -
German airline Lufthansa said Thursday it will resume regular flights
to and from Narita International Airport near Tokyo from Friday
following suspension due to anxieties about Japan's worst nuclear
accident in northeastern Japan.
Italy's Alitalia and Australia's Jetstar also plan to resume flights to
and from Narita airport from Friday and Monday, respectively, the
Japanese transport ministry said. (Source: Kyodo News)
Mar. 24, 2011
17:00 (JST): Civil engineers must work for quake-hit regions
- Civil engineering experts in Japan say they should not waste time
defending past studies by calling the latest earthquake beyond any
expectations, and instead focus on working together to rebuild a strong
nation.
The Japan Society of Civil Engineers, the Japanese Geotechnical
Society, and the City Planning Institute of Japan released a joint
statement in Tokyo on Wednesday. (Source: nhk.or.jp)
Mar. 24,
2011 12:00 noon (JST): 726 aftershocks since the initial M
9.0 Japan
earthquake of Fri. Mar. 11, 2011 - The Mar. 11, 2011
Magnitude 9.0 Japan earthquake and tsunami has been officially named
the "Tohoku Chiho Taiheiyo-oki Jishin," translated literally as "Tohoku Region Pacific Ocean Offshore
Earthquake." It has been ranked by the U.S. Geological
Survey's National Earthquake Information Center as the 4th strongest earthquake on record,
following the M 9.5 May 22, 1960 quake in Chile, the M 9.2 Mar. 28,
1964 quake in Prince William Sound, Alaska, and the M 9.1 Dec. 26, 2004
quake in the Sumatra-Andaman Islands. As shown below, as of 2:39 am
JST, Mar. 24, 2011, there have been 726 aftershocks since the intial M
9.0 temblor of Fri. Mar. 11, 2011 @ 2:46 pm. Click map to see the most
current interactive Google aftershock map.
(UPDATE: 851 earthquakes, as of 11:42 pm JST, Mar. 31, 2011)
Mar. 24, 2011
10:40 (JST), Kyodo (WSJ): Japan nuclear crisis threatens
reactor plan in Texas - NRG Energy Inc. may delay or even
cancel its plan to build two reactors at the South Texas nuclear plant
in cooperation with Toshiba Corp. and Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO)
due to Japan's nuclear crisis.
Such a setback would represent the most tangible repercussion so far
for the U.S. nuclear industry from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi
nuclear plant in quake-hit Japan....
Under the project, NRG formed a joint venture with Toshiba, the
supplier of the advanced boiling-water reactors chosen for the South
Texas plant, and later agreed to bring in a third partner, Tokyo
Electric, which pledged to invest $125 million, according to the paper.(Source: Kyodo
News)
Mar. 24, 2011
9:31 (JST): Steam rising from 4 reactors at Fukushima plant
- An NHK helicopter crew has confirmed what appears to be steam rising
from No. 1, 2, 3 and 4 reactor buildings at the troubled Fukushima
Daiichi nuclear power plant.
This is the first time that steam has been seen coming out of the No. 1
reactor.
The helicopter crew was filming from a location more than 30 kilometers
from the plant shortly before 7:00 AM on Thursday.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company says that black smoke seen rising from
the No.3 reactor building on Wednesday was no longer visible as of 6:00
AM Thursday. (Source: nhk.or.jp)
Mar. 23, 2011
22:25 (JST): High levels of iodine in Tokyo tap water
- Radioactive iodine has been detected in Tokyo tap water in levels
above the safe limit for infants.
The Tokyo Metropolitan government says 210 becquerels of iodine-131
were detected on Tuesday in one liter of water at one of its
purification plants in northern Tokyo.
A sampling on Wednesday also showed roughly 190 becquerels per liter.
These levels are below the 300-becquerel per liter safe limit for
adults, but far above the 100-becquerel limit for infants. (Source:
nhk.or.jp)
Mar. 23, 2011
14:00 (JST): Japanese Govt. Extended Reactor's Life, Despite
Warning - TOKYO (N.Y. Times) - Just a month before a
powerful earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima Daiichi plant at
the center of Japan's nuclear crisis, government regulators approved a
10-year extension for the oldest of the six reactors at the power
station despite warnings about its safety..... Several weeks after the
extension was granted, the company admitted that it had failed to
inspect 33 pieces of equipment related to the cooling systems,
including water pumps and diesel generators at the power station's six
reactors, according to findings published on the agency's Web site
shortly before the earthquake. More...
Mar. 23, 2011
10:25 (JST): Radioactive Milk Only A Danger After 58,000
Glasses - Well, it takes 20 million becquerels to yield a
Sievert's worth of exposure; remember, that's what it takes to increase
a lifetime cancer risk by 4 percent. That translates to 820 pounds of
spinach – more than two pounds a day for a year. Well, nobody eats
spinach every day. But many people drink milk every day. To reach the
radiation dose limit for a power plant worker, you'd need to drink
2,922 eight-ounce glasses of milk. To raise your lifetime cancer risk
by 4 percent, you'd have to drain more than 58,000 glasses of milk.
That would take you 160 years, if you drank one 8-ounce glass a day. More...
Mar. 23, 2011
9:40 (JST): Lights restored at Japan nuclear reactor -
Lighting has been restored in the control room of one of the most
badly-damaged reactors at Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear plant,
officials say.
It is hoped the development will speed up work to restore cooling
systems vital for stabilising the reactor.
Meanwhile, the UN's nuclear watchdog says radiation is still leaking
from the quake-hit plant, but scientists are unsure exactly where it is
coming from.
The lights came back on in the control centre of reactor 3, hours after
power cables were connected to all six reactors for the first time. More...
Rolling blackouts planned from
9:20 to 22:00
Mar. 22, 2011
Mar. 22's Maximum Capacity: 3,700 10 thousand kW (37 gigawatts)
(Click TEPCO link above to see most current graph, updated hourly)
Mar.
22, 2011
13:30 (JST): Missing Virginia English teacher's body located
in Japan - RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - The body of a 24-year-old
English teacher from Virginia has been discovered in the wreckage of
the Japan tsunami, who had been teaching with the Japan Exchange and
Teaching (JET) Program.
Taylor Anderson could be the first known American victim in the Japan
disaster as authorities continue the daunting task of finding and
identifying almost 13,000 people believed to be missing.
Anderson's family said in a statement that the U.S. Embassy in Japan
called them Monday to tell them she was found in Ishinomaki, a city
about 240 miles (390 kilometers) north of Tokyo. (More, including video) (original Mar. 21 post
about Taylor is below)
Mar. 22, 2011
11:00 (JST): U.S., British teachers help evacuees in
tsunami-hit Iwate shelter - (TANOHATA, Japan, March 21,
Kyodo) Three teachers of English from the United States and Britain
have earned the thanks of evacuees at a shelter in tsunami-ravaged
Iwate Prefecture in northeastern Japan after deciding to stay in the
area to offer their help.
The three men's relatives in their own countries suggested they leave
Japan home but they chose to work at a shelter in the village of
Tanohata, helping to move things and cook meals for several hundred
evacuees, because they like the community. (Source: Kyodo News)
Mar. 22, 2011 9:08
(JST): No immediate health risk in contaminated food -
Short-term exposure to food contaminated by radiation from Japan's
damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant poses no immediate health risk,
a spokesman for the World Health Organization said Monday.
The United Nations organization initially said the food safety
situation was "more serious" than originally thought. But spokesman
Peter Cordingley said Monday that the assessment was based not on the
levels of contamination but on the fact that radioactivity was found in
food beyond the 30-kilometer (18.6-mile) evacuation zone.
"It's new and something we're watching," Cordingley said. (Source:
stripes.com)
Mar. 21, 2011
17:25 (JST): Tough Week in Japan: Earthquake Timelapse March
11-17, 2011 - Map timelapse looks at the hundreds of
earthquakes that hit Japan after the big Magnitude 9.0 quake on March
11, 2011. Rather than looking simply at the epicenter and magnitude,
this graphic was created using data from thousands of accelerometers
around the country, to accurately represent the level of movement
someone standing on the ground in each location would actually feel.
One second of video represents 1 hour of real time: each day takes 24
seconds of video. Created at 1080x720, so it's best to view fullscreen
at 720p.
Mar. 21, 2011
14:10 (JST): American English teacher still missing after
Japan earthquake and tsunami - Japan's Foreign Ministry
has received urgent inquiries about roughly 500 foreign nationals who
remain unaccounted for. Their families are reaching out for help and
information. NHK World's Paige Ferrari has the details.
In Richmond, Virginia, Jean and Andy Anderson are searching for any
clues to their daughter Taylor's whereabouts.
For the past 2 and a half years, Taylor worked as an English teacher as
part of the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program at
elementary and junior high schools in Ishinomaki City, Miyagi
prefecture, a hard-hit part of the region. (Source: nhk.or.jp)
Taylor Anderson
(image credit: NHK World)
Mar.
21, 2011
11:30 (JST): Nearly 8,000 military family members signed up
to evacuate Japan - YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan - There were
no flights scheduled to carry U.S. military family members out of Japan
on Sunday, although thousands were still hoping to flee the country's
ongoing nuclear crisis.
According to estimates provided by the military and compiled by Stars
and Stripes, more than 7,900 residents at bases in central and northern
Japan want to flee on flights sponsored by the U.S. military. (Source:
stripes.com)
Mar. 21, 2011
9:50 (JST): IAEA Update on Japan Earthquake - Summary of
conditions at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant
-
On 19 March, the Unit 1 containment vessel
pressure indication was restored.
As of 19 March, 11:30 UTC, officials could no
longer confirm seeing white smoke coming from the Unit 2 building.
Smoke had been observed emerging from the reactor earlier.
On 20 March, workers began pumping 40 tonnes of seawater into the Unit
2 spent fuel pool. Off-site electrical power has been connected to an
auxiliary transformer and distribution panels at Unit 2. Work continues
toward energizing specific equipment within Unit 2.
White smoke has been seen emerging from the
Unit 3 reactor, but on 19 March it appeared to be less intense than in
previous days.
Japanese Self Defence Forces began spraying
water into the Unit 4 building on 20 March.
Both Units 5 & 6 reactors achieved cold
shutdown on 20 March. The reactors are now in a safe mode, with cooling
systems stable and under control, and with low temperature and pressure
within the reactor. As of 20 March, temperatures in both Units 5
& 6 spent fuel pools had decreased significantly.
According to the Nuclear Safety Division,
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT)
analysis for Iodine-131 and Cesium-137 in tap water from 46 locations
yielded the majority of samples as non-detects. Only six out of 46
exhibited any iodine-131, though the concentration was reported to be
below levels allowed by the Japanese food hygiene law for emergency
monitoring criteria for drinking water. More...
Mar. 21, 2011
8:30 (JST): Number of dead, missing from Japan earthquake and
tsunami tops 21,000 - Japanese police say the number of
dead and missing from the massive quake and tsunami on March 11th has
exceeded 21,000.
The National Police Agency says that as of Sunday night, more than
8,400 people had been confirmed dead and nearly 13,000 were reported
missing.
In Miyagi Prefecture, 5,053 deaths have been confirmed, and 3,413
people are missing. Many coastal areas in the prefecture were
devastated by the quake and tsunami. Local police say hundreds of
bodies have been found on the beaches of Oshika Peninsula. (Source:
nhk.or.jp)
Mar. 20, 2011
19:05 (JST): Two Japan earthquake and
tsunami survivors rescued in Ishinomaki -
Police rescued 2 people from under debris in Ishinomaki City on Sunday,
9 days after the initial earthquake and tsunami on March 11th.
Police in Miyagi Prefecture say the 2 are a woman who is about 80 years
old and a 16-year-old boy.
Rescue workers say the boy has a low body temperature, but is
conscious.
An NHK video shows two people being pulled up by rope to a police
helicopter that headed for a Red Cross hospital in Ishinomaki City.
The 2 were found in an area about one kilometer upstream of the mouth
of a river. Houses in the area were swept away by the tsunami. (Source:
nhk.or.jp)
Mar. 20, 2011
12:15 (JST): New footage of the Mar. 11, 2011 Japan tsunami's
waves has been
released by Japan's coast guard - Filmed
5 km (3 mi.) off the coast of Matsushima,
Miyagi, a beautiful pine tree covered group of islands and
one of Japan's "3 most famous views" (Nihon Sankei), and also the site
of Zuigan-ji, one of the most famous Zen temples in
Japan's Tohoku
region. The coast guard captain steers the boat directly into the waves
and the
ship crests the enormous swell. (The YouTube video previously embedded
here is now private.)
Mar. 19, 2011
23:00 (JST): IAEA Briefing on Fukushima Nuclear Emergency -
Radiation levels in major Japanese cities have not changed
significantly since yesterday.
The IAEA radiation monitoring team took measurements at seven different
locations in Tokyo and in the Kanagawa and Chiba Prefectures. Dose
rates were well below those which are dangerous to human health.
The monitoring team are now on their way to Aizu Wakamatsu City, which
is 97 km west of the Fukushima nuclear power plant. They have just
provided initial measurements from three additional locations. More...
Mar. 19, 2011
22:20 (JST): The latest on U.S. Navy support to Japan
- U.S. 7th Fleet has 12,750 personnel, 20 ships, and 140 aircraft
participating in Operation Tomodachi. Seventh Fleet forces have
delivered 81 tons of relief supplies to date.
USS Tortuga is in the vicinity of Hachinohe where she will serve as an
afloat forward service base for helicopter operations. CH-53 Sea
Stallion aircraft from attached to Tortuga delivered 13 tons of
humanitarian aid cargo on Friday, including 5,000 pounds of water and
5,000 MREs (Meals, Ready-to-Eat), to Yamada
Station, 80 miles south of Misawa. The USS Ronald
Reagan (CVN-76) Carrier Strike Group, to include the cruiser
USS
Chancellorsville, the destroyer USS Preble and the combat support ship
USNS Bridge, the guided-missile destroyers USS Fitzgerald, USS John S.
McCain, USS McCampbell, USS Mustin and USS Curtis Wilbur continue
relief operations off the east coast of Iwate prefecture. (Source:
stripes.com)
USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) Carrier Strike Group
Mar. 19, 2011
21:35 (JST): U.S. Government Response to the Japan Earthquake
and Tsunami
- The U.S. Government is working aggressively in a whole of government
approach: the Departments of State, Defense and Energy, the U.S. Agency
for International Development, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
are working around the clock to provide necessary assistance to our
great friend and ally, Japan. To date, we've flown hundreds of
missions to support the recovery efforts, and distributed thousands of
pounds of food and water to the Japanese people. We've also deployed
some of our leading experts to help contain the damage at Japan's
nuclear reactors. We're sharing with them expertise, equipment, and
technology so that the courageous responders on the scene have the
benefit of American teamwork and support. (Source: U.S. Embassy Tokyo)
Mar. 19, 2011
19:15 (JST): IAEA summary of conditions at
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant- The
International Atomic Energy Agency's latest
report and summary table of reactor units 1-6, as of 13:30 (JST)
(color-coded summary table is at bottom of that page).
Mar. 19, 2011
14:00 (JST): No sign of harmful radiation in Tokyo, WHO
official says - WHO spokesperson Gregory Hartl made the
remarks at a regular news conference in Geneva. He said the amount of
radiation being reported outside of the evacuation zone continues to be
below the levels considered a public health risk.
Some countries are encouraging their citizens to leave Japan or are
moving their embassies from Tokyo to Osaka, but Hartl said WHO finds no
public health reason to recommend that foreign nationals leave the
country or avoid travel to Japan, except to the affected areas.
(Source: Environment News Service)
Mar. 19, 2011
12:35 (JST): American man in Tokyo sets the record straight:
"STOP listening to the sensationalist western media!"
Kevin hits it outta the park. I couldn't have said it any better.
Mar. 19, 2011
7:35 (JST): Why Fukushima Daiichi won't be another Chernobyl -
Six days after the earthquake that rocked Japan and left thousands
dead, the nation is now struggling to avert disaster at its Fukushima
Daiichi nuclear power plant. Events have moved fast and risks are hard
to assess.
The worst nuclear accident in history was the Chernobyl explosion of
1986 in what is now Ukraine. Nuclear experts have repeatedly stated
that the Japanese situation cannot get as bad as Chernobyl. New
Scientist explains why. More...
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