Mar 13, 2011: Japan: earthquake, tsunami and aftermath

[Undertoad]

Boston.com's Big Picture has an amazing collection of photos out of which it's impossible to pick one, so here's the first. Amazing and sad, all of it. As I watched the video of water coming in and taking everything with it, sometimes a fire would break out as a house or other building would be taken. And that's the most amazing thing, amongst all this water, that fire would still be a major concern somehow.

[Razzmatazz13]

Thanks Cellar... without cable I was having a hard time finding reliable information about this. It's so massive that it's hard to wrap your head around. The photos help a lot more than statistics for me to get a grasp on it.

[SPUCK]

What keeps going thru my head is:

Where are they gonna dump all this crap? It' not like a few truck loads to the dump! Japan doesn't even have the space for a landfill this big.

Discussion:
If thru some miracle this whole place was cleaned up into a gorgeous garden like spot - what would be your opinion/thinking on rebuilding a home three hundred feet from the beach?

[ZenGum]

Maybe they will use the waste as landfill to reclaim/build up a few more square kilometres of land area from the sea. And then build on it. Until the next big earthquake and tsunami.

ETA: Japan is very used to destruction and rebuilding. Some temples are rebuilt every 20 years to keep the techniques alive. They are still regarded to be several hundred years old.

[SPUCK]

Check this nice before-after on MSNBC. It's very well done.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42064847...ws-asiapacific

[Gravdigr]

Have you noticed we haven't heard the "L" word? No looting, yet. Wonder why? Decent, civilized people perhaps?

[bluecuracao]

Or there's nothing left to loot...the stores that weren't destroyed are out of everything.

[lupin..the..3rd]

Originally Posted by ZenGum

ETA: Japan is very used to destruction and rebuilding. Some temples are rebuilt every 20 years to keep the techniques alive. They are still regarded to be several hundred years old.

Don't forget Godzilla. And Mothra too. This quake is nothing compared to the destruction those two have caused.

[onetrack]

There is almost no looting, because the Japanese are very civilised, and stealing is regarded as a very low act. In addition, police have local stations in every suburb, and know 98% of the people in their operating region .. so they know when outsiders or strangers appear, and they watch anyone carefully, with a known criminal history. Thus, criminality is very low in relation to many other "civilised" nations.

Excellent tsunami picture site here .. these pics were taken on the day of the tsunami, and one or two days afterwards .. http://totallycoolpix.com/2011/03/th...ami-aftermath/

I have no idea how the Japs will clean up the mess. One thing is for sure, it will take a long time. However, there will be a very large % of the wreckage recycled, as the Japs don't create much waste, they can't afford to, as they have nowhere available for landfills.
As you can see in the "before" pics on the MSNBC website, every square metre of available land is used .. for building on, or for farming.

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by onetrack

There is almost no looting, because the Japanese are very civilised, and stealing is regarded as a very low act. In addition, police have local stations in every suburb, and know 98% of the people in their operating region .. so they know when outsiders or strangers appear, and they watch anyone carefully, with a known criminal history.

On the other hand, this can blind them rather foolishly. Most of my female (white) friends have been left alone, but the white male I know who's been teaching English over there for years has been approached personally by the cops in every new place he's moved into, and every time there's a crime in his area. One cop explained that it was policy to check on the whereabouts of all foreigners when a crime was committed, because "Japanese people don't commit crime."

[onetrack]

Yes, that must be annoying, but that's the way the Japanese police work. You can't deny the fact that their overall crime rate is low. The Jap cop was probably being a little too bolshy with his statement .. but basically, he's right.
If a crime is committed in Japan, there's a high likelihood it's a newcomer to the area. In addition, males are grossly over-represented in all crime, so males are the ones that immediate suspicion falls upon.

One thing I did notice, and I don't think I'm wrong. Did anyone else notice that the largest % of Japanese shown in the disaster areas, were relatively elderly people?
This would jell with the fact that the Japanese population is aging .. and that older folk commit far less crime than younger people .. thus the relative lack of looting.

[Lamplighter]

This is a link to a 2-page article out today on behind-the-scenes
government activities during and after the tsunami.

As I recall the events, the US and international experts were saying that
things at the nuclear power plants were much worse than what
was being reported by the governmental authorities.
This article pretty much confirms that
... and what most of us have come to see from later news reports.

ABC News
By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press
3/9/12

Records Show Japan Gov't Knew Meltdown Risk Early

Just four hours after the tsunami swept into the Fukushima nuclear power plant,
Japan's leaders knew the damage was so severe the reactors could melt down,
but they kept their knowledge secret for months.
Five days into the crisis, then-Prime Minister Naoto Kan
voiced his fears it could turn worse than Chernobyl.<snip>

Apparently the government tried to play down the severity of the damage.
A spokesman for the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency was replaced
after he slipped out a possibility of meltdown during a news conference March 12.<snip>

While then-trade minister Banri Kaieda suggested on March 11 that
residents within a 10-kilometer (6-mile) radius might have to be evacuated,
the government ordered 1,800-plus residents within a 2-kilometer (1.2-mile) zone to leave.
Then that expanded to 3 kilometers, then to 10 kilometers within two hours,
and finally to 20 kilometers the next day.<snip>

The plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., acknowledged a partial meltdown much later, in May.
<snip>

[HungLikeJesus]

tw knew.

[Lamplighter]

and said so

[footfootfoot]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

One cop explained that it was policy to check on the whereabouts of all foreigners when a crime was committed, because "Japanese people don't commit crime in their own country, if anyone is watching."