Huge Earthquake Hits Japan

[eri]

-- never mind. Not worth the drama.

[Shoujo Q]

Sorry to disrupt the fight that's about to go down but apparently a volcano just popped in Japan. Like they don't have enough problems already?

The Meteorological Agency issued a warning Sunday saying that Shinmoedake volcano resumed activity after a couple of quiet weeks. The mountain is on Kyushu island, 950 miles (1,500 kilometers) from the epicenter of Friday's magnitude 8.9 earthquake and resulting tsunami, which devastated much of the country's northeastern coast. It was unclear if the eruptions were linked to quake.

[tsukinobyouin]

[quote name='donut' timestamp='1300034987' post='95276']

[quote name='alita87' timestamp='1300007716' post='95269']

Bullshit from someone whose head is so far up her own culturally imperialist asshole, she declares herself the expert after a few months and pithy generalizations from unrelated events. Also attributes ptsd related survival tactics, stress, and accommodating rolling blackouts to tv-related stupidity. It's calm, Japanese nation! Some idiot foreign kid knows better than you okay geez[/quote]

[/quote]



I can't find an appropriate icon considering the seriousness of the situation we're talking about. They all seem a bit crass. So I'll just have to say "seconded."



Re: Volcano. That's terrible news. I hope the damage is minimal.



Here is some info on the rolling blackouts. They have pdfs that break down the times for each region, in case anyone wants to check on when their friends and loved ones might go radio silent for a bit.

[momoirosaya]

Shit. My family's in Kyuushuu!!!! But it was in Kagoshima not Miyazaki....

[al kusanagi]

A bunch of translated Tweets from Japan.



My eyes are just watering because of allergies, dammit!

[Vikitty]

jeez al, I'm tearing up.



"Transport facilities were dead and I was so tired waiting so long. Then, a homeless guy gave me a cardboard saying "use this, it can warm you up". I used to pass homeless people by even when they were begging... Although what he did to me was such a sweet stuff. "

[Gerald]

[quote name='Al Kusanagi' timestamp='1300054288' post='95288']

My eyes are just watering because of allergies, dammit!

[/quote]

I seem to be suffering from the same allergies, sometimes you think there might still be some hope for the human race.

[Miss Moonlight]

[quote name='Al Kusanagi' timestamp='1300054288' post='95288']

A bunch of translated Tweets from Japan.

[/quote]

<img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... pyeyes.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':puppyeyes:' />

I hope the positivity and goodwill keeps up throughout the recovery process, and that more people in the world take a page out of their book whether they're facing tragedy or not.

[aine]

I didn't know them allergies were contagious.





From the not-so-uplifting-news department, Reactor 3 suffered a similar hydrogen blast as Reactor 1 earlier AND the cooling system has now failed in the Reactor 2 as well. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /ph34r.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':ph34r:' />



They say Reactor 3 itself has not been damaged and they have the situation under control still. It's still very worrying, with the continuing failures and the constantly growing evacuation zone.

[Miss Moonlight]

^I'm just a lowly graphic designer and not a nuclear expert, but it sure seems like whoever is talking to the media is downplaying the severity of the nuclear situation. I really hope that's not the case.

[Shoujo Q]

[quote name='Miss Moonlight' timestamp='1300109367' post='95308']

^I'm just a lowly graphic designer and not a nuclear expert, but it sure seems like whoever is talking to the media is downplaying the severity of the nuclear situation. I really hope that's not the case.

[/quote]



They always downplay crap like this. Least you have an entire country thinking they're about to experience Hiroshima 2.0. Which is what it's sounding like to me.

[tsukinobyouin]

^ <a href="http://bravenewclimate.com/2011/03/13/f ... tion/">Not quite</a>. (Though I believe this was written before the latest updates Aine just post about, I think there are some good news sources linked at the bottom of the article).

[eri]

About 2,000 bodies were found washed up on shore near Miyagi.

This is a good overview so far:

http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/loca ... lumbiaHome



Relief efforts have been stymied because:

Normally in a disaster situation, local municipalities welcome international aid teams and help them reach the hardest-hit areas. But several days after the disaster, he said, there are still many areas where local officials have been completely silent, suggesting entire communities were obliterated.

Seriously, wtf.



This story made me cry for a while.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/tears-a ... 6021385018



And, Tokyo goes dark. With the rolling blackouts and energy conservation efforts going on across the country, the whole country really seems to be at a grieving standstill.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld ... 8855.story





I feel like...

news agencies (and people in general) get really interested in these big disasters because of the sensationalism and all...but interest dies away after a while or when the next big news happens. I guess that is the nature of "news" -- because it has to be new! Still, I hope people don't forget this in years to come because it will take a long long time for the area (maybe whole country) to heal from this emotionally and economically.

[Ap2000]

I don't understand why the Japanese government won't let all of the foreign help agencies into the land.

This does definitely NOT shed a good light on them. Why would you do this !?

[eri]

[quote name='Ap2000' timestamp='1300117399' post='95315']

I don't understand why the Japanese government won't let all of the foreign help agencies into the land.

This does definitely NOT shed a good light on them. Why would you do this !?

[/quote]



Hm? I heard that too at first but I think it was a matter of controlling and managing the relief teams. It seems that many international relief teams are heading towards Japan now.

[al kusanagi]

From what I've heard it's more the power company turning away help from several nuclear experts/cleanup teams. Those fuckers are going to burn when this is all over and I see a massive restructuring of Japan's power network. If you didn't know the East and West halves of Japan use DIFFERENT POWER STANDARDS!!! For some reason they didn't see it as problem when the country modernized so one half uses 120/50hz and the other 220/60hz (I think I got that right) which limits the resources that can be diverted to those areas.



Also, I know I talked a lot of shit about Winter Sonata, but big ups to Bae Yong Joon!

[Madara]

[quote name='Al Kusanagi' timestamp='1300122806' post='95318']

From what I've heard it's more the power company turning away help from several nuclear experts/cleanup teams. Those fuckers are going to burn when this is all over and I see a massive restructuring of Japan's power network. If you didn't know the East and West halves of Japan use DIFFERENT POWER STANDARDS!!! For some reason they didn't see it as problem when the country modernized so one half uses 120/50hz and the other 220/60hz (I think I got that right) which limits the resources that can be diverted to those areas.



Also, I know I talked a lot of shit about Winter Sonata, but big ups to Bae Yong Joon!

[/quote]



In that same link is AKB48's response: http://www.tokyohive.com/2011/03/akb48- ... -accounts/



Is Hello! Project doing anything?

[al kusanagi]

I don't know if UFA is doing anything, but Sayu is showing her Eco-Moni roots and urging people to conserve power. S/mileage is saying the same, and I think Tsunku has made/started up some kind of donations.

[tsukinobyouin]

The support from celebrities and fans alike has been one heartwarming thing to hear about. George Takei has been tweeting away, helping raise awareness and distribute news.



A search and rescue team from near my hometown sent 72 people, search and rescue dogs, and 75 tons of supplies a few days ago. They're well trained and experienced - they went to Haiti, New Orleans, etc. It's nice to hear about some help finally getting out there.

[al kusanagi]

At least through the 18th, Sega is donating 100% of all sales of Football Manager Handheld 2011 for various iDevices to disaster relief charities in Japan.



Not a huge soccer fan, but definitely 10 bucks well-spent.

[Ap2000]

[quote name='donut' timestamp='1300118751' post='95317']

[quote name='Ap2000' timestamp='1300117399' post='95315']

I don't understand why the Japanese government won't let all of the foreign help agencies into the land.

This does definitely NOT shed a good light on them. Why would you do this !?

[/quote]



Hm? I heard that too at first but I think it was a matter of controlling and managing the relief teams. It seems that many international relief teams are heading towards Japan now.

[/quote]



All I know is the Austrian agencies have not been asked to help.

Which is a loss for Japan, since the Austrian team is pretty good at mudflows and floods. We have those from time to time too.

I've donated to the Austrian Red Cross though, since it seems they do get into Japan via the main Red Cross agency or something.



@Al; I'm afraid nothing will change in the power network. Shit will probably just get covered up, as usual.

[Shoujo Q]

The Japanese government has formally requested the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Agency's assistance in responding to the situation at its nuclear power plants.

They finally are admitting they can't fix it on their own anymore. So you know it's bad when the Japanese need help.

[eri]

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011 ... an.html#28

This photo series is heart breaking



follow up to same photo:

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Compo ... log900.jpg

MSNBC Quote: "Eiji Kanno (L) and his wife Matsuko (white coat) are grief-stricken as it is officially confirmed that their 18-year-old daughter Mizuki is dead inside the tsunami-destroyed car in Yamamoto, south of Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan."

And this story totally fucked me up.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/15/world ... 1&ref=asia



I can't read any more. It is emotionally too much. I think I'll just stick to translating blog posts and all that.

[Shoujo Q]

Donations to help Japan have been relatively slow to come, reaching about $12 million so far, according to an early tally by the Chronicle of Philanthropy, a newspaper covering nonprofit organizations.



That number is far below the first four-day totals of other recent natural disasters, CNNMoney reports. More than $150 million was raised toward relief within four days of the crisis in Haiti, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy. In the case of Hurricane Katrina, donations exceeded $108 million during the crucial first four days.



"Japan is not Haiti and it's not Indonesia, it's a developed country with a GDP somewhat similar to our country. It's not what people typically think of as a country in need of wide-scale international aid," said Daniel Borochoff, president of the American Institute of Philanthropy.

I'm guilty of not donating yet. I don't get paid till Thursday and last week was a bill week so of course I feel horrible that I haven't done anything yet. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... ryalot.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':cryalot:' />

[Melon]

I lost it at:

When I was on the train, I heard two old ladies

talking.

“The policeman told me to turn off the light because we were short of it.”

“We used to spend a lot of time without lights for the good of our country during the World War 2. This time, we don’t need to worry about the bombs falling over us. We’ll gladly turn off the light, won’t we?”

People around them became silent.

I was almost crying.

And then I read eri's stories and completely lost it. Had to go into the breakroom and compose myself. :(

I'm guilty of not donating yet. I don't get paid till Thursday and last week was a bill week so of course I feel horrible that I haven't done anything yet. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... ryalot.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':cryalot:' />

Is the BBS going to do a grand donation? I know it was mentioned earlier in the thread.

And there's the question of what charity. Not all charities are created equal....or spend your money like they say they will.

[al kusanagi]

I've donated to the Red Cross and got that game that Sega is making donations with, but if the board is arranging something I could find a bit more.



From what I've looked at, Red Cross seems to be one of the better options because they've got a large representation in Japan, but I don't know what purely Japan-based options are out there.

[eri]

What grand timing haha. Maeda Yuuka has just posted a call for donations:



http://blog.mm-bbs.org/maeda-yuuka/7289

[Ap2000]

[quote name='PKyu' timestamp='1300138959' post='95330']



"Japan is not Haiti and it's not Indonesia, it's a developed country with a GDP somewhat similar to our country. It's not what people typically think of as a country in need of wide-scale international aid,"

[/quote]



I think indeed that's a problem.

Sure, Japan is a big country and the gov can (and does already) a lot, but there's only so much a country can do itself.

[al kusanagi]

[quote name='donut' timestamp='1300139915' post='95335']

What grand timing haha. Maeda Yuuka has just posted a call for donations:



http://blog.mm-bbs.org/maeda-yuuka/7289

[/quote]



Captain Saki also mentioned donations on her blog, so maybe HP will set up something more organized.

[Shoujo Q]

I wouldn't mind funneling into a larger group pot of money.



Aside from the 48s and a few big name artists I don't know of any Japanese only donation places.



I was thinking of this place. But I don't know. I want my money to go directly to japan and not to some big wig whose going to take my money and give out a tissue for their issues.