March, 2011 | Dog Eaters

More radiation

Posted on 03.14.11 under Tohoku earthquake/tsunami/nuclear disaster

Now they say that radiation levels in Yokosuka and Kawasaki in Kanagawa are nine times normal. There are 13 monitoring stations in Kanagawa and the report is for the highest of the 13.

If you can read Japanese, updates here.

Radiation!!!

Posted on 03.14.11 under Tohoku earthquake/tsunami/nuclear disaster

On the way to the office in Shibuya station, just saw that the radiation in Tokyo is four times normal and the radius of “safety” has been pushed from 20 km to 30 km from the Fukushima reactors. One kilometer is 0.6 miles, so that’s 18 miles.

It is not looking good. Pretty much can anticipate a full meltdown…

Quake epicenter locations as of March 13

Posted on 03.14.11 under Tohoku earthquake/tsunami/nuclear disaster

March 15 there was a quake on the west side of Japan, so the country is surrounded…

Not just the big one, but many lesser quakes.

Earthquake in Japan!

Posted on 03.14.11 under Tohoku earthquake/tsunami/nuclear disaster

They call this the “Kyodai Jishin” — Giant Earthquake. And it is…

Usually and earthquake lasts a few seconds, but this one just kept shaking for at least a couple of minutes. Books, objects, CDs, fell off of shelfs. We ran out onto the street. One of our girls was crying and thinking she was going to die, wanted to get her i.d. card so that her body would be identified and her family would know her fate. As it turned out, no one in our office was hurt and casualties in Tokyo are low, but in the north the death toll continues to rise.

It has been just over 36 hours since the earthquake hit just off the coast of Sendai on Friday, March 11 at 2:45 PM. Tokyo was spared for the most part, but in the north the tsunami hit the coast two hours later.
The death count is approximately 1700 and that toll will grow higher if the nuclear power plant in Fukushima melts down. The cooling systems have broken down and the heat and pressure is rising. Some of it is released here, in a very large non-nuclear explosion.
The Japanese have been — and are always — courteous, orderly, and calm. In this disaster, even more so than ever. Driving back from Daikanyama, Shibuya to Nakano took 4 hours to travel 8 miles in bumper-to-bumper traffic and not one car honk was heard. For the perspective of a NYTimes reporter who lived in Japan during the Hanshin Earthquake, please check out this link.
For the moment, Malcolm is fine with electricity, gas, internet, and cell and landline phone (although the lines are jammed). The work-a-round is using gmail call or skype to call local numbers in Japan. Very little damage to his house, office, and studio. — just a few broken wine glasses.
Hopefully, finding a method to cool the nuclear power plants will not take as long as the solution to the BP oil spill took.