masterwordsmith-unplugged

I am very upset and saddened by the earthquake (both in Christchurch and Japan) and subsequent tsunami that have caused massive destruction and claimed so many lives. At the point of writing this, tsunami waves are hitting a wide-ranging area from Hokkaido in the north to Okinawa in the south. A tsunami higher than 7.3 meters crashed into Fukushima Prefecture. Tsunamis higher than 4 meters were recorded in other districts of eastern Japan.

Worse still, Japan is possibly at the brink of a nuclear disaster. According to THIS SITE:

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan visited a quake-stricken nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture on Saturday and said that small amounts of radiation have been released from one of the reactors. As he visited other areas in northeastern Japan affected by Friday’s earthquake by helicopter, the Prime Minister saw the full extent of the catastrophe the nation now faces. “I realized the huge extent of the tsunami damage,” Mr. Kan said at a press conference upon his return to Tokyo. The prime minister also said that Saturday is a critical day for rescue teams to find survivors.

The 50,000 rescue personnel deployed to the hardest-hit regions, including Japan’s Self Defence Force, will do their utmost to help those in need, he said. Regarding the controlled release of a small amount of radioactive steam from Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant in order to reduce mounting pressure that could lead to a meltdown, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said the steam is not expected to cause any immediate threat to people’s health. “We are taking every possible measure to prevent disastrous developments,” Mr. Edano said, adding that public should remain alert as more aftershocks are highly likely.

NHK News said that

The health ministry has sent an emergency medical team to the Fukushima No.1 nuclear plant in northeastern Japan in case people should be exposed to radiation.

The team left the National Institute of Radiological Sciences in Chiba City, near Tokyo, on a Self-Defense Force helicopter at 8:10 AM on Saturday.

The group consists of doctors, nurses, and experts on radiation measurement.

The team is now getting ready at a nuclear disaster response center, located about 5 kilometers from the power plant.

*Updated at 3.14pm:

According to Uji Okada of Bloomberg HERE, a nuclear reactor in the Fukushima Dai-Ichi power station about 220 kilometers (140 miles) north of Tokyo may be starting to meltdown after Japan’s biggest earthquake on record hit the area yesterday.

Fuel rods at the No. 1 reactor at the plant run by Tokyo Electric Power Co. may be melting after radioactive Cesium material left by atomic fission was detected near the site," Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, spokesman Yuji Kakizaki said by phone today.

“If the fuel rods are melting and this continues, a reactor meltdown is possible,” Kakizaki said.

Tokyo Electric, Asia’s biggest power company, started releasing radioactive gas from the plant to try and reduce pressure in the reactor containment housing after yesterday’s magnitude 8.9 earthquake, Akitsuka Kobayashi, a company spokesman, said by phone today.

The government earlier today widened the evacuation zone around the reactor to 10 kilometers from 3 kilometers affecting thousands of people. CLICK HERE FOR MORE

Latest from NHK at 3.22pm: The government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says 2 radioactive substances, cesium and radioactive iodine, have been detected near the Number One reactor at the Fukushima Number One nuclear power station.

The agency says this indicates that some of the metal containers of uranium fuel may have started melting. The substances are produced by fuel fission.

The Malaysian Insider carried an article HERE that said:

The massive earthquake in Japan yesterday and the resulting tsunami has also added fears about the plant in Malaysia’s east coast which faces the Pacific Rim’s ring of fire, the world’s active volcanic region. The 8.9 magnitude earthquake in Japan and the 10-metre high tsunami it sent surging into cities and villages, sweeping away everything in its path.

Australian mining company Lynas Corporation has begun construction of the rare earth refinery in Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s home state, raising fears of a repeat of the radiation pollution in Bukit Merah, Perak that has been linked to at least eight leukemia cases in the local community there.


The massive earthquake in Japan yesterday and the resulting tsunami has also added fears about the plant in Malaysia’s east coast which faces the Pacific Rim’s ring of fire, the world’s active volcanic region. The 8.9 magnitude earthquake in Japan and the 10-metre high tsunami it sent surging into cities and villages, sweeping away everything in its path.

Australian mining company Lynas Corporation has begun construction of the rare earth refinery in Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s home state, raising fears of a repeat of the radiation pollution in Bukit Merah, Perak that has been linked to at least eight leukemia cases in the local community there.

CLICK HERE for more.

So will Malaysia still go for nuclear power reactors? Even a first world nation like Japan is facing the risks of a meltdown now...If they cannot cope, what makes Malaysia think she can? I really wonder!

AsiaOne News said:

Despite the numbing footage delivered by TV stations in the aftermath of the Sendai earthquake, particularly the tsunami in that region, the fact is it mercifully lacked the killer punch of the 2004 Sumatra earthquake.

The US Geological Survey has listed this as seventh most powerful quake since the Richter records began in 1900.

The 2004 tremblor which killed 230,000 is ranked at three with a 9.1 Richter.

The earthquake occurred at a depth of 24.4 km while at Sumatra this happened at a depth of 30 km below the mean sea-level. As the depth of the epicentre increases, it proportionately increases the displacement of water. This proportionately increases the speed with which the tsunami waves travel below the sea surface and finally increases the height of the waves that slam ashore.

Then the tremblor was described as someone slapping hard the bottom of a bucketful of water. Today the tsunami wave's height was 10 meter while in 2004 it was 30 meter. At Sumatra the movement of the tectonic plates occurred at a depth of 160 km. Then the plates moved along a fault line of 1,600 km. Both features severely amplified quake and subsequently the tsunami. The intensity was such that Nicobar islands literally moved by a foot and a quake was triggered in Alaska.

According to CNN News HERE: said the aftershocks resulting from Friday's event "will continue for a long time."

The article said that "The release of energy from Friday's event – which happened along the subduction zone between the Eurasian and North American plates - will have have no effect on alleviating the pressure building up between Eurasian and Philippine plates, where the Great Tokai quake is predicted to happen. It said that after Japan picks up the pieces from this disaster, it will have to start preparing for what could be another one."

As for me, my friends Marina, Asako and Tiffany are safe in Tokyo but are experiencing strong tremors. Another friend is safe in Osaka and yet another has signed up as a volunteer with Red Cross and will fly out to Tokyo once the green light is given. Two relatives were supposed to go for a ski trip in Niseko but thank goodness they have cancelled the trip.

Life is really precious. Let's remember the victims and pray that help will reach them and that there will be no nuclear disaster. Next post will be up later. Have a nice day.

Update: Quake moved Japan coast 8 feet; shifted Earth's axis