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Japan (Earthquake And Tsunami)


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What's going on now with the nuclear plants is so frighting! Tons of workers are their trying to get a handle on everything. 200,000 people have been evacuated. Every minute there are more updates. Its just crazy! It is said that there may even be long term health issues because of this!

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And then I see stuff on the internet where people say it's the revenge for Pearl Harbor...I could just puke. Such stupidity shouldn't be alowed.

 

I know someone who said exactly that. He's an older person, and VERY conservative and mean. Miserly, actually. This isn't the first time I've heard something like this come out of his mouth. When I heard that, I wanted to be like, I'm pretty sure we "got them" good enough the first time with the TWO nuclear bombs we dropped on them, which I think were completely undeserved. NO ONE should resort to nuclear weaponry and NO ONE deserves to have a nuclear bomb dropped, ever. This is absolutely devastating for the north of Japan, and whenever I see it on the news, I honestly want to cry. I can't even imagine looking for loved ones in the rubble *sigh*.

 

I also don't think that this should be an end to nuclear power. There are many issues with nuclear power, but it is the most efficient and of all the energies. Yes, wind, solar, hydro are cleaner, but not as effective. Generally, nuclear power plants are very stable and are built to withstand pretty high earthquakes. No one expected an 8.9 earthquake to hit Japan, ever. So I don't think the engineers even expected it to happen so they thought that the infrastructure was sound enough. Of course, they should have assumed anything is possible, but honestly, who even would have expected this earthquake? That being said, although nuclear energy is very efficient, it is also really hard to store the capsules after they are finished with. In the US, they go to Nevada in the middle of a mountain. But the issue of where to store the stuff after it is finished is the most pressing issue, I think. I don't think nuclear should be gotten rid of, because it works. The engineers who work to make the plants are really, really good. I just think that now, there should be better tests for the infrastructure and stuff.

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I know someone who said exactly that. He's an older person, and VERY conservative and mean. Miserly, actually. This isn't the first time I've heard something like this come out of his mouth. When I heard that, I wanted to be like, I'm pretty sure we "got them" good enough the first time with the TWO nuclear bombs we dropped on them, which I think were completely undeserved. NO ONE should resort to nuclear weaponry and NO ONE deserves to have a nuclear bomb dropped, ever. This is absolutely devastating for the north of Japan, and whenever I see it on the news, I honestly want to cry. I can't even imagine looking for loved ones in the rubble *sigh*.

 

I also don't think that this should be an end to nuclear power. There are many issues with nuclear power, but it is the most efficient and of all the energies. Yes, wind, solar, hydro are cleaner, but not as effective. Generally, nuclear power plants are very stable and are built to withstand pretty high earthquakes. No one expected an 8.9 earthquake to hit Japan, ever. So I don't think the engineers even expected it to happen so they thought that the infrastructure was sound enough. Of course, they should have assumed anything is possible, but honestly, who even would have expected this earthquake? That being said, although nuclear energy is very efficient, it is also really hard to store the capsules after they are finished with. In the US, they go to Nevada in the middle of a mountain. But the issue of where to store the stuff after it is finished is the most pressing issue, I think. I don't think nuclear should be gotten rid of, because it works. The engineers who work to make the plants are really, really good. I just think that now, there should be better tests for the infrastructure and stuff.

 

I agree fully.

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I'm pretty sure we "got them" good enough the first time with the TWO nuclear bombs we dropped on them, which I think were completely undeserved. NO ONE should resort to nuclear weaponry and NO ONE deserves to have a nuclear bomb dropped, ever.

Not to get too far off topic here but I think you're being too harsh on that generation. You're looking at it through the eyes of someone in 2011, nearly 60 years after the Pearl Harbor bombing and about 55 years after the bombing of Japan.

 

I'm not condoning the use of nuclear weaponry and I'm surely not saying this is payback for Pearl Harbor - my heart goes out to those who've suffered from this terrible earth quake and tsunami. But, for lack of a better analogy, it's easy to be a Monday morning quarterback. At the time Pearl Harbor was fresh in their minds not to mention the U.S. had been fighting the Japanese for the past 3 1/2 or so years. There was much hurt and animosity. At the time U.S. citizens as well as the military felt the bombing of Pearl Harbor was uncalled for and an unfair, below-the-belt blow. Mind you we were not involved in WWII at the time. We were staying out of it. And they bombed us on a Sunday morning when many were at church services etc. You've got to put yourself in the mindset of someone at that time before you pass such easy judgment.

 

As for us dropping atomic bombs on Japan, this kind of weaponry had never been used before. We really didn't understand the impact that this would have on the world, on politics, on the future until it was already too late. We, the U.S., didn't know exactly what kind of destruction we were unleashing. And still didn't even after we bombed Japan. During the 1950s we were teaching school kids to duck and cover in the event of nuclear war. We now know that duck and cover wouldn't do any good but at the time we were still unsure of the power of nuclear weaponry.

 

Again, sorry to get so far off subject but I just feel that this was an unfair judgment on our ancestors.

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I know someone who said exactly that. He's an older person, and VERY conservative and mean. Miserly, actually. This isn't the first time I've heard something like this come out of his mouth. When I heard that, I wanted to be like, I'm pretty sure we "got them" good enough the first time with the TWO nuclear bombs we dropped on them, which I think were completely undeserved. NO ONE should resort to nuclear weaponry and NO ONE deserves to have a nuclear bomb dropped, ever. This is absolutely devastating for the north of Japan, and whenever I see it on the news, I honestly want to cry. I can't even imagine looking for loved ones in the rubble *sigh*.

Thank you! Exactly my thoughts.

Yeah, same tbh. It's devastating.

 

I also don't think that this should be an end to nuclear power. There are many issues with nuclear power, but it is the most efficient and of all the energies.Yes, wind, solar, hydro are cleaner, but not as effective.

Granted. But it should be the future imo.

 

Generally, nuclear power plants are very stable and are built to withstand pretty high earthquakes. No one expected an 8.9 earthquake to hit Japan, ever. So I don't think the engineers even expected it to happen so they thought that the infrastructure was sound enough. Of course, they should have assumed anything is possible, but honestly, who even would have expected this earthquake?

Well actually people exptected it to happen. Same with people expecting for years that California gets hit by a really devastating earthquake. But granted, it wasn't their fault that this earthquake occurred.

 

That being said, although nuclear energy is very efficient, it is also really hard to store the capsules after they are finished with. In the US, they go to Nevada in the middle of a mountain. But the issue of where to store the stuff after it is finished is the most pressing issue, I think. I don't think nuclear should be gotten rid of, because it works. The engineers who work to make the plants are really, really good. I just think that now, there should be better tests for the infrastructure and stuff.

Thats always the problem. In Germany we have every year demonstrations where people chain them selfs on the train tracks and try to stop the train when the dry cask storage train from France comes. Because we store most of the nuclear waste in Europe. But the storage (an old salt mine) isn't the right place for it. It's bad for the nature and people who live there. Yes, nuclear power works and gives us a lot of energy, but the side effects are one of the worst. And when such a disaster happens it kills hundreds of thousands, and even generations that are born after have side effects. Just look at Chernobyl. But this will be much worse than Chernobyl. I'd say we keep our nuclear power plants for now, but don't build new ones. Because they produce more and more waste. What should we do with it? Drill holes in mountains and the earth until it's everywhere? We should start to build other kinds of power plants until we can handle to shut the nuclear power plants down. But thats only imo.

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Not to get too far off topic here but I think you're being too harsh on that generation. You're looking at it through the eyes of someone in 2011, nearly 60 years after the Pearl Harbor bombing and about 55 years after the bombing of Japan.

 

I'm not condoning the use of nuclear weaponry and I'm surely not saying this is payback for Pearl Harbor - my heart goes out to those who've suffered from this terrible earth quake and tsunami. But, for lack of a better analogy, it's easy to be a Monday morning quarterback. At the time Pearl Harbor was fresh in their minds not to mention the U.S. had been fighting the Japanese for the past 3 1/2 or so years. There was much hurt and animosity. At the time U.S. citizens as well as the military felt the bombing of Pearl Harbor was uncalled for and an unfair, below-the-belt blow. Mind you we were not involved in WWII at the time. We were staying out of it. And they bombed us on a Sunday morning when many were at church services etc. You've got to put yourself in the mindset of someone at that time before you pass such easy judgment.

 

As for us dropping atomic bombs on Japan, this kind of weaponry had never been used before. We really didn't understand the impact that this would have on the world, on politics, on the future until it was already too late. We, the U.S., didn't know exactly what kind of destruction we were unleashing. And still didn't even after we bombed Japan. During the 1950s we were teaching school kids to duck and cover in the event of nuclear war. We now know that duck and cover wouldn't do any good but at the time we were still unsure of the power of nuclear weaponry.

 

Again, sorry to get so far off subject but I just feel that this was an unfair judgment on our ancestors.

I agree.

You can compare the public's mind set when Pearl Harbour was bombed to our mind set on 9/11/01, or the London bomings of World War 2, or whatever disaster happened in your area. I don't know about you, but once I understood 9/11 (the event the happened near me), I wanted revenge.

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I agree.

You can compare the public's mind set when Pearl Harbour was bombed to our mind set on 9/11/01, or the London bomings of World War 2, or whatever disaster happened in your area. I don't know about you, but once I understood 9/11 (the event the happened near me), I wanted revenge.

Agree.

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Not to get too far off topic here but I think you're being too harsh on that generation. You're looking at it through the eyes of someone in 2011, nearly 60 years after the Pearl Harbor bombing and about 55 years after the bombing of Japan.

 

I'm not condoning the use of nuclear weaponry and I'm surely not saying this is payback for Pearl Harbor - my heart goes out to those who've suffered from this terrible earth quake and tsunami. But, for lack of a better analogy, it's easy to be a Monday morning quarterback. At the time Pearl Harbor was fresh in their minds not to mention the U.S. had been fighting the Japanese for the past 3 1/2 or so years. There was much hurt and animosity. At the time U.S. citizens as well as the military felt the bombing of Pearl Harbor was uncalled for and an unfair, below-the-belt blow. Mind you we were not involved in WWII at the time. We were staying out of it. And they bombed us on a Sunday morning when many were at church services etc. You've got to put yourself in the mindset of someone at that time before you pass such easy judgment.

 

As for us dropping atomic bombs on Japan, this kind of weaponry had never been used before. We really didn't understand the impact that this would have on the world, on politics, on the future until it was already too late. We, the U.S., didn't know exactly what kind of destruction we were unleashing. And still didn't even after we bombed Japan. During the 1950s we were teaching school kids to duck and cover in the event of nuclear war. We now know that duck and cover wouldn't do any good but at the time we were still unsure of the power of nuclear weaponry.

 

Again, sorry to get so far off subject but I just feel that this was an unfair judgment on our ancestors.

 

I see your point, and maybe it was an unfair judgement. But that being said, I think the people who consider it payback for Pearl Harbor are still completely wrong - I understand the hostility, especially because the attack was undeserved and fairly unprovoked - but I think <i>after</i> they saw the damage the atomic bombs had on Japan, they wouldn't want that type of damage done ever again. I mean, for very old people, I can see where the prejudice would come from - my gram is particularly racist, but she is 94 and was well into her 30's during WW2. I think some racism and prejudice is totally undeserved though, especially because Japan is such a prosperous nation and fairly peaceful as of now. But yeah, I see where you're coming from and it was unfair of me to pass judgement so quickly on the previous generation, but I think that it is not fair that some people, like the man I work with, to pass such quick judgement and hate onto Japan because that is the last thing they need right now.

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I see your point, and maybe it was an unfair judgement. But that being said, I think the people who consider it payback for Pearl Harbor are still completely wrong - I understand the hostility, especially because the attack was undeserved and fairly unprovoked - but I think <i>after</i> they saw the damage the atomic bombs had on Japan, they wouldn't want that type of damage done ever again. I mean, for very old people, I can see where the prejudice would come from - my gram is particularly racist, but she is 94 and was well into her 30's during WW2. I think some racism and prejudice is totally undeserved though, especially because Japan is such a prosperous nation and fairly peaceful as of now. But yeah, I see where you're coming from and it was unfair of me to pass judgement so quickly on the previous generation, but I think that it is not fair that some people, like the man I work with, to pass such quick judgement and hate onto Japan because that is the last thing they need right now.

I didn't live back then so I can't say if I'd still carry that prejudice if I'd lived through it or not. I'd like to think I'd forgiven by now. But maybe if I lost somebody really close at Pearl Harbor I wouldn't. But yeah, I think calling this payback for Pearl Harbor is a little strange and out there.

 

 

 

.

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I donated too! and I also got accosted today by red cross people to give $10/month and I couldn't do it but I did get a free hug out of the deal, so it was allll good :)

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has anyone heard about HAARP? Read about it on wikipedia or their website if you don't know about it. Or just watch this video which gives an alternative view of what HAARP really is about. What do you guys think of the video (watch the whole thing, not only like 3 minutes of it)? The video is about Japan's earthquake and tsunami....but apparently it wasn't a "natural" disaster...so what are your opinions? My link

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I am really praying for the people of Japan. This latest thing about the radiation is scary, and it's horrible how many people have lost their lives because of the tsunami.

 

I also believe that it might be the end of times, or at least the end of a certain "time." I am Christian, but don't practice it heavily; I'm more spiritual than anything. But I will be praying for these natural disasters to stop.

 

I listen to NPR (National Public Radio) everyday, and they're heavily reporting on this.

 

I know someone who said exactly that. He's an older person, and VERY conservative and mean. Miserly, actually. This isn't the first time I've heard something like this come out of his mouth. When I heard that, I wanted to be like, I'm pretty sure we "got them" good enough the first time with the TWO nuclear bombs we dropped on them, which I think were completely undeserved. NO ONE should resort to nuclear weaponry and NO ONE deserves to have a nuclear bomb dropped, ever. This is absolutely devastating for the north of Japan, and whenever I see it on the news, I honestly want to cry. I can't even imagine looking for loved ones in the rubble *sigh*.

 

I also don't think that this should be an end to nuclear power. There are many issues with nuclear power, but it is the most efficient and of all the energies. Yes, wind, solar, hydro are cleaner, but not as effective. Generally, nuclear power plants are very stable and are built to withstand pretty high earthquakes. No one expected an 8.9 earthquake to hit Japan, ever. So I don't think the engineers even expected it to happen so they thought that the infrastructure was sound enough. Of course, they should have assumed anything is possible, but honestly, who even would have expected this earthquake? That being said, although nuclear energy is very efficient, it is also really hard to store the capsules after they are finished with. In the US, they go to Nevada in the middle of a mountain. But the issue of where to store the stuff after it is finished is the most pressing issue, I think. I don't think nuclear should be gotten rid of, because it works. The engineers who work to make the plants are really, really good. I just think that now, there should be better tests for the infrastructure and stuff.

 

My Grandma hates the Japanese, because my Grandpa fought in the war and he had to fight the Japanese. For years, she refused to even eat rice, because she associated it with Japan.

 

She's said some pretty nasty things about what's happening in Japan, because of that, but I'm trying to talk some sense into her. She's finally starting to realize that these are PEOPLE being hurt, and not some alien form of species.

 

She's a good person, really. She just has a prejudice.

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My Grandma hates the Japanese, because my Grandpa fought in the war and he had to fight the Japanese. For years, she refused to even eat rice, because she associated it with Japan.

 

She's said some pretty nasty things about what's happening in Japan, because of that, but I'm trying to talk some sense into her. She's finally starting to realize that these are PEOPLE being hurt, and not some alien form of species.

 

She's a good person, really. She just has a prejudice.

 

My gram is the same way, my grandfather also fought in WW2 but he was never on the South Pacific. It's really difficult because there is a lot of prejudice and because they are so old there is no changing their habits. My gram is also racist against my boyfriend, because he is not white - she still thinks we are living in the 50's. It's nothing against her, that's just how she was raised and there's no changing her habits now. My gram is also a good person - she is very hardworking and religious, but she grew up in a time where it was perfectly acceptable to be racist. It's just how she is.

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My gram is the same way, my grandfather also fought in WW2 but he was never on the South Pacific. It's really difficult because there is a lot of prejudice and because they are so old there is no changing their habits. My gram is also racist against my boyfriend, because he is not white - she still thinks we are living in the 50's. It's nothing against her, that's just how she was raised and there's no changing her habits now. My gram is also a good person - she is very hardworking and religious, but she grew up in a time where it was perfectly acceptable to be racist. It's just how she is.

 

Yeah, my Grandma is also slightly racist. She's mellowed out a bit in old age, but she used to use the N word towards some friends of mine (never to their face, privately, but it still made me mad.)

 

She voted for Obama, though. And I think she's starting to realize that times have changed. She did change her view towards Japanese people recently, like I said, and she said to me, "those poor people", after seeing the news recently.

 

It was a different time, that's for sure.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I tend to do a lot of my news article reading before I go to bed at night. Just browse, and make an effort to keep up to date with current happenings.

 

I found a recent article by Bloomberg Businessweek. It was crafted as a collaboration effort from multiple reporters. According to the article, there was another aftershock which hit Japan hours ago, now. The temblor measured 7.1 on the Richter scale, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Fifteen workers at the previously stricken nuclear plants, which suffered the most damage in the March 11th quake, had to be evacuated today while they attempted to inject 800 cubic metres of Nitrogen into the No. 1 reactor to prevent Hydrogen explosions in the reactors similar to what happened last month.

 

An additional 90 people have been injured today, and 3.6 million households lost power once again. Tepco, Japan's electric and power company, says there hasn't been any further damage to the reactors. However, tests for leakage of radiation still has to be done.

 

To date, the article states, there have been 900 aftershocks after the March 11th 7.9 magnitude quake. Over 27,000 "dead or missing" and "25 trillion yen ($294 billion) in damage".

 

To put that into perspective, since it's such a large number: the February 22nd Christchurch earthquake in South Island, New Zealand has cost an estimated $16 billion NZD ($12 billion USD), and the January Queensland floods of Australia cost an estimated $30 billion dollars (same in USD). Respectively, Japan's natural disaster (with man-made factors) is almost 25 times more than the NZ disaster, and almost 10 times more costly than the Australian disaster (if I did my math correctly :doh: ).

 

However, that does not diminish the significance of the scale of disasters with what happened in the other two locations within the Pacific Basin this year. Lives were lost, and lives were upheaved. I created a comparison to show the widespread scale of the current disaster (which is still unfolding in Japan), being that nuclear energy was a huge contributing factor in financial damage. The other two countries' costs that were mentioned are relative, as there live less people per square mileage than in Japan. So, overall impact of all these disasters have affected all three countries greatly.

 

It's a shame. :sob:

 

(Bloomberg Businessweek article on Japan's Current Temblor)

(Christchurch Earthquake Info (for Comparison))

(Queensland Floods (Also for Comparison)

 

Hope this helps with understanding all that's going on within this region.

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  • 11 years later...

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