You are in Mothership 9 coverage of the Japan Nuclear Disaster. Please Rec this diary, and this diary, only. Unrec previous diaries in the series. In general, try to use the ROV's for discussion and commentary. This diary will serve as a reference and anchor point.
We are currently in ROV 22: Japan Nuclear Disaster by boatsie.
All Previous ROVs are now stored on the Japan Nuclear Disaster group page.
Latest News
Despite success at restoring power to several of the nuclear reactors, ongoing radioactive fallout from the site continues to contaminate ground and ocean water, land and the air far beyond the immediate site of the power plant.
Black smoke from No. 3 Reactor forced evacuation of workers on Wednesday afternoon.
Temperatures in reactor No. 1 fell 10 degrees C to 390 degrees C, still 70 degrees above the design limit.
After detecting iodine-131 levels exceeding 100 becquerels per kilogram in five locations in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan's health ministry has advised residents as far away as Tokyo to avoid giving infants tap water or using it in powered milk. Restrictions have been placed on consuming numerous foods.
(Iodine detected at Tokyo water purification plant, Ward 23 measured 210 becquerels/liter. The allowed limit for infants is 100.)
Meanwhile, U.S. regulators announced import restrictions on contaminated raw milk and spinach from 4 Japan Prefectures.
Please visit the current ROV for updated information.
Combined Sources:
Jiji News Industry
NHK World
Reuters
Remember STICK TO THE FACTS. Source and link all new information. (This includes insuring authenticity of twitter sources.)
Current Data Sources
Japanese Atomic Industrial Forum (JAIF) reports, which record such key factors as conditions of core and fuel integrity, water level and containment. The Guardian DataBlog is updating analysis and publishing highly contextualized charting and graphs.
• RSOS Emergency & Disaster information Services - Japan
• Daily Telephone Media Briefings from Union of Concerned Scientists
• Energy.gov: The Situation in Japan (Updated 03/22/11)
- A database of temperature, pressure, radiation levels, etc readings over time can be found in: The Daiichi Database This is an evolving diary that will be updated regularly.
Timeline
The CS Monitor is hosting a constantly updated timeline of events, beginning at 2:46 Friday 11 March when a 9.0 Earthquake was the initial shock in an ongoing crisis, magnified by the ensuing tsunami and the ongoing nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Nuclear Power facility.
Latest Stats as of evening Thursday AM 23 March. Japan. (combined sources)
- 9,487 dead
- 15,617 unaccounted for
- 256,871 people are in shelters around the country
- Many bodies are being buried without being cremated due to fuel shortages.
- 177,500 evacuees from Fukushima Prefecture relocated to 1800 shelters in 16 prefectures
- At least 660,000 households in 10 prefectures without running water
- 212,472 households in the north without electricity
- Damage from the earthquake and tsunami at about 16-25 trillion yen ($197-308 billion).
- At least 18,324 buildings have been completely destroyed
- IAE reports radiation 1,600 times higher than normal levels has been detected in an area about 20 kilometers from the Fukushima nuclear plants
- Bullet train services resume between Morioka and Shin-Aomori stations on the Tohoku Shinkansen Line
- The Tohoku Expressway, one of the major routes for land transport between Tokyo and the quake-hit areas, is opened to trucks.
Coverage @ KOS:
- Due to extensive coverage, the Japan Nuclear Incident Liveblogs team is now saving ALL Coverage @ KOS to the group page. You can save any relevant diaries to the group's queue.
Donation Suggestions
• Plubius also has a diary on aid groups needing donations.
• CS Monitor has a great list
• JapanVolunteers- - donations, materials, volunteer opportunities and needs, fundraisers, resource sharing
• Japan RedCrossasks individuals to direct funds to a bank account.
• ShelterBox on the Ground in Japan(h/t texmex)
IN TRANSLATION: From Japan
• Japan Earthquake 2011 Global Voices Online provides outstanding ongoing translations of articles and information from Japan, including:
• Map of Quake Centers
• Shelter locations
• Tomomi Sasaki translation from Japanese to English: Infographic of Radiation & Effects on Human body translated from Japanese
• Japanese Red Cross Coverage
• How can I help
• First-hand report from NE Japan: "I may not be a nice person, but I can't be that cruel." from Chie Matsumoto, a Tokyo-based journalist, who just returned from Northeast Japan where she was doing a story for USA Today. h/t citizven
"I walked through the tsunami aftermath, where the town was basically flattened miles on end. Saw a Shell gas station still standing with trees and cars and trucks thrown under it. Trains and railroad tracks ripped apart. Propane tanks and boats tipped over are stuck in the first floor of a barber shop. A Cherokee jeep turned over, covered with mud still had a dome light on. It was only three days after the tsunami. Gave me the chills every time we felt the aftershocks.
"Guys, the area is vast. It's like from Tokyo to Odawara?
"The entire area is so destroyed and so mixed up that it is definitely contaminated. I lit my cigarette worrying whether that would set the entire city on flame. People don't seem to want to care about that yet. I know that these things hit much later in life to affect your health."
• Blogger BigKuma revisits a Japanese poem post 3.11.11
今何が自分にとっての1番かを考えた時に…。
ガソリンを給油する事でも泣く…。
食料品を買い込む事でも無く…。
日用品を買い溜めする事でもなく…。
何も出来ない無力な自分を責める事でもなく。
被災地の人に申し訳け無いと思う事ではなく。
生かされた命を大切にして…
皆で一緒に諦めないで前を向いて生きましょうよ上げ上げ
一緒に頑張りましょう!!
When thinking about what's the most important thing for me now…
It is not gas…
It is not buying food…
It is not stocking up on daily necessaries…
And it is not blaming myself because there is nothing I can do now.
Nor feeling bad for those in the afflicted areas.
It is to cherish the life that I was given…
Without blaming ourselves, we all have to live facing forward.
Come on, come on!
Let's do our best, all together!
Media Coverage
Japan Tsunami – Live Streaming/AutoUpdates
Kyodo Nuclear News Feed
The Guardian Japan coverage emerging as top source for comprehensive, frequently updated news coverage. Check out Ian Sample interview and timeline
NHK Japan Live:NHK Japan Live
AJ LiveBlog
Global Voices Online(Japan/English translation
Reuters
Fukushima Wikispaces
Twitter – Real Time Updates:
Global Voices Online Japan Twitter List
Japan Reuters
IAEA
WFP
Japan's PM
GP Japan
Twitter #earthquake
Twitter #japan:
Twitter #tsunami
Hashtags: #JPQuake, #japaneq, #japantsunami, #ynwa, #japaneq
Facebook
Crisis Mapping
OpenStreetMap Foundation Japan is using Ushahidi to map crisis information. Volunteers can submit reports through a form or by tweeting location information along with the hashtags #jishin (earthquake), #j_j_helpme (call for help), #hinan (evacuation), #anpi (safety status), or #311care (medical support). The hashtag for people working on the service is #osmjp.
Google Fukushima GeoEye
Google Crisis Response Maps(Layers available)
Ushahidi Local Reports Color Coded for Trusted Sources (Japanese/English)
Satellite Imagray
Media Monitoring Japan's Humanity Road
Volunteers are needed to publish and queue up for subsequent diaries. To volunteer to host an ROV or the next mothership, please email to join the group. We will be able to queue diaries for publication throughout this crisis.
Please be kind to kossacks with bandwidth issues. Please do not post images or videos. Again, many thanks for this.
ExpertCommons
• Dave Lochbaum, Union of Concerned Scientists: Interview (h/t hopeful skeptic)
• NYT: Q. and A. on the Nuclear Crisis in Japan
• Reuters Japan Factbox
• Dave Lochbaum, Union of Concerned Scientists: Interview (h/t hopeful skeptic)
• NYT: Q. and A. on the Nuclear Crisis in Japan
Start with the basics .. the Economist reports on the Japan Syndrome
• Plutonium In Fuel Rods: Cause For Concern? (part of NPR special coverage! h/t jamess)
• Japan Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry radiation data (English)US President Barack Obama announced he is ordering the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to conduct a review of all US nuclear power plants as a result of the situation in Japan. The President also reassured Americans there is no risk of exposure to significant levels of radiation.
Wishes & Prayers
312 (a song dedicated to all the victims of east Japan great earthquake) Link (for more, visit Global Voices Online: Good Wishes and Prayers sent through videos and song ...