Powerful quake, tsunami kills hundreds in Japan

I know this is obviously not in discover magazine but i though it would be one of the best discussions this board will ever have!

as most of you have heard there has been a 8.9 level earthquake in japan, causing devastation across the whole country, but that's not all tsunamis are being created because of this! and not to mention the nuclear plants that need electricity to cool down the nuclear rods well there no electricity because the powers are destroyed so now the rods are going to overheat if there not careful! think of the Chernobyl disaster! we defiantly cannot let this happen but what can we do to help???? and how do you feel about all this i know whats going through your minds 2012 right but lets not get too into that topic just yet!.


here is a part of one of the articles

TOKYO – For more than two terrifying, seemingly endless minutes Friday, the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan shook apart homes and buildings, cracked open highways and unnerved even those who have learned to live with swaying skyscrapers. Then came a devastating tsunami that slammed into northeastern Japan and killed hundreds of people.

The violent wall of water swept away houses, cars and ships. Fires burned out of control. Power to a cooling system at a nuclear power plant was knocked out, forcing thousands to flee. A boat was caught in the vortex of a whirlpool at sea.

The death toll rose steadily throughout the day, but the true extent of the disaster was not known because roads to the worst-hit areas were washed away or blocked by debris and airports were closed.

After dawn Saturday, the scale of destruction became clearer.

Aerial scenes of the town of Ofunato showed homes and warehouses in ruins. Sludge and high water spread over acres of land, with people seeking refuge on roofs of partially submerged buildings. At one school, a large white "SOS" had been spelled out in English.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said an initial assessment found "enormous damage," adding that the Defense Ministry was sending troops to the hardest-hit region.

President Barack Obama pledged U.S. assistance following what he called a potentially "catastrophic" disaster. He said one U.S. aircraft carrier is already in Japan and a second was on its way. A U.S. ship was also heading to the Marianas Islands to assist as needed, he added.

The entire Pacific had been put on alert — including coastal areas of South America, Canada and Alaska — but waves were not as bad as expected.

The magnitude-8.9 offshore quake struck at 2:46 p.m. local time and was the biggest to hit Japan since record-keeping began in the late 1800s. It ranked as the fifth-largest earthquake in the world since 1900 and was nearly 8,000 times stronger than one that devastated Christchurch, New Zealand, last month, scientists said.

The quake shook dozens of cities and villages along a 1,300-mile (2,100-kilometer) stretch of coast and tall buildings swayed in Tokyo, hundreds of miles from the epicenter. Prime Minister Naoto Kan was attending a parliamentary session at the time.

when i saw this on the news today i was devastated but not only that the first thing that came to my mind was that if teir was the earthquake and there were tsunamis what is going to happen during the aftershock??!?!??!?!?

what a sad situation. That place isnt gonna be alright for a long time

Hey everyone, I find this post really appropriate to discuss in this month because of the events happening in the world right now.From footage of waves washing away entire towns in seconds to reports of meltdowns at nuclear power plants, I cant help but feel sympathetic to all the people in japan or close by countries. There's a feeling of helplessness when i look through photos of people looking through what's left of their homes or walking to higher ground.

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we defiantly cannot let this happen but what can we do to help????

This is a good question. I believe everyone should do their part of thanking God that this tradgedy did not happen to us, and to pray for god to help all the homeless poor people that are just as innocent as the people that got their lives taken away. Also there are many options for online donations, as well as sites that will help you follow up on the rescue effort.

that is a really good question like there's so much trauma in the world today and if everyone can contribute something even if its a little we can make the world a better place but it all starts from the little things such as donating something to help for instance donating clothes to someone who lost theirs in a home due to the tsunamis.

I'm just frightened for that nuclear power plant that has exploded and even more explosions could occur! It would be like Hiroshima and Nagasaki all over again... they are STILL recovering from that nuclear disaster, they do not deserve another disaster!!!!!!!

Oh and i found this picture on my friends facebook account... this book was made before the quake occurred ... Its scary...

I as well feel so sorry for all the people affected by this tsunami and all the families affected as well. But my personal opinion towards the people who run, designed, and are involved with the nuclear power plant is that they should of been more prepared. They know where they are on the world, in a place that can be affected by earthquakes and tsunamis and such. They should of taken into account while this power plant was constructed what could be the worst thing to happen to their country and in what sort of desgin would this plant cause the least problems. The possibility of this plant causing an extremely larger amount of samage to these people is great, and I personally believe it could of been prevented.

I agree that the poorly constructed design of the nuclear plant is the main cause of what happen. As for the nuclear engineers, they should have known that something like this would happen because of how the nuclear designs were, they should of designed better systems. Also, it is said that the reactor started to fill with seawater and is likely to cause another hydrogen explosion.

It is evident that the natural power of mother nature is beyond control, and if somethings going to happen ( earthquakes,volcanic eruptions ), we can not stop it from happening. Japan's economy has crashed, they basically lost everything. The whole nation is literally affected in some way. Because whole cities are being washed away, many people are missing and their family members are worried. The good thing is that there are organizations which are helping Japan out, but there are also organizations out there that take the money you donate and keep a good amount of it for themselves, those are the organizations that are waiting for a disaster to happen, so then people donate, and they are smiling because they are getting some money for themselves or maybe they actually send all the money donated to the area that needs help, but who knows.

The Japanese most likely will not recover from this disaster until years after, the question is where will they be staying until their home/city is rebuild? After a nuclear disaster like this, the island will be uninhabitable for decades. This deadly tsunami killed a lot of people, and the number is still going. The country is facing a nuclear crisis, and it is said that it is much worse than what happened in the 1979 with a island disaster.
Also, I feel bad for those who are still working at the nuclear power plant, they know they will die, yet they are still there to try and figure out something to stop this mess, they are trying to do everything they can, but the shortage of workers isn't helping. Workers at the plant currently are those who rather risk themselves to find a solution, then runaway and leave the whole country crashing.

This is such a tragedy, all we can do now is pray and help.

This disaster shouldn't of happened not the nature part but the poor design like i can see why they built the reactors to save space and all that but you should always think about things before you do them and now look they now know why reactors are build one way and not the other.
but i do respect the Japanese loyalty and honor for there country like Amy said those workers know they are going to die and yet they continue to withstand the radiation and search for a solution i just hope there deaths will not be in vein

The Japanese dedication to protecting their people is pretty amazing but did you ever think some of them are doing it out of guilt? Like if I was part of the monitoring, constructing, mainting this nuclear plant and it was harming hundreds of people I would stay there and risk my health to help save the island. I would be full of guilt and would do the reasoning that I was part in harming this many people, I can harm myself to possibly contribute to saving all the others.

that's another good point!!!!!
haha
yeah i think i would do the same if i help constructed something like this and
it was about to harm someone i would most likely do everything i can to save the others its like pulling the pin on a grenade with all your friends around you would most likely jump over top to save them.

Me too. I think the guilt would be too much for me anyways in the long run to truly realize what i've done or could of possibly done. But we all learn from our mistakes and I think the world will remember this in their creations.

yeah i think so too hopefully people will learn not to take shortcuts and realise that its quality not quantity thats the key!

Everything that's happened over there in Japan is so sad! I can't even imagine what it must be like to live through something like that.

It is events like this that show us just how powerful nature is. And how although we made have leading technological breakthroughs constantly throughout society, no matter how hard we try, nothing we do will be able to fully protect us from the strength of nature. But as others have said we just need to learn from our mistakes so that we can better protect ourselves in the future. I think everyone should be contributing something to help with the relief efforts, no matter how much you have to give!

Kind of makes our existence seem so insignificant when the earth 'shakes' and thousands and thousands of people die

it really is tragic i just hope that they can bounce back from this and become a strong nation again my condolences for all those who passed.

The events that happened over in Japan are so devastating and sad, I can’t imagine going through that and what the people had to face as they lived through an event as terrible as that. Nature is a very powerful thing demonstrated by monstrous events like this one. Nature is one of those things that happen at the unexpected, there is no way to fully protect and shield ourselves from the effects of nature.

yeah Ciara i agree with you like this is so tragic all we can do is hope for the best but i cant help but be mad at the people who built these plants like you can be making shortcuts your bound to experience difficulties!