Earthquake 3/11/11

[Ti]

I hope it's only fear.

[tortoise]

Not to minimise the unspeakable horror of this collosal disaster as I have shed many tears seeing the videos and photos, does anyone have any idea how much Japan's tea industry is or will be affected? If the radiation is as bad as I've read and if the winds change, it has the potential to wipe out Japanese tea production.

Japan´s tea industry is more likely to be affected by unfounded fear than anything else. :S

Radiation levels are only dangerous immediately surrounding the damaged reactors. Additional radiation in Tokyo is insignificant. Most of Japan´s tea producing areas are much further from the damaged reactor than Tokyo and are very safe from radiation.

I for one will happily continue to buy and consume Japanese tea without the slightest concern about radiation exposure.

Me too.

[Shambles]

According to the UK Guardian newspaper:

Fifty workers remained at the plant, battling to cool three reactor cores after the blast at around 6.10am Japanese time. The Tokyo Electric Power Company has admitted for the first time that partial meltdown could be underway – as officials had previously suggested – Kyodo news agency said.

(http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/ma ... rd-reactor)

I've read the biggest danger is the possibility of fire in the spent fuel rods. It's getting to the point that the remaining 50 workers at the plant cannot be evacuated. They are heroes, when you think about it.

From what I've read, the nuclear disaster is already more serious than Three Mile Island, but - even if the worst-case speculation proves true - will only be a fraction of the scale of Chernobyl.

My thought is: how do they rebuild the devestated communities once the reactor is under control? Pumping in seawater has trashed the reactors. Where is electricity coming from? How does industry re-open?

[bagua7]

Things are not looking good at the moment:

1. Russia, China, France and Indonesia are already evacuating their Citizens out of the Country. That should tell you how serious it is. The French have rated this incident as a level 6 or 7 at this moment. (Chernobyl was rated level 7).

2. The Japanese Government is being forthcoming with safety on their Nuclear Reactors. Also a fact that the primary sponsor of their Government is none other than TEPCO. Their officials cannot be trusted.

3. BREAKING NEWS: Fire breaks out again at 5:45 a.m. at Fukushima's No. 4 reactor: NHK (06:45 16 March). Reactor 4 is on fire, they tried using a helicopter to put out but failed. They cannot put the fire out due to large amount of radiation around reactor 4.

It is time to pray. I fear the worst.

[Ti]

It seems to be a major catastrophe...outside of the obvious devastation which looks worse than the WWII Atom Bomb mistake. But isn't the potential there to completely screw-up the tea trade?

[JBaymore]

Pumping in seawater has trashed the reactors. Where is electricity coming from? How does industry re-open?

If I am understading him correctly, a friend in Japan told me that particular nuclear plant was slated to be decommissioned in about September anyway. If that is the case....... in 6 months or so that plant was going off the electrical grid anyway. If so... one has to assume that they had a plan in place to replace the power generation at least by then.

So that part might not be as big an issue as one might imagine.

I have also read (which might be incorrect, of course) that the bigger issue with electrical power is that the numerous other reactors have not been able to be restarted from the automatic scrams because most key nuclear personnel are focused on solving the Fukashima mess. And that the main transmission lines are damaged from the earthquake and tsunami.

Most of us are 1000s and 1000s of miles from the source of the situation. And the location itself is in chaos. So reliable information is likely hard to come by.

And the thousands of news outlets have 24/7 worth of pages to fill, bandwidth to use, and so on. So they will pounce on the slightest rumor to keep the flow of information "fresh"...... if not particularly accurate.

I'm testing out my Japanese a lot by watching NHK on my sattelite and talking with friends. I feel like that is possibly slightly more accurate.

best,

...............john

[Robert Fornell]

A couple of things here....

TEPCO news releases and government news releases via NHK are one and the same. Down play facts now so as not to cause panic regarding the situation as it's entering the "Shikatta ga nai" realm, "it can't be helped" . Next is the "Moshiwake gozaimasen" apology phase, "I'm so sorry/embarrassed for myself that I have nothing to say."

Watching NHK the other night, and announcer was in the midst of an update re: the power plant situation and a hand came in from off camera and took away all the papers on his desk...... subtle! Sorry John, after living there for 7 years I still don't trust NHK as it's an arm of the government.

Finally I met an American tonight of the flight back from Boston, he was evacuating his whole family out of Tokyo as radiation levels there, as reported in the NY Times, were, according to him, now in the danger range.

I've been trying to get my inlaws to leave for a few days now as once it's too late and a panic mentality sets in, it's too late, you can't dial back radiation exposure. What's the harm in leaving now for a few weeks/month until the situation clarifies. Seems like the prudent thing to do to me.......

[Robert Fornell]

Things are not looking good at the moment:

1. Russia, China, France and Indonesia are already evacuating their Citizens out of the Country. That should tell you how serious it is. The French have rated this incident as a level 6 or 7 at this moment. (Chernobyl was rated level 7).

2. The Japanese Government is being forthcoming with safety on their Nuclear Reactors. Also a fact that the primary sponsor of their Government is none other than TEPCO. Their officials cannot be trusted.

3. BREAKING NEWS: Fire breaks out again at 5:45 a.m. at Fukushima's No. 4 reactor: NHK (06:45 16 March). Reactor 4 is on fire, they tried using a helicopter to put out but failed. They cannot put the fire out due to large amount of radiation around reactor 4.

It is time to pray. I fear the worst.

+1

First # 1, then #3, then #2, now #4......

[IPT]

I have a number of friends in Japan and I haven't been able to get in contact with a few of them and it's scaring the heck out of me! What a nightmare!

[IPT]

I just heard from another friend. Whew!

[Tead Off]

A couple of things here....

TEPCO news releases and government news releases via NHK are one and the same. Down play facts now so as not to cause panic regarding the situation as it's entering the "Shikatta ga nai" realm, "it can't be helped" . Next is the "Moshiwake gozaimasen" apology phase, "I'm so sorry/embarrassed for myself that I have nothing to say."

Watching NHK the other night, and announcer was in the midst of an update re: the power plant situation and a hand came in from off camera and took away all the papers on his desk...... subtle! Sorry John, after living there for 7 years I still don't trust NHK as it's an arm of the government.

Finally I met an American tonight of the flight back from Boston, he was evacuating his whole family out of Tokyo as radiation levels there, as reported in the NY Times, were, according to him, now in the danger range.

I've been trying to get my inlaws to leave for a few days now as once it's too late and a panic mentality sets in, it's too late, you can't dial back radiation exposure. What's the harm in leaving now for a few weeks/month until the situation clarifies. Seems like the prudent thing to do to me.......

I like NHK but not as a news channel. Their cultural programs are informative and very different.

I echo your sentiments in asking what harm is there in leaving until one is more certain what is going on. Too many reports point to a gloomier vision than the government will want to portray. I understand they don't want to panic the public but this ship has just been hit very, very, hard.

[JBaymore]

Sorry John, after living there for 7 years I still don't trust NHK as it's an arm of the government.

Robert,

I don't "trust" ANY media outlet. Every single one is a "filter" that the information has been run through. So you look at a broad spectrum of all the filtered information out there available to you ...... and try to make some sense of it. (Shikatta ga arimasen, ne. )

At the very mimimum....any "agendas" aside...... put 10 people in a place, have them watch the same complex event, and then ask them what happened. You'll get 11 different accounts of the events.

All were "eyewitnesses". Each brings their personal observational skills, their integrative and interpretational makeup, their own biases, their own hopes and fears, their physical understanding of the world/universe, and their abilty to remember things into the equation.

The one thing that is abundantly clear...... the whole thing is clearly a disaster.

best,

.............john

PS: I'm supposed to be over there in 2 1/2 months for a show too.

[Chip]

As I have been told by Kevin, leaving now is actually problematic. They have one tank of gas and no guarantee of finding more, no definite place to go or stay. Water and food are scarce. Kind of damned if you do, damned if you don't scenario. In essence, they would be one of potentially millions of refugees if everyone picks up and goes.

Of course, if something even more dire occurs now, it would likely create a wave of panic, making leaving even more difficult.

IPT, glad you heard from someone.

[Chip]

I have struggled a bit posting more here as the focus turns to the nuclear disaster side of this catastrophe. We both lived less than 45 miles due east of TMI when that occurred in March 1979, so right in the direction of prevailing winds. We have empathy and sympathy for the people in Japan.

There are striking parallels, yet the situation in Japan is so much more dire due to the natural disasters that have so far done so much more damage and harm, seemingly.

But the 2 sides of information we are witnessing today are virtually identical to what occurred in 1979 here in the USA. So much change, so little progress.

Which will be the headliner in history books 20 years from now, the quake, the tsunami, the nuclear "disaster" that is still unfolding. I hope we have seen the worst of the nuclear part, but I fear not ...

[Shambles]

Chip - thank you for the update on Kevin at O-cha. I wish there was something I could do to help. . . all I can think is that I'm going to wait, and replenish my dwindling stocks of matcha from him when he's open for business again. (No disrespect intended to other vendors.) I'd like to make a donation to the Red Cross also.

The latest news - from PA, but no-doubt all over the web by now - is that "surging radiation levels forced engineers to temporarily withdraw, losing time in a desperate operation to cool the overheating reactors."

What strikes me most about this story is later down in the copy: "The nuclear crisis has triggered international alarm and partly overshadowed the human tragedy caused by Friday's earthquake and the subsequent tsunami. . . Millions of people struggled for a fifth day with little food, water or heat, and already chilly temperatures turned to snow in many areas. Police say more than 452,000 people are staying in temporary shelters, often sleeping on the floor in school gymnasiums."

(Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpres ... 267403993A)

I think, collectively, our compassion for the Japanese people is being overshadowed by speculative news reports about the nuclear plant. Many, many people are cold, hungry and alone right now.