Patterico's Pontifications

3/11/2011

More Video on the Japanese Earthquake/Tsunami (Update: “quake ruptured a patch of the earth’s crust 150 miles long and 50 miles across”; More Bad Signs at the Nuke Plant)

Filed under: General — Aaron Worthing @ 11:10 am



[Guest post by Aaron Worthing; if you have tips, please send them here.]

Update (VI): Well, you knew this was coming. Its all the fault of “climate change.” Bwahahahahaha!!!

If only our climate stood precisely still, then we would never have natural disasters!

Update (III): How “holy crap” massive was this Earthquake? This massive:

A massive earthquake that struck off the coast of Japan Friday was the strongest quake in the area in nearly 1,200 years.

David Applegate, a senior science adviser for earthquake and geologic hazards for the U.S. Geological Survey, said the 8.9-magnitude quake ruptured a patch of the earth’s crust 150 miles long and 50 miles across.

Damn.

Update (V): And even more how how it jarred the surface of the Earth, here.

Update (VII): And it turns out we didn’t give them coolant, after all:

Speaking at the White House, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also said U.S. Air Force planes were carrying “some really important coolant” to the site, but administration officials later said she misspoke. The U.S. offered to send Japan coolant to help with the reactor but the Japanese declined, saying they already had the necessary supplies, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

Update (VIII): Drudge says things are getting worse at the nuke plant. On the site (no link):

Radiation levels at damaged Fukushima-Daiichi nuke plant are continuing to rise… levels are 8X above normal. Ministry official: ‘Possibility of radioactive leak’…

And at this link there is a breaking news item that reads: “Radiation levels in Fukushima Daiichi plant central control unit is 1,000 times normal, Kyodo says.”

Update (IX): Interactive map of the aftershocks, here. Non interactive version, here:

Update (IV): And we have an Indionesian volcano erupting, now. And a Japanese dam broke. No word on any plague of locusts, yet.

Update (II): Look at the end of the post for even more video.

Update: If you can’t get to a TV, here’s a live Cnn feed:

Watch live video from CNN LIVE NEWS STREAM on Justin.tv

Update (II): They are getting ready to release slightly radioactive steam from that nuclear reactor. Which means that the story is officially continuing to get worse.

———————–

It got to be too many updates for one post, again, so here’s another post with some more wild video.  So be sure to check out other stories here and here.  This shows the flood waters coming in the Miyagi Prefecture.

I am going to put most of this below the fold because a lot of these video players play automatically. Be ready for that if you hit the “more” button.

Um, that’s right we have had reason to make Godzilla jokes, Birther jokes and now Karate Kid jokes with the Miyagi Prefecture.  We have a full trifecta going here of hard-to-resist humor.

Here’s more footage from the same area being flooded:

And finally I have viewable footable of that whirlpool:

That’s all from the Telegraph.

And this is from Cnn, and is Sendai Airport, in part on fire.

And via the Blaze we see another angle on the same scene:

And we see the wave come into Kamaishi:

And this is it pouring across the countryside, and in this situation apparently if the water doesn’t get you, the fire on top of the debris will.  Yike.

And also via the Blaze, this appears to be jumbled footage from the AP, for individual stations to chop up and use as they see fit:

Update: We have a lot more video footage. Here you see evacuees watching their neighborhoods float away. Yike.

And here’s some footage during the quake in downtown Tokyo, showing buildings swaying. From an engineering perspective, that is what they are supposed to do—to bend, so they don’t break. But that must have been terrifying for anyone inside:

And here is Kesennumma on fire:

And a supermarket during the quake:

Video of an explosion at a Japanese oil facility. Not sure where:

That is all via the New York Times. Also, don’t miss this:

Japan’s Strict Building Codes Saved Lives

From seawalls that line stretches of Japan’s coastline, to skyscrapers that sway to absorb earthquakes, to building codes that are among the world’s most rigorous, no country may be better prepared to withstand earthquakes than Japan.

Had any other populous country suffered the 8.9 magnitude earthquake that shook Japan on Friday, tens of thousands of people might already be counted among the dead. So far, Japan’s death toll is in the hundreds, although it is certain to rise.

Over the years, Japan has spent billions of dollars developing the most advanced technology against earthquakes and tsunamis. The Japanese, who regularly experience smaller earthquakes and have lived through major ones, know how to react to quakes and tsunamis because of regular drills — unlike Southeast Asians, many of whom died in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami because they lingered near the coast.

Read the whole thing.

Update: And now footage from a man who thinks it is a good idea to stand near glass in the middle of an earthquake:

[Posted and authored by Aaron Worthing.]

30 Responses to “More Video on the Japanese Earthquake/Tsunami (Update: “quake ruptured a patch of the earth’s crust 150 miles long and 50 miles across”; More Bad Signs at the Nuke Plant)”

  1. fyi, this is the post where i will be putting up updates. and i am on twitter as @AaronWorthing.

    Aaron Worthing (e7d72e)

  2. that second one you don’t get to see what happens to the cars on the road

    happyfeet (a55ba0)

  3. needless to say, if you find anything, send it to me.

    Aaron Worthing (e7d72e)

  4. I decided the wave stops right before it gets to the cars and everyone gets home safe and calls their mom to let her know they’re ok

    happyfeet (a55ba0)

  5. And hot cocoa for all

    Milhouse (ea66e3)

  6. yes!

    Me I really really do not want a big kablammy blammy erf cake to hit here in Los Angeles. I checked and it looks like we’ve had a couple 3.5s or so.

    I’m just in no mood.

    happyfeet (a55ba0)

  7. This is why we people in Florida put up with hurricanes and think you people in California are nuts.

    Kyrie eleison.

    kishnevi (a6ffde)

  8. What happens to the ocena levels then? Does the water go down “the hole” or does rising magma fill it in?

    John B. (fd5a15)

  9. John

    beats me. Btw, we also had a vocano go off in indionesia.

    Aaron Worthing (e7d72e)

  10. Last video – all of that and his computer still works. Electricity and it looked like the internet was still up. Working better than the last ice storm around here.

    Have Blue (854a6e)

  11. But that must have been terrifying for anyone inside

    or on the street.

    aphrael (e0cdc9)

  12. Is there any way to stop the auto play on the UK Telegraph videos? Every time I refresh the thread the two of them start playing and I have to scroll to the top of the page to halt them.

    (I know; it sounds like I’m whining about unimportant crap while catastrophe strikes the world.)

    Have Blue (854a6e)

  13. have

    i am sure there is a way. i just don’t know how. i am very sorry, though.

    Aaron Worthing (e7d72e)

  14. A secondary coolant release is no big deal.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  15. Per this story, the US didn’t actually send coolant to Japan (which you mentioned in your second post about this disaster)

    Speaking at the White House, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also said U.S. Air Force planes were carrying “some really important coolant” to the site, but administration officials later said she misspoke. The U.S. offered to send Japan coolant to help with the reactor but the Japanese declined, saying they already had the necessary supplies, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter

    kishnevi (a6ffde)

  16. What sort of coolant does the plant use anyway? Did Hillary really offer to send Japan water?!

    Milhouse (ea66e3)

  17. Hillary you’re such a douche

    happyfeet (a55ba0)

  18. SPQR at 14 – From the information I have it is a BWR, it only has primary coolant. That said what they are releasing is fairly safe. Have seen one report that the primary radionucletide involved is Ni-16 (IIRC) which is a beta emitter with a 7 second half life.

    Have Blue (854a6e)

  19. have

    was that in english? (kidding.) but what about the updates about it heating up even more?

    Aaron Worthing (e7d72e)

  20. I’m in New Zealand and I think many of my countrymen are feeling a bit sheepish about making such a fuss over the Christchurch earthquake.

    Even with 200 dead and thousands of houses destroyed, it’s nothing compared to this.

    scrubone (9f3e6e)

  21. Fucking Bush!!!!

    Torquemada (2a42d3)

  22. Aaron it is, but with a major screw up. Ni-16 should N-16. the first would be Nickel 16 which would be totally impossible, the second is Nitrogen 16 which is what is being released.

    The BWR refers to the comment about the secondary coolant. In a PWR (Pressurized Water Reactor) the ‘secondary coolant’ never travels through the reactor itself. Therefore it does not become very radioactive and releasing it is not a huge deal.

    In a BWR (Boiling Water Reactor) there is only a single loop, the actual primary coolant also flows through the turbine. Therefor if you are releasing coolant the only coolant you can relase is the primary, which is radioactive.

    That said I think what they proposed was venting pressure from the containment structure not from the actual coolant loops.

    Have Blue (854a6e)

  23. ___________________________________

    the strongest quake in the area in nearly 1,200 years.

    FWIW, I’ve been hearing or reading about since around 2010 — from folks who can be labeled as “psychic” — that a large quake was in the immediate future of Japan, and that a major tsunami would ensue. I’m always skeptical, if not outright cynical, about the meaning or accuracy of such mysticism. However, seeing the news today does give me pause. But what gives me even greater pause is that I’ve also read for quite some time that the sequence of events would be a huge quake in Japan, followed by a major tsunami, and then an event involving a big quake in California, perhaps around LA or SF.

    Life has been imitating art for a bit of time now (eg, whodda thunk someone with the background of Obama would be occupying the Oval Office in 2008-2011?), so maybe it’s also not stretching things to assume that incidents in the short term will be examples of truth being stranger than fiction.

    Mark (411533)

  24. I was in the L.A. 6.8 quake and the most terrifying part is that you have no idea how long the earthquake will last, no idea how hard it will become, and even when it does die down there is no guarantee that another won’t happen at any second. Pure helplessness in the face of nature’s forces.

    Anonyma (e5eb3e)

  25. Prayers for the people in Japan. Let us hope that the situation will be good and no more aftershocks asap.

    AML Exam (4ed9f8)

  26. Hillary,your such a dousche

    Redundancy alert.

    DohBiden (984d23)

  27. Even the Fonz only “jumped the shark” once.
    These Climate Change guys are beating a dead snark.

    Rodan (03e5c2)

  28. Get off mah website

    /Charles Johnson

    DohBiden (984d23)

  29. We dropped off some coolant, then the snipers shot at me, and then those wascally wepubwicans lied about my honey and the intern…

    And, you may be surprised to know that I was named for Sir Edmund Hillary, cuz my mom had a vision…

    Hillary Clinton (12e06c)


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