328 replies to this topic

[ShippudenGirl]

The world is not going to end! XD Of course life is unpredictable, I mean, who predicted all this would happen to Japan?

I don't think the world is gonna end; I mean by the time the world probably ends we'd all have hover cars and live on the moon. The world will end when the Sun does... In a billion, billion years.

I'm gonna donate to Japan, I can only do $5 from my PSN, which is nothing compared to Ichiro, but I guess every little bit helps.

[Kyuudaime]

The world is not going to end! XD Of course life is unpredictable, I mean, who predicted all this would happen to Japan?

I don't think the world is gonna end; I mean by the time the world probably ends we'd all have hover cars and live on the moon. The world will end when the Sun does... In a billion, billion years.

I'm gonna donate to Japan, I can only do $5 from my PSN, which is nothing compared to Ichiro, but I guess every little bit helps.

I wanted to donate as much as he did, but sadly I was told I needed to have that amount of money in order to donate the same amount.

If the world is gonna end in 2012, do everything you want to do on that last day. Go to bed. If the world ends, you won't feel it.

And if nothing happens, good for you. Continue on with life.

Guess I'll save up a lot of money... and plan out what I wanna do.

[Insurrection]

US says worst may be over at Fukushima

http://www.bloomberg...lear-plant.html

That would be terrific but the issue is they have some tainted food and milk.

Edited by Insurrection, 21 March 2011 - 01:57 AM.

[Derock]

US says worst may be over at Fukushima

http://www.bloomberg...lear-plant.html

That would be terrific but the issue is they have some tainted food and milk.

Yeah, around the area, radiation levels are very high in milk and spinach (Don't touch that, Popeye!! DX). So, I guess it can say the worse is over, for now.

[ShippudenGirl]

Not the milk! Lol. At least the worst is over, thank goodness. Time to clean up and rebuild Japan — I kinda wanna be there, since it is spring break, which could give me an opportunity to go and help, hm.

[Sakura Blossoms]

A couple of really interesting reads:

http://news.yahoo.co...tv_japan_images

Article quoted 1 --Click here to view--

NEW YORK – Sometimes it's a fast-moving ooze: A street becomes a stream, grows into a river and then a raging mountain of moving debris. Sometimes, it's a wet curtain of water crashing over a shoreline, tossing trees, ships and cars casually aside as a child would a stack of Legos.

Until a week ago, a tsunami was one of the most mysterious of natural events, its devastating power usually evident only in the aftermath. Yet from the first moments the earth started to shudder on March 11, Japan's tsunami was one of the most recorded disasters ever to be captured on film, lending a visual power to story-telling unmatched since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks almost a decade ago.

Quake footage was available almost instantly: Office workers running outside as building chunks slam to the ground; skyscrapers swaying like evergreens in a windstorm; pictures falling off walls; store stock spilling to the floor. One man kept recording as his living room seemed to fall apart around him. His camera caught his shaky steps as he finally rushed outside.

But as dramatic as the earthquake images were, the tsunami video — some of it live — was breathtaking. A handful of tourists captured the Indonesian tsunami in 2004, but there was much less variety and inferior film quality. Technology — particularly cell-phone cameras — was not what it has become today.

Japan, too, is unique — a nation that not only produces electronics but also focuses on technology, camera phones, handheld video and digital cameras. And it may also be the most well-wired country for recording such disasters. With its geologic history, seismic monitors and robotic cameras are mounted throughout the archipelago.

Japanese news crews quickly took to the streets and skies after the earthquake, leaving them well-positioned to capture the tsunami.

At times, they were too well-positioned: A video that surfaced late last week showed a local news crew abandoning a car with the tsunami approaching and rushing into a building as water began swirling around their feet.

What, though, do these images do? Do they change how we perceive the event? Do more higher-quality images of catastrophe make it seem more real or more movielike? Will we remember the 2011 Japan tsunami differently than its calamitous predecessors because we saw so much of it so quickly?
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In the days that followed the earthquake, CNN producers constantly monitored social media sites to find newly posted material, and dozens of Japanese citizens sent footage directly to CNN, said Parisa Khosravi, senior vice president for CNN news-gathering worldwide.

"In this case, it certainly captured images that no one expected to see," she said. The story gave CNN its best ratings since President Barack Obama's inauguration in 2009, the Nielsen Co. said.

Viewers couldn't get enough — even those who were personally touched by it.

"I tried, but couldn't stop watching," said Maisararam from Banda Aceh, Indonesia, who lost her husband and three daughters in Indonesia's 2004 tsunami. "It was exactly the same, except they have this horrible footage, events unfolding right before your eyes."

One particularly arresting video showed water and debris rapidly rising as a group of people struggled to make it up a path to higher ground; CNN stopped rolling the shot — the fate of the crew unknown. In another instance, men who had raced to the top of a parking garage kept recording the tsunami even as one openly wondered whether he would survive or not.

The wealth of visual material stood in contrast to events at the earthquake-damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex where six reactor units have had fires, explosions or partial meltdowns. As the water receded and attention turned to the crippled nuclear plant, the story became one of those events that television is poorly equipped to tell.

Images are elusive. Except for a handful of aerial shots, the drama at the plant has largely been seen in fuzzy video taken from many miles away. Occasionally, water is dumped on damaged nuclear reactors from the air, yet it's so difficult to see that it must be highlighted by editors in the pictures.

Evacuation zones have also led American TV networks to pull many of their teams out of the immediate area for safety reasons over radiation poisoning.

But no one knows what is really happening at the plant, or what will happen, and how much radiation is being exposed to how many people. That leads to less-than-illuminating reports, such as Lester Holt revealing on the "Today" show that his shoes tested positive for radiation.

Other than lost footwear, what did the incident really teach us?

Television frequently returned to old-fashioned and visually dull habits out of necessity, bringing a succession of experts before cameras to report the nuclear threat.

The uncertain aspects of the story quickly led to on-air debates over whether television was "hyping" the nuclear danger. NBC's "Nightly News" pointed a finger at the media in a report that minimized any danger to the United States. Fox News Channel's Shepard Smith labeled "sad and pathetic" Americans who bought anti-radiation pills in large numbers.

Yet his own network showed this headline Friday: "Growing Concern Over Radiation Plume Drifting Over Western United States."

But radiation is not a television event; it is, for the most part, something you cannot see — ambiguous, invisible, diffuse.

There was nothing ambiguous about the tsunami footage. In an era of unremitting visuals, it was imagery like none other — another example, in a time of technological change, of how we can watch the world unfold, even in its saddest, most frightening moments.

http://news.yahoo.co..._global_tragedy

Article quoted 2 --Click here to view--

TOKYO – There are events in history that sear themselves into the world's collective imagination, and enter the realm where myth meets heartbreaking reality.

Japan's tragedy is one of those events. Already, it seems reasonable to surmise it could prove one of the most significant calamities of our time — one that shapes policies, economies, even philosophies for decades to come in an increasingly interconnected world.

There is the sheer, surreal force of the images emerging from afflicted zones: cars perched on rooftops, ships sitting in rice paddies, helicopters in a David-and-Goliath battle against radiation-spewing nuclear reactors.

And the way it haunts us with some of our most basic fears: Death by water. Or rubble. Or nuclear fallout.

Add to that, it's a crisis with an impact that will be felt around the planet: Japan is one of the most advanced countries in the world, its third-largest economy, its most successful car-seller and its second-most generous giver of foreign aid.

"This event has the potential to be the most globally disruptive natural hazard in modern times," said Rob Verchick, a disaster expert at Loyola University in New Orleans. "And it may just be, in the context of globalization, of all time."

The Asian tsunami of 2004 killed more people. The fall of the Twin Towers launched two wars. The collapse of the Berlin Wall spelled the end of an empire.

But in this event, psychological, even philosophical, shock over the confluence of human tragedy and nuclear catastrophe yields some fundamental questions. If a technological power like Japan can be so vulnerable, who's safe? Is even minimal risk, as with nuclear power, too much risk? Do we need to rethink the role of government in protecting the public?

Shaking us from modern-day hubris, we're forced to think about whether even the most advanced societies, with almost obsessively meticulous safety backstops, are still pitifully at the mercy of the elements.

But amid tragedy, Francis Fukuyama, the eminent Stanford philosopher and author of "The End of History and the Last Man," sees the possibility for the crisis to become a galvanizing force for political change in the world.

"It does seem to me a natural disaster like this, because it reminds everybody of how commonly vulnerable they are, could be used as an opportunity to reshape the whole tone and character of politics," Fukuyama told The Associated Press.

The unbelievable sight of rich Japan — famous for trains running like clockwork, state-of-the-art gadgets, concern for safety and order — laid low by a freak force of nature beyond human control has been a terrifying wake-up call. On Friday, Japan's government acknowledged that the triple blow of quake, tsunami and nuclear disaster completely overwhelmed even its elaborately laid out, and fastidiously practiced, emergency response systems.

"The unprecedented scale of the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan, frankly speaking, were among many things that happened that had not been anticipated under our disaster management contingency plans," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano.

There's another great earthquake that changed the world: Lisbon, 1755. The tsunami-churning temblor flattened the Portuguese city, killed tens of thousands of people, and caused Enlightenment thinkers to re-imagine the role of government and community.

Experts say this crisis could become another historical turning point that may alter mankind's perception of its relationship to the world, and societies' relationship with one another in an age of globalization.

"What the Lisbon earthquake experience contributed to Western history (was) this move of government being responsible to its people and protecting them in a community-driven way," said Verchick. "Is there anything like that that might happen as a result of the Japan tsunami and earthquake and nuclear disaster? I think that the answer is yes. It's related to the idea of global community."

Already the crisis is triggering an urgent rethink of nuclear power around the world, from China to Germany, where pressure is building to sharply accelerate a plan to phase out nuclear energy.

"Fukushima, March 12: 15:36: The End of the Nuclear Age," read the cover of the Germany's prestigious Der Spiegel magazine — referring to the exact time an explosion rocked the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant where workers are racing to prevent a meltdown.

While the Asian tsunami and last year's earthquake in Haiti triggered an enormous outpouring of worldwide sympathy and aid, the Japan catastrophe is one where people in industrialized countries can more easily see themselves in the victims' shoes.

"One of the things that make this a unique situation is that it is a catastrophic event with incredible terrifying loss that's occurring in a country that is also wealthy," said Verchick, author of the book Facing Catastrophe: Environmental Action for a Post-Katrina World.

Verchick said that in New Orleans, many people who lived through Hurricane Katrina are watching the scenes in Japan with a sense of gut-wrenching familiarity, with some even experiencing symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The Japan tsunami will go down in history as the more significant disaster, according to James Orr, professor of East Asian studies at Bucknell University. Not because of any difference in suffering, but because its effects will be felt around the planet in a more direct way. "Katrina was very much a regional disaster," he said.

And that global punch is given more force from the historic speed with which the images of devastation reached every corner of the planet.

"People all over the world have the ability to almost immediately see the disaster on the ground," said Verchick. "And that actually produces psychological and social changes in people and communities all over the world."

[Insurrection]

Crap,

http://www.latimes.c...0,2650127.story

http://www.abc.net.a.../22/3170109.htm


Reuters: Japan trade minister says hard to say that nuclear reactor situation heading in safe direction: Kyodo

Edited by Insurrection, 22 March 2011 - 01:01 AM.

[ciardha]

Another bit of positive news from Japan

http://www.animenews...e-in-utsunomiya

And for those that are fans of Rumiko Takahashi- have no fears for her safety, not only is she okay but she is one of the people directly involved this charity sale for the victims of the earthquake and tsunami. I recognize a number of veteran manga creators on that list.

This is a pretty extensive list of mangaka and animators with status updates after the earthquake, it's still being updated in case you want to look for someone.
https://spreadsheets...amp;hl=en#gid=0

I remember someone asked about Yuu Watase too. She is okay. She does not do Twitter but she posts a blog, and she has had two posts since the earthquake. Apparently she is having another bout of illness- noted in her blog post of the 18th and has been watching the news reports about Fukushima and the tsunami devastated regions. From what I could get from her post of the 18th like she would like to participate in the charity event but she thinks her illness will probably prevent it.
http://ameblo.jp/wataseyuu/

Non mangaka but a creative person with direct ties to Japan. Yoko Ono posted on her weekly Q&A that she has suffered a personal loss as a result of the earthquake/tsunami. (I know her brother Keisuke is in Tokyo and was reported as okay as are his wife and children, but she has many cousins and they don't all live in Tokyo.) Her raw pain comes through really clear here- as her English is usually impeccably correct- she spent part of her childhood (2-5 years old and 7-8 years old) in the US and has lived the majority of her life in the west (all her adult life except for the years 1962-4):

http://imaginepeace.com/archives/12671

What she says:
" It is a sad story, I wish not to share with you at this time. I am not the only one who lost. Many people lost more than me, I know."

Edited by ciardha, 23 March 2011 - 04:05 AM.

[Sakura Blossoms]

Holy CRAP! The price tag! D;

http://news.yahoo.co...thquake_economy

[Derock]

Holy CRAP! The price tag! D;

http://news.yahoo.co...thquake_economy

Figures. And the price outrank the Katrina incident.

[Insurrection]

Houston, We have a Problem...

http://www.cnn.com/2...gle Feedfetcher

Evacuation Zones Expanded

http://www.nytimes.c...cDjN7x PYeMPN5g

This Story is not over, Not by a Long Shot.

Also the Two Fukushima workers that were working at the plant and had to go to the hospital for radiation exposure were exposed to 10000 times more radiation than normal.

Japan finds Plutonium OUTSIDE Fukushima Plant

http://gizmodo.com/#!5786400/plutonium...-the-first-time

http://news.blogs.cn...-daiichi-plant/


Another 6.5 Aftershock hit Northern Japan this morning.


Low Level Radiation from Fukushima Detected in Rainwater......In Massachusetts.

http://www.reuters.c...E72R4MZ20110328

Edited by Insurrection, 28 March 2011 - 05:58 PM.

[ShippudenGirl]

...

Will the madness ever end?! This is so upsetting!

[alexander]

...

Will the madness ever end?! This is so upsetting!

You know what they say, its just the calm before the storm, then the kitten hits the fan. Somehow, I aways tought that mankind is very unlucky when it comes to massive disasters.

[Insurrection]

Radioactive Flood in Reactor Tunnels

http://www.ft.com/cm...s#axzz1Hv1wVnjt

Okay, Now I think this is over the top. They have a tunnel network under a leaking reactor and they tried to cool the reactor by spraying and filling water into the things for days. Me believes there was a leak.


Also TEPCO's Chief Executive Has Seemingly Vanished:

http://www.washingto...HNpB_story.html

Edited by Insurrection, 28 March 2011 - 08:57 PM.

[Insurrection]

Workers May Have Lost Race to Save Reactor:

http://www.guardian....nuclear-reactor

Minute Radiation Detected in Carolinas, Florida and UK

http://online.wsj.co...3487550772.html

http://www.guardian....found-across-uk

Price Tag for disaster could be $309 Billion

Edited by Insurrection, 29 March 2011 - 07:10 PM.

[Cloud]

...

Will the madness ever end?! This is so upsetting!

No. Not when Mother Earth unleashes her fury. And then all hell breaks loose.

[Verilance]

don't know if this is the best place for this but here is Kishimoto's art in support of the earthquake survivors

[Derock]

don't know if this is the best place for this but here is Kishimoto's art in support of the earthquake survivors

It would had been nice to add Sakura and some slugs since they're actual medics because I hardly expect Naruto summons a nurse frog. But whatever, nice artwork and I'm glad you're still around, Kishimoto-san!

[Insurrection]

That artwork should include Sakura and her Slugs for medical issues, but it is nice overall.

High Radiation outside Japanese Evac Zone:
http://www.reuters.c...E72T78120110330

Radioactive Water Clean-Up Urgent at Reactor:
http://www.bbc.co.uk...onment-12908313

Japanese officials say battle to save reactors has Failed, Reactors 1-4 to be scrapped if they can get near them.
http://www.guardian....reactors-failed

Kyodo news reports Seawater 4385 times more Radioactive then legal limit around Fukushima Nuke Plant

Water Pumping Operations Stopped

http://online.wsj.co...3520924172.html

REPORT: JAPAN TO TAKE OVER TEPCO

http://www.reuters.c...E72U7QH20110331

THIS IS ALL THE REASONING YOU NEED TO KNOW, WHAT THE CONDITIONS THE WORKERS ARE IN.

http://www.cnn.com/2...dex.html?hpt=T1

CEMENT PUMPS SENT TO JAPAN

http://www.msnbc.msn...ws-asiapacific/

Edited by Insurrection, 01 April 2011 - 04:25 AM.