8.8 Quake

I can't conceptualize how catastrophic it must be up in Sendai and that area. I'm in touch with my friends in Tokyo, and to give you an idea of the situation there, basically everybody is ok but all the trains shut down so they can inspect the lines for damage. You might be like "Ok, take a cab" but understand the massive size of the Tokyo urban area. Millions of people commute into Tokyo from the surrounding areas everyday (the whole conurbation has more than 30 million people I think). Some people commute like 200 km to work by train, that's how massive the conurbation is.

So basically, millions (or at least hundreds of thousands, I don't know exactly) of people are stranded in Tokyo in their office buildings, schools, or just on the street waiting for things to go back to normal. Some of my friends walked for like 4 hours to get home. So Tokyo is just like refugee city right now.

Hopefully the trains should be all inspected and running sometime today (it's 3 am right now, so tomorrow really). The only way it has affected me (in Osaka) directly is that mobile services are strained and my text messages and calls aren't going through very easily. Internet is fine though. I guess that's all a pain in the ass and everything, but we're all thankful we were nowhere near the epicenter.
 


I can't conceptualize how catastrophic it must be up in Sendai and that area. I'm in touch with my friends in Tokyo, and to give you an idea of the situation there, basically everybody is ok but all the trains shut down so they can inspect the lines for damage. You might be like "Ok, take a cab" but understand the massive size of the Tokyo urban area. Millions of people commute into Tokyo from the surrounding areas everyday (the whole conurbation has more than 30 million people I think). Some people commute like 200 km to work by train, that's how massive the conurbation is.

So basically, millions (or at least hundreds of thousands, I don't know exactly) of people are stranded in Tokyo in their office buildings, schools, or just on the street waiting for things to go back to normal. Some of my friends walked for like 4 hours to get home. So Tokyo is just like refugee city right now.

Hopefully the trains should be all inspected and running sometime today (it's 3 am right now, so tomorrow really). The only way it has affected me (in Osaka) directly is that mobile services are strained and my text messages and calls aren't going through very easily. Internet is fine though. I guess that's all a pain in the ass and everything, but we're all thankful we were nowhere near the epicenter.

One reason to mitigate urban population concentration.
 
I'm in touch with my friends in Tokyo, and to give you an idea of the situation there, basically everybody is ok but all the trains shut down so they can inspect the lines for damage. You might be like "Ok, take a cab" but understand the massive size of the Tokyo urban area. Millions of people commute into Tokyo from the surrounding areas everyday (the whole conurbation has more than 30 million people I think). Some people commute like 200 km to work by train, that's how massive the conurbation is.

Holy hell, I took an urban anthropology class in college and my professor did his field work on the Japanese rail system, which meant that we went in-depth into the dynamics of that system and its relation to urban populations. Shutting down the rail system definitely entails a serious problem. I grew up in Manhattan and during 9/11 it was basically total chaos with respect to travel. I imagine in Tokyo it's an order of magnitude worse.

Edit: Another quake hits Japan:

TOKYO (Reuters) – A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 struck northwestern Japan on Saturday after a massive quake hit northeastern Japan, NHK reported.
 
Imagine how much WORSE it could be without those incredibly stringent building codes they have over there...
 
The nuclear part sounds a lot worse than it really is.

Yeah, the news is having a field day with all of this. Not that its not a huge deal, but it sounds like they are announcing the end of the world on every news station.

It went from damn Japan to : OH SHIT! THE REST OF THE WORLD IS SO FUCKED TOO!

Then when that didn't happen its: FUCKIN NUKES AND SHIT!
 
When an explosion happens in a nuclear powerpoint I dont think anyone will NOT be cautious. Certainly hope it doesn't get the point of a total meltdown, because seriously, the economies of the world will be heavily affected by anything that happens in Japan (that combined with troubles in middle east).
 
When an explosion happens in a nuclear powerpoint I dont think anyone will NOT be cautious. Certainly hope it doesn't get the point of a total meltdown, because seriously, the economies of the world will be heavily affected by anything that happens in Japan (that combined with troubles in middle east).

See nobody knows what a meltdown is. They think Japan is going to experience some nuclear holocaust.

This is what a meltdown is: Nuclear meltdown - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

They've occurred in the US. It's not going to lead to the end of the world.
 
Japan's economc tremors will be felt across the world. Japan is heavily invested in americas and the rest of world. Mind you one of the largest economy in the world and when i worked in investment banking i remember japanese clients were the biggest clients coz literally they paid us millions in commission per month. This should have large impact in the coming days if situation doesnt improve
 
Bombastic you shoudl have left it as though it was a big deal. We could have both along with the mods, watched the dumbasses on here stew about it... nothing like a good state of panic...

loved the Whirlpool in one of the ports. The name I am not sure of as it is all sushi to me but it was pretty cool watching these massive boats trying to get out of the whirlpool...
 
Japan's economc tremors will be felt across the world. Japan is heavily invested in americas and the rest of world. Mind you one of the largest economy in the world and when i worked in investment banking i remember japanese clients were the biggest clients coz literally they paid us millions in commission per month. This should have large impact in the coming days if situation doesnt improve

what a load of shit.... the only good thing to come out of Japan was their swords and high powered coke bottles on wheels.... not the YEN... Their dollar is worth as much to you as a good hooker is to the Pope... it is fucking worthless...
 
The media is using this as an excuse to show their anti-nuclear power colors, which is bullshit. "1000 times higher radiation!" - ok, 1000x higher that what? .001 rems is 1000x higher than .0001 rems. MEEEELTDOWN!!! ok and? This fucking plant went through an 8.9 earthquake and is one of the oldest operating plants in Japan.

Fuck you media, Nuclear is safe.

Anyone comparing this to chernobyl is a fucking retard with no idea how nuclear works. Chernobyl was graphite cooled, Fukushima, like all modern plants, is light water cooled. Fukushima, like ALL modern plants, has underground containment for meltdowns. Chernobyl did not.

All current generation plants are built even safer than this one and could withstand the quake no problem. This being older, it standing up to things is a testament to how safe nuclear actually is.

Fuck the media.
 
reactor reality check
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3jETncS4ZA]YouTube - Japan Reactor[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGn9E8Fmd0g]YouTube - Japan Quake[/ame]