Tag Archives: earthquake

International, Opinion

More than a year after the 7.0 Haiti quake, still no aid getting to the people, bad sign for Japan

Haiti was hit by a 7.0 quake in January 2010, which devastated several cities.  Donations came in, officially anyway, but according to the UN (United Nations) only a fraction has gotten through.

Donations to Japan, after their catastrophic disasters on March 11, still lag behind the official donation numbers reported for Haiti. Japanese media is already reporting problems getting aid to their people.

“Tanks, armored vehicles and soldiers should have given way to bulldozers, engineers, more police instructors, experts in support to justice and to the penitentiary system.”-President René Préval

Outgoing Haitian President René Préval has pleaded with countries, and charities, to hurry up and get the aid out. President Préval is the only Haitian president to complete two terms without being jailed or exiled.

“Now that we’ve had this election, and the international community has accepted the results and verified and participated in the oversight of it, I think greater donor disbursements are important.”-Bill Clinton, UN Secretary General’s special envoy for Haiti

This is not a good sign for the people of Japan. Haiti got more aid money than Japan, so far, and yet, more than a year later, Haiti is still waiting to see it. I don’t think Japan, with its catastrophic disasters, can rely on any help from the world community.

Fukushima, International

Heroine Miki Endo stayed at her post, warning people of the Tsunami until the very end. Update

In one north eastern Honshu coastal town, a city employee manned the emergency loudspeaker system, right up to the very end.

In video from NHK you can hear the woman’s voice echoing through the city (it’s truly haunting when you realize what is going on) even as the tsunami sweeps over all the buildings, including the 3 story town hall.  Miki Endo told residents to get to higher ground, over and over, with an intensity that caused some residents to think twice about going back home. One woman said if it wasn’t for Miki’s announcements she would not have realized the severity of the situation, and would have returned home instead of seeking higher ground.

Here’s a Spanish language news report that has the haunting NHK video.  I had a link to the original NHK report but apparently it’s been removed from the internet.

The 3 story steel I-beam framed town hall is nothing but a skeleton now.  The walls, floor and roof are gone.  Workers in the building rushed to the roof when they realized the tsunami was taller than the top floor.  The roof was still not tall enough, and most lost their lives, the survivors said they held on to exposed pylons for dear life.  The whole time Miki Endo, still inside the town hall, stayed at her post telling the towns people to get to higher ground, telling them they must go higher.

From left to right: The top of the 3 story Disaster Center (where people had fled thinking it was safe) completely covered by water, the water begins to recede, in just a few seconds the tsunami had totally striped the 3 story building killing almost everybody.

To update the story, and since so many people continue to read it, it turns out that Miki was not the only one who stayed at her post.  Miki’s boss stayed by her side, he also urged residents to get to higher ground, he was lost as well.

Miki has not been seen since, and her parents refuse to leave the devastated town, hoping to find her.

Fukushima

Quakes shotgun Japan, rail lines shut down

Several Prefectures reporting aftershocks of 3 to 6 on the Japanese quake scale.

At least 5 prefectures were mentioned, including Fukushima, Miyagi, Ibaraki and Tokai.

People in Fukushima say two quakes hit, and they were sharp upward jolts.  In another prefecture they reported an upward jolt. In yet another prefecture a sideways jolt followed by an upward jolt.

In another prefecture the recently restored rail service was shut down.

Aftershocks felt all over Honshu today.

Fukushima, International

Ring of Fire Seismic Events part 3 Big 9.0+ Quakes

Since the turn of the 20th Century there have been only 5 monster quakes registering 9.0 or higher.

1952 Soviet Kamchatka 9.0

1960 Chile 9.5

1964 Alaska 9.4

2004 Sumatra/Indonesia 9.1

2011 Japan 9.0

They are all related; they are all on, or connected to, the Pacific Ring of Fire.

The time between each quake is not equally spaced so it’s not possible to predict when the next one will hit (using that method).  8 years between Kamchatka &  Chile, 4 years between Chile & Alaska, 40 years between Alaska & Sumatra, 7 years between Sumatra & Japan.

International

Thousands of Bodies Found

France 24 reporters, in Japan, are reporting that tens of thousands of bodies have been found.

The reporters say at least 2000 bodies have been found on beaches and along the coast line.

Another reporter said that in one city local police are keeping people out of one part of the city.  The reporter asked why and was told that they found at least 13,000 bodies piled in that part of the city.

Currently, the official Japanese government report of dead is at 1800.  It’s clear that the Japanese officials are masters of understatement.

Fukushima

Japan Update: Reactor 2 Now Critical, More Quakes, Survivor’s Stories

200 plus aftershock/quakes greater than magnitude 5 have hit all over Japan (if I heard right, this was in a 24 hour period).  These are not just in the area of the main quake, but all over Japan, another sign of a major geological event.

At least half a million people are in emergency shelters. The shelters are running out of food and water.

At least 15,000 people are officially missing.

Fukushima nuclear plant 1; officials admit that reactor 2 fuel rods melted/permanent damage, caused by a huge drop in coolant levels. Pumping in water failed the first time, because the rods were so hot it all evaporated. They are attempting to pump in more water.

For the first time in Japan’s modern history, reserve military forces are being called up. Also, 13 countries are currently helping with rescue efforts.  As many as 96 countries are offering help.

To help with the economy, which has literally been stopped, the Bank of Japan has injected billions in cash, and has announced that it will increase asset purchases.

There is home video from survivors, which demonstrates the surrealness of the event.  In one video people have run up a hill near their town. They are heard screaming at others to hurry up, “Run, run faster!”, as the wall of water engulfs their town and heads towards the hill they are on.  One survivor said the event made it impossible to think, you just ran.  Another survivor, after seeing the total destruction of her town, and loss of life, said “It would have been better if I died.”.

International

Ring of Fire Seismic Events part 1

I am looking into seismic events around the Pacific Ring of Fire.  I was thinking of doing a review of the past 12 months, however, it has become clear by going back just to January of 2011, that the Ring of Fire is going non-stop with seismic events, so it might be a daunting task.

The events picked up frequency and intensity since the end of February, especially around Japan.  Hawaii is also seeing a change in seismic activity.

People might say: Hawaii and volcanoes, so?  The recent volcanic activity in Hawaii is cause for concern because the type of seismic readings geologist have gotten have radically changed.  The tremors have become denser.  Back in February a U.S. Geological Survey report said there was a “…unusually high number…” of volcanic tremors.

The most recent Global Volcanism Program report (from the first week of March) on volcanic activity shows almost all activity is around the Pacific Ring of Fire.  Most activity is in East Asia, mainly Japan, but also in Kamchatka, Luzon (Philippines), and Java (Indonesia). There is also activity in Hawaii, Mexico and Guatemala.  A volcano in the British Caribbean colony of Montserrat is also active, but that’s not in the Pacific.

Something of interest, in looking at maps I have discovered that Hawaii, Guatemala, Luzon and the volcanic activity in Mexico, takes place between the Tropic of Cancer and the Equator.  Even Montserrat, in the Caribbean, is between the Tropic of Cancer and the Equator (as well as Haiti, remember their big quake?).

I hope to get more done on this, to establish a time line that shows whether there is an increase in geologic activity, or not.