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Post by flatin5th - Knight of the NC on Mar 12, 2011 9:44:59 GMT
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Post by inky on Mar 12, 2011 10:19:27 GMT
I agree. The pictures are truly horrifying and the death toll, which they keep saying will be around 1300, must be greater when you see the devastation that has occurred. I'm supposed to be taking the dogs out but the news feeds are compulsive  |
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Post by eclairscream on Mar 12, 2011 12:39:26 GMT
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Post by grizabella on Mar 12, 2011 15:04:08 GMT
I have been watching Al-Jazeera and BBC news alongside with the Finnish news (a bit too much for my own good) and it is truly terrifying. And as if the earthquake and tsunami hadn't been enough as such, now the nuclear disaster as well  Just had to retweet this a while ago: "Nuclear power plants, if we're honest, are a good example of man's reach exceeding his grasp." |
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Post by meimichan on Mar 12, 2011 16:29:04 GMT
Honestly...it's what's always been happening in the world, we're all just MUCH better connected these days and able to get news right from the source due to stuff like Twitter and people being able to instantly set up live feeds and send photos of what's happening. Just found out there was an explosion at the Fukushima reactor(not nuclear related, thank heavens), and another aftershock earthquake of 6.0 I've read that Japan's infrastructure, which is built to withstand earthquakes because they do have a LOT of them(not of this magnitude), along with their frequent tsunami drills, saved millions of lives. Even more depressing, found out that the USA would NOT have survived a quake of that magnitude nearly as well, if at all. And our west coast is prone to them, so that is kind of terrifying to think about. They're still probably not done with the aftershocks and dear lord let's all hope that reactor at Fukushima holds or that WILL be the disaster. And I just found out that all the people I know over in Japan are all right. *breathes sigh of relief* I'd completely forgotten that two friends from high school live there. From copedy on Twitter: 韓国人の友達からさっききたメール。(日本語訳後) 「世界唯一の核被爆国。大戦にも負けた。毎年台風がくる。地震だってくる。津波もくる……小さい島国だけど、それでも立ち上がってきたのが日本なんじゃないの。頑張れ超頑張れ。」 ちなみに僕いま泣いてる。 Translation into English: I just got this email from a Korean friend. (translated to Japanese) "The only country in the world to be victim to a nuclear bomb. They lost the war. Every year hurricanes come along. Earthquakes come too. Tsunamis come too... Japan, this small island country, still keeps rising back up. Good luck. Keep doing your best." Incidentally, I'm crying right now. This link has a few resources for charities to donate to and other ways to help Japan if anyone is interested. community.livejournal.com/ontd_political/7881735.html?nc=30&page=1#commentsSorry for the massive post, I am apparently a very prolific commenter. :/ ETA: Oooh...guess this board is not a big fan of kanji. Sorry for the numbers in there everyone.  |
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Post by meimichan on Mar 12, 2011 23:53:52 GMT
Sorry for my double post in this thread...but I think it's been confirmed that unit 1 of the Fukushima plant is in meltdown. *insert terror here* I heard from another source on LJ that this unit was supposed to be retired in about two weeks. *insert swear words of choice here for mother nature's bloody awful timing* motherjones.com/blue-marble/2011/03/japans-nuclear-emergency |
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Post by meimichan on Mar 15, 2011 18:25:33 GMT
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Post by andypanty on Mar 15, 2011 19:25:16 GMT
Pretty inaccurate. Or at least it may be accurate, but it is WAY over-hyped. Yes, it is horrendous for Japan, and people living near the plant are in danger of health risks. There will also be (may already have been) a slight increase in background radiation from this event worldwide (it was noticed by staff that I work with in London after Chernobyl) but it is not going to be at harmful levels this far away. This webpage[/color] has some very good answers to questions that we are all asking. I personally think that Japan could be more open and communicate more about what is actually happening, but with the IAEA and experts from Britain and the USA now on the scene I think that the information will soon be improved. The fact that the Japanese workers at the plant have so far managed to avoid a meltdown happening is seriously good news; the longer this state of affairs stays the better, as the plants are shut down (unlike Chernobyl, which blew up while the nuclear reaction was still taking place) so the remaining radioactive products are decaying all the time. |
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Post by meimichan on Mar 15, 2011 19:33:55 GMT
The fact that the Japanese workers at the plant have so far managed to avoid a meltdown happening is seriously good news; the longer this state of affairs stays the better, as the plants are shut down (unlike Chernobyl, which blew up while the nuclear reaction was still taking place) so the remaining radioactive products are decaying all the time. Definitely agree on that one. I know a bunch of the Big 10 universities in the states offered up some experts to help. I did hear that on a scale of 1-7, what's going on in Japan was upped from a 4 to a 6, but so far, they are keeping it under control. I kinda hate how disaster-porn-like news reporting has become. Makes it harder to find facts. But yeah, the higher radiation levels aren't high enough to do damage. Just cause concern. And now for a dumb question-how did you get it to say 'this webpage' instead of it just posting the link? I'm an expert at doing that on blogs, but I cannot figure it out here.  |
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Post by andypanty on Mar 15, 2011 19:39:30 GMT
And now for a dumb question-how did you get it to say 'this webpage' instead of it just posting the link? I'm an expert at doing that on blogs, but I cannot figure it out here. Do this: (without the spaces before and after the [] brackets) [ url=www.etc] Whatever you want to appear as the text [ /url ] It defaults to navy blue text, which isn't that clear against the normal black, so I highlight my text and change the colour to red. So for the above, I did this: [url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12732015][color=red]This webpage[/url][/color] |
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Post by meimichan on Mar 15, 2011 19:58:48 GMT
Thank you!  |
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I held you, you felt me, I touched you, you kissed me.......
I think personally if they only come out of this with 2000 people (too many) dead then they have done ok.... this is such a catastrophe of huge mega proportions that you would have thought it would claim more lives. 
