Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

PRAY FOR EAST: A charity movement from Yamaguchi Prefecture

PRAY FOR EAST is a charity movement from the various cities in Yamaguchi Prefecture. In some cities there are calls for donations and in others they are having charity events to raise money.


Ube 宇部
Sanyo-Onoda 山陽小野田
Shimonoseki 下関
Nagato 長門
Tabuse 田布施

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Following Quake Coverage

TV:
NHK World
NHK World on Ustream
NHK World on Niconico
NHK (Japanese)
NHK on Niconico
TBS (JNN) on Ustream
TBS (JNN) on Youtube
Yokoso News
(All of the above links are live streams)
TV Asahi News Network on Youtube (Not live but they put up updates at intervals)

Websites:
AJW by the Asahi Shimbun on facebook
The Japan Times Online
The Stars and Stripes
Google
Government Quake Information
NHK Updates on Fukushima Daiichi and Daini (Japanese)
 
People I'm following on Twitter:
Michael Gakuran
Tokyo Reporter
Roy Berman (Mutant Frog)
Noriyuki Shikata (Deputy Cabinet Secretary for Public Relations, Director of Global Communications at Prime Minister's Office of Japan)
Matt Alt
Hiroko Tabuchi

Twitter has yet again proven to be an invaluable resource for getting the latest news. All of the accounts I've listed are tweeting in English but they are taking their information straight from Japanese news.

In Yamaguchi news, the first Disaster Medical Assistance Teams have come back after assisting in Iwate.

Also, The Chugoku Electric Power Company (Energia) has decided to temporarily halt construction of their nuclear power plant in Kaminoseki at the request of the local government. They had recently started a reclamation project in the area.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Yamaguchi Information

Some information about my part of Japan:

The quakes didn't reach this area so things seem to be proceeding like normal. However, people living near the Seto Inland Sea and the Japan Sea are still under a tsunami advisory. Ube got 30 centimeter waves. Shimonoseki seemed to have gotten the highest waves.

Flights between Yamaguchi-Ube Airport and Haneda Airport resumed as scheduled from this afternoon. A total of three flights had been canceled.

The train lines are still operating as normal except for possibly the Shinkansen to Tokyo. Today was supposed to be the start of the Sakura Shinkansen but all the events scheduled to celebrate it's initial run have been canceled.

Across the nation, 32 university entrance exams have been canceled but Yamaguchi University and Yamaguchi Prefectural University are holding their exams as scheduled.

DMATs (Disaster Medical Assistance Team) from four hospitals have been sent to assist in disaster areas, as have the Red Cross and the police.

Quake News

Via NHK:
142 confirmed dead in the quake
One-hundred-and-forty-two people are confirmed dead and more than 500 are missing across several prefectures hit by Friday’s earthquake.
The scope of the devastation is not clear. Police say 200 to 300 unidentified bodies have been found in Miyagi Prefecture. They say victims may have been hit by a tsunami.
At least 57 people are dead in Iwate Prefecture. Police there say many people are missing in coastal areas.
Forty-eight people have been confirmed dead and more than 370 are missing in Fukushima Prefecture.
More than 10 people are reported to have died in Tokyo and neighboring prefectures.
Japan’s Self Defense Forces say fire is spreading across wide areas of Miyagi Prefecture, engulfing houses and apartment blocks.
Saturday, March 12, 2011 02:00 +0900 (JST)

I'm not sure when or if any of these will switch over to regular programming but if you want to see the Japanese coverage you can use these links:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/tbstv
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nhk-gtv
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/annnews
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/earthquake-in-japan

Most of Hawaii has been issued the all clear but it's doubtful that it will be a normal day in the 50th State plus they haven't assessed the damage (if any) yet. The West Coast is still in warning mode.

The aftershocks haven't stopped.

Meanwhile, people are anxious about the state of the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Massive Earthquake Strikes Northeastern Japan

From the NHK World News flash:

The estimated magnitude of the massive earthquake that struck northeastern Japan on Friday has been revised upward to 8.8, generating tsunami that hit wide areas of the Pacific coast.  The quakes reportedly caused many injuries and fires.  The Meteorological Agency says the initial quake struck at 2:46 PM on Friday, off the coast of Miyagi Prefecture.  Major tsunami alerts for waves of up to 10 meters have been issued from Hokkaido in the north to Tokushima in the west.  In Miyagi Prefecture, the quake caused tremors with an intensity of 7 -- the maximum level on the Japanese scale of 0 to 7.  Strong tremors were also felt in many parts of the country, including Tokyo.   

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii issued a broad tsunami warning for countries and regions at 07:30 UTC on Friday.  They include Japan, Russia, Taiwan, Australia, Mexico and Peru.

The government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says no abnormal levels of radiation have been reported at four nuclear power plants in the quake-hit Tohoku region.

Here is an NHK feed via Al-Jazeera.

I'm not sure how effective this is but some people on twitter have tweeted about this. It is in Japanese and English.

There is already a wikipedia article with information.

The Japan Meteorological Agency has the following warning up on their site:

Issued at 16:08 JST 11 Mar 2011

******************Headline******************
Major Tsunami and Tsunami have been issued.
  JAPAN SEA COAST OF AOMORI PREF.
  UCHIBO AREA, CHIBA PREF.
  OGASAWARA ISLANDS
  SAGAMI BAY AND MIURA PENINSULA
  SHIZUOKA PREF.
  WAKAYAMA PREF.
  TOKUSHIMA PREF.
  SETONAIKAI COAST OF OITA PREF.
  WESTERN PART OF KAGOSHIMA PREF.
Tsunami attentions are in effect at some of the other coasts now.

*******************Text********************
Tsunami Advisory

  AKITA PREF.
  *YAMAGATA PREF.
  NIIGATA PREF.,EXCEPT SADOGASHIMA ISLAND
  SADOGASHIMA ISLAND
  TOYAMA PREF.
  NOTO AREA, ISHIKAWA PREF.
  HIROSHIMA PREF.
  SETONAIKAI COAST OF YAMAGUCHI PREF.

Changed;
Tsunami Advisory --> Tsunami Warning
Tsunami>
  SETONAIKAI COAST OF OITA PREF.
  WESTERN PART OF KAGOSHIMA PREF.
Evacuate from the seashore immediately to the safe places near the above coasts.

Tsunami Warning --> Tsunami Warning
Major Tsunami>
  JAPAN SEA COAST OF AOMORI PREF.
  UCHIBO AREA, CHIBA PREF.
  OGASAWARA ISLANDS
  SAGAMI BAY AND MIURA PENINSULA
  SHIZUOKA PREF.
  WAKAYAMA PREF.
  TOKUSHIMA PREF.

At the following coasts (* marks) tsunamis are
expected to arrive right away.
  YAMAGATA PREF.

*******Tsunami forecast now in effect********

  IWATE PREF.
  MIYAGI PREF.
  FUKUSHIMA PREF.
  CENTRAL PART OF PACIFIC COAST OF HOKKAIDO
  PACIFIC COAST OF AOMORI PREF.
  IBARAKI PREF.
  KUJUKURI AND SOTOBO AREA, CHIBA PREF.
  IZU ISLANDS
  EASTERN PART OF PACIFIC COAST OF HOKKAIDO
  WESTERN PART OF PACIFIC COAST OF HOKKAIDO
  JAPAN SEA COAST OF AOMORI PREF.
  UCHIBO AREA, CHIBA PREF.
  OGASAWARA ISLANDS
  SAGAMI BAY AND MIURA PENINSULA
  SHIZUOKA PREF.
  WAKAYAMA PREF.
  TOKUSHIMA PREF.

  PACIFIC COAST OF AICHI PREF.
  SOUTHERN PART OF MIE PREF.
  KOCHI PREF.
  MIYAZAKI PREF.
  TANEGASHIMA AND YAKUSHIMA AREA
  AMAMI ISLANDS AND TOKARA ISLANDS
  SOUTHERN PART OF JAPAN SEA COAST OF HOKKAIDO
  MUTSU BAY
  TOKYO BAY
  ISE BAY AND MIKAWA BAY
  SOUTHERN PART OF AWAJI ISLAND
  BUNGO STRAIT COAST OF EHIME PREF.
  SETONAIKAI COAST OF OITA PREF.
  BUNGO STRAIT COAST OF OITA PREF.
  EASTERN PART OF KAGOSHIMA PREF.
  WESTERN PART OF KAGOSHIMA PREF.
  OKINAWA ISLANDS
  DAITOJIMA AREA
  MIYAKOJIMA AND YAEYAMA AREA

  OKHOTSK SEA COAST OF HOKKAIDO
  OSAKA PREF.
  SETONAIKAI COAST OF HYOGO PREF.
  OKAYAMA PREF.
  KAGAWA PREF.
  SETONAIKAI COAST OF EHIME PREF.
  ARIAKE SEA AND YATSUSHIRO SEA
  WESTERN PART OF NAGASAKI PREF.
  AMAKUSA NADA COAST OF KUMAMOTO PREF.
  AKITA PREF.
  YAMAGATA PREF.
  NIIGATA PREF.,EXCEPT SADOGASHIMA ISLAND
  SADOGASHIMA ISLAND
  TOYAMA PREF.
  NOTO AREA, ISHIKAWA PREF.
  HIROSHIMA PREF.
  SETONAIKAI COAST OF YAMAGUCHI PREF.

***********About Tsunami Forecast************

Tsunami height is expected to be 3 meters or more, Keep careful watch on tsunamis.

Tsunami height is expected to be up to 2 meters, Keep watch on tsunamis.

Tsunami height is expected to be about 0.5 meters, Pay attention to tsunamis.

ShareThis