Tsunami report from Hawaii

[Whistlin' Will]

It's just unimaginable. By itself, an 8.9 earthquake would be a terrible disaster. An 8.9 followed by a tsunami is beyond tragic. But a nuclear catastrophe on top of all that...dear God.

It's events like this that really drive home how absolutely powerless you are.

There is a whistle maker in Japan: Ken Matsusaka, maker of S.Z.B.E. whistles. I pray he's okay.

[Nanohedron]

I don't even know how many Chiffers live in Japan, but there are what I'd call a good number, for a few.

Some of our musician members from elsewhere pull gigs over there, too.

[MTGuru]

There is a whistle maker in Japan: Ken Matsusaka, maker of S.Z.B.E. whistles. I pray he's okay.

Ken lives near Kyoto, so pretty far from the danger zones.

My friend Peter, who lives in Osaka, flew out of Narita a day before the quake. His home is fine. His wife was in Tokyo, and was shaken but not stirred. But she's stuck there in a hotel pending transportation home.

[mukade]

I haven't posted here for a while, but I still read regularly,

I'm between Nagoya and Tokyo (over 300km from the hit area) and we still felt the quake down here.

We felt he big aftershock, but haven't felt anything since then.
Our electricity was out from after the quake until 1:30 in the morning.

I was on the 3rd floor in an elementary school teaching kids and I suddenly felt dizzy.
Then we realised it was the building rolling. It was a long, long quake.

We escorted the kids outside and we have been fine since then.

The only other Chiffer I know is the pipe maker Makoto Nakatsui up in Hokkaido.
That area is far enough away from the quake zone to be safe.

The only big worry at the moment is the nuclear plants.
The government says that they are managing to cool the reactors with sea water.
100,000 members of the Self Defence Forces have been drafted into the quake zone and the US have two aircraft carriers heading to the area.

Although Japan is a rich country, whole communities have been washed away in the Tohoku region.
I am sure any donations to relief charities would be welcome.

[s1m0n]

Fault, flood, fire & fission - the four horsemen for a new millennium. Any one of these is disaster enough; Japan must be wondering what happened to bring it all four at once.

[Walden]

I have a friend from childhood who is living near Sendai, Japan and is still not heard from.

[mukade]

I hope your friend is OK Walden.

All Tokyo Electric company areas are having scheduled electricity cuts tomorrow.

They are down 25% in power, so they are doing these cuts to stop major blackouts.
We will have one 3-hour cut from 15:20 until 19:00 tomorrow.

We are right on the edge of the TEPCO region. One town along an we would have no problems.

Makes you appreciate the simple things like boiling a kettle.

Thank Apple for the iPad's 10-hour battery

[Mr.Gumby]

A bunch of satellite images before/after the tsunami.

Sobering stuff.

[osage59]

It's times like this I remember this quote:

Civilization exists by geological consent, subject to change without notice.
- Will Durant

[Walden]

Civilization exists by geological consent, subject to change without notice.

So true.

[talasiga]

what about
hatao?

[MTGuru]

what about
hatao?

Hatao lives near Kobe, again quite far from the epicenter.

[Nanohedron]

Looks like Japan is now 8 feet closer to the States than it used to be.

[dwest]

Looks like Japan is now 8 feet closer to the States than it used to be.

Still too far.

[Charlene]

The USGS has just upgraded the magnitude of the earthquake to 9.0.

http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.as ... m=rss_home