The Tsunami's Wake
Fudai Village, Japan. AP Photo
Overturned fishing vessel, Hachinohe, Japan. AP Photo/Kyodo News
The earthquake took place at 14:46 JST. The earliest recorded tsunami maximum surge was 15:12, 26 minutes after the earthquake. In some areas the surge traveled up to 10 km (6 mi) inland.*
Vessels burn in Bay of Kesennuma, Japan. AP Photo/Kyodo News
Ships grounded, Matsushima City, Miyako, Japan. Photo AP
Ferry Boat atop 2 story building, Otsuchi, Japan. AP Photo/The Yumiuri Shimbun
The highest tsumani surge occured at Miyagi Province and was 10 m (33 ft) high.
Kesennuma City, Japan. The hulls of all the ships on land are now damaged. Photo AFP.
The surface energy of the quake was equivalent to 9.32 teratons of TNT (approximately 600 million times that of the Hiroshima bomb).*
Sendai Airport, Japan. Photo Reuters
Shipping containers thrown around like matchsticks. Sendai Port, Japan. Photo AP/Itsuo Inouye
The quake moved portions of northeast Japan by as much as 2.4 m (7.9 ft) closer to North America. Plus, a 400 km (250 mile) stretch of Japan's coastline dropped vertically by 0.6 m (2.0 ft), allowing the tsunami to travel farther and faster onto land. The Pacific plate itself may have moved eastwards by up to 20 m (66 ft).*
Smouldering new cars that were awaiting shipping transport in Hitachi City, Japan. Photo AP.
Muddied and Burnt cars, Hitachinaka, Japan. AP Photo/The Yomiuri Shimbun, Atsushi Taketazu
Miyako city, Japan.Photo: Keystone USA-ZUMA Rex Features
Tanohata Village, Japan. Photo Reuters
Ships on land in Kesennuma City, Japan. Photo AP
A river of debris in Kesennuma City, Japan. Reuters Kyodo
Breaking through a roof in Ofunato, Japan. Photo: AP
Tractors have cleared a path in Kesennuma, Japan. Photo: Kyodo News/AP
Shinchi Train and building foundations. Photo: AP
Four passenger trains containing an unknown number of passengers were uprooted
during the tsunami.
A sense of helplessness, Otsuchi, Japan. Reuters/Aly Song
One lone rescue worker in Minamisanriku, Japan. Reuters/Adrees Latif
A whole town almost completely gone...Minamisanriku, Japan. AfP/Getty
Half of Minamisanriku's population are unaccounted for, 9500 people.
Factories on fire in Sendai, Japan. AP Photo/Kyodo News
Cosmo Oil Facility, Ichihara City, Japan. Reuters/Kyodo
A 220,000-barrel-per-day oil refinery of Cosmo Oil Company was set on fire by the quake. In Sendai, a 145,000-barrel-per-day refinery was also set ablaze by the quake.
The forty year old Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant after second explosion. Photo: Digital Globe
This chart is a bit confusing in that at top it uses mSv and as you go down switches to Sv. Since one sievert (Sv) is a large quantity, lower radiation doses are typically expressed in millisievert (mSv) which is one-thousandth of a sievert. 1 Sv being 1000 mSv. At the Fukushima plant on March 15th workers at Reactor 4 were exposed to 400 mSv per hour. Japan’s Health Ministry raised the legal limit of radiation exposure to its workers, to 250 mSv, from 100. Five workers have died since the earthquake and 22 more have been injured, two are missing. See: www.nytimes.com
Chart: Next Big Future
Fukushima I, Fukushima II, Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant and Tōkai nuclear power stations consisting of eleven reactors were automatically shut down following the earthquake. Cooling is needed to remove decay heat for many days after a plant has been shut down. At Fukushima I and II tsunami waves overtopped seawalls and destroyed the diesel backup power systems, leading to severe problems including two large explosions at Fukushima I and leakage of radiation. The crew has since been attempting to cool the reactors with seawater. Over 200,000 people have been evacuated.* Nuclear fuel has melted in three reactors at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi
nuclear power plant and fallen to the lower sections of their container
vessels. For more on this see: www.scientificamerican.com & www.globalsecuritynewswire.org & www.allthingsnuclear.org
The Japanese government has officially confirmed 13,333
deaths, 4,878 injured, and 15,150 people missing as of April 12th.
How to help:
www.japansociety.org 100% of your tax-deductible contribution goes to organization(s) that directly help victims.
www.dailynightly.msnbc.msn.com Numerous options here...
*www.en.wikipedia.org
Tsunami wiping away the town of Minami-Sanriku. Taken from
Shizukawa high school on the hill. At the end part of the
video, luckily all people running away managed to escape from the
tsunami. From video-maker: I'd like to warn you about watching this. The reason
is the following: I heard some people became PTSD, who had seen the
tragic news on the 9.11 terror attack in 2001. This shocking video also
apparently would affect the minds of the viewers. My house has also been
swept away and my cat has been lost. I uploaded it after a lot of hesitation. I hope something
of it moves you to want to know what happens to us on 3.11.
Incredible/scary footage of the Tsunami.
Do not know the city/town as it is identified in Japanese only.
SkyNews - Helicopter video as Tsunami hits...
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