A few facts about the disaster in Japan

[#juan]

Sat Mar 19, 2011 11:14am EDT

(Reuters) - The following is a list of the likely impact of and response to the devastating earthquake and tsunami that rocked the northeast coast of Japan on March 11, and subsequent crisis at nuclear power plants.
DEATH TOLL
* The death toll is expected to exceed 10,000, with northeastern prefectures of Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima most severely hit. At least 7,348 people were confirmed dead, exceeding 6,434 who died after the Kobe earthquake in 1995. But 10,947 people are still missing, National Police Agency of Japan says on Saturday.
NUMBER OF PEOPLE EVACUATED
* Nearly 340,000 people have been evacuated and are staying at shelters, Mainichi news paper reports on Saturday.
HOUSEHOLDS WITHOUT ELECTRICITY
* About 256,819 households in the north were without electricity as of late Saturday, Tohuku Electric Power Co. says.
HOUSEHOLDS WITHOUT WATER
* At least 1.03 million households were without running water as of Saturday, according to the Health Ministry.
NUMBER OF BUILDINGS DAMAGED
* At least 117,570 buildings have been damaged, with at least 14,606 completely destroyed, National Police Agency of Japan says.
IMPACT ON ECONOMY
-- Citigroup expects 5-10 trillion yen in damage to housing and infrastructure, while Barclays Capital estimates economic losses of 15 trillion yen ($183.7 billion) or 3 percent of Japan's GDP.
UBS expects Japan's economy to grow 1.4 percent this year, compared with its previous forecast of 1.5 percent expansion. But it upgraded its growth forecast for 2012 to 2.5 percent, up from the previous estimate of 2.1 percent.
- Goldman Sachs expects total economic losses likely to hit 16 trillion yen, while it expects real GDP to decline by 0.5-2 percent in the second quarter.

Japan is handling this disaster better than most countries would have.

 

[darkbeaver]

Juan, the disaster hasn't even really started.

 

[petros]

400,000+ fuel rods are stored on the Fukushima site. The real show is about to get underway and it will star every last ones of us.

 

[#juan]

I've done a lot of reading about this and it sounds like they are getting a handle on it. They are trying to reconnect the power but they are being held up by the water being sprayed everywhere to cool the reactors. I think they will get it under control. Radiation levels are still
fairly low where there have been leaks. When they get power hooked up, cooling will go on as normal.

 

[petros]

They can't handle this at all. Plutonium can easily go nuts even under perfect conditions.

Safe? There is nothing safe about gamma rays. All those workers are toast, Very very brave men who fully understand what is happening and are willing to give their lives.

Even for you or I all it takes is one particle breathed in and a couple years years later lymphoma or leukemia sets in. It has reached you already.The background radiation they are trying to compare this to is nothing compared to a gamma particles let alone all the other radio nucleotides that will encircle the planet for years to come and destroy any DNA it encounters.

They may as well bomb the place and be done with it.

 

[Ariadne]

So you're an Optimist!

It moves with the wind, so we may be lucky and only have the tail end of it.

I was in Europe when Chernobyl blew and we watched winds on TV, relieved when it was predicted to move to Germany, worried when it headed for the Netherlands. Ultimately, it arrived in the Netherlands. Ironically, there was a milk price debate with producers, and the farmers had poured all their milk reserves in the canals the day before the winds changed direction. After the winds blew the radiation over the country, farmers could not use the milk or feed for 3 weeks - until the half life of the radiation was at safe levels. I was riding a bike from visiting my grandfather to the dairy farm where I was staying and was caught in the rains. I wasn't happy about that ... radiation bath.

 

[damngrumpy]

I agree that Japan has handled things better than most up until now.
We are going to see a lot bigger set of problems develop over the
next several months and maybe even the next couple of years.
The world has proven there is no way to be ready for such a severe
disaster and our infrastructure is not up to the test when it comes to
the wrath of mother nature.
While inadequate, facilities are world wide and the danger of nuke power
is ever present, it is still a safer commodity than using products from oil.
I think the economic impact, the death toll, the devastated infrastructure,
the loss of life, and the loss of jobs will send the world economy in a
downward spiral for a few more years.
Another severe problem coming will be food shortages, in almost every
sector. Some time ago we debated the prospect of food shortages from
disaster and this is a prime example, of an unknown causing the price
of food to rise. The impact for the world from this event has not been
felt yet and we are going to feel the pain for some time to come.

 

[Ariadne]

Rioting and looting often, almost always, breaks out when there's a disaster. Look at New Orleans. In Japan, we saw people in disaster areas going shopping until the shelves were bare. Shops are so often vandalist, but in Japan even though empty, they do not appear to be vandalized. I guess that means their youth did not run around lawlessly for a few days.

 

[darkbeaver]

In Japan, no public utilities have been affected by the virus. Nevertheless, the Cabinet Office's National Information Security Center has urged electric power companies to exercise extreme care when using USB devices, and to scan any programs that may have been tampered with.
(Oct. 5, 2010)New cybervirus found in Japan / Stuxnet designed to attack off-line servers via USB memory sticks : National : DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE (The Daily Yomiuri)

 

[CDNBear]

In Japan, no public utilities have been affected by the virus. Nevertheless, the Cabinet Office's National Information Security Center has urged electric power companies to exercise extreme care when using USB devices, and to scan any programs that may have been tampered with.
(Oct. 5, 2010)New cybervirus found in Japan / Stuxnet designed to attack off-line servers via USB memory sticks : National : DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE (The Daily Yomiuri)

Hey!!! Didn't EAO say that was made by the Joos?

Are the Joos responsible for all that has befallen Japan?

 

[#juan]

They can't handle this at all. Plutonium can easily go nuts even under perfect conditions.

Safe? There is nothing safe about gamma rays. All those workers are toast, Very very brave men who fully understand what is happening and are willing to give their lives.

Even for you or I all it takes is one particle breathed in and a couple years years later lymphoma or leukemia sets in. It has reached you already.The background radiation they are trying to compare this to is nothing compared to a gamma particles let alone all the other radio nucleotides that will encircle the planet for years to come and destroy any DNA it encounters.

They may as well bomb the place and be done with it.

Petros you are a panic artist! This thing in Japan is nothing like Chernobyl which was a hundred times worse. Are you trying to generate fear and panic? If the situation were as bad as you say, which it is not, how does your hysteria help anything?

 

[darkbeaver]

Hey!!! Didn't EAO say that was made by the Joos?

Are the Joos responsible for all that has befallen Japan?

What's a joo?

 

[CDNBear]

What's a joo?

That would be the people you despise from that country you wish to see wiped off the map.

But you already knew that and were just playing stupid...

Or were you?

 

[darkbeaver]

Don't be a drama queen Bear, a country that hasn't got borders can't be wiped off a map it isn't on. What's an Israel?

 

[EagleSmack]

Don't be a drama queen Bear, a country that hasn't got borders can't be wiped off a map it isn't on. What's an Israel?

LOL. So you don't even recognize Israel as a nation?

 

[darkbeaver]

LOL. So you don't even recognize Israel as a nation?

Israel is a crime against humanity and that's all it's ever been or will ever be.

 

[petros]

Don't be a drama queen Bear, a country that hasn't got borders can't be wiped off a map it isn't on. What's an Israel?

Israel was an ancient vassal state of Egypt that was invaded by the Judeans aka Joos but they pissed off their neighbours the Babylonians and were taken slave while Israel became awash with conversion to Christianity.

I read that in a book someplace.

 

[#juan]

I agree that Japan has handled things better than most up until now.
We are going to see a lot bigger set of problems develop over the
next several months and maybe even the next couple of years.
The world has proven there is no way to be ready for such a severe
disaster and our infrastructure is not up to the test when it comes to
the wrath of mother nature.
While inadequate, facilities are world wide and the danger of nuke power
is ever present, it is still a safer commodity than using products from oil.
I think the economic impact, the death toll, the devastated infrastructure,
the loss of life, and the loss of jobs will send the world economy in a
downward spiral for a few more years.
Another severe problem coming will be food shortages, in almost every
sector. Some time ago we debated the prospect of food shortages from
disaster and this is a prime example, of an unknown causing the price
of food to rise. The impact for the world from this event has not been
felt yet and we are going to feel the pain for some time to come.

I see they finally got power hooked up to all reactors. This means that the reactor cooling no longer
needs to be done with fire hoses. Things can only improve now.. It is still going to take a while to
get all the reactors back on line but the danger from radiation should be almost over.

 

[Avro]

Interesting to see the greenies lose their minds over this.

They won't be happy until we are all freezing in the dark.

Fact is, to get off of the carbon teet, nukes must play a role.

Interesting side note, Chernobyl's exclusion zone is now Europes biggest wildlife refuge....it's like watching an episode of Life After People on the History channel.

 

[mentalfloss]

Interesting to see the greenies lose their minds over this.

They won't be happy until we are all freezing in the dark.

Dr. Pepper.. IS EVERYWHERE.

Thanks for the laugh.