8.4 Earthquake Hits Japan

[Doctor Destiny 41]

Seriously? I don't think that there would be a declaration of a State of Emergency for the two power plants if it WASN'T SERIOUS. Seriously.

It's called preventative measures. Should something happen, people will have evacuated already.

[Renamon 0]

all of this sensationalizing by the media is poisoning the minds of the ignorant. it is going to be worse than the china syndrome.

 

already we see politicians demanding moratorium on nuclear plant construction when one hasn't even been built in the US in like 40 years, lol. and these euro leaders wanting to shut down the existing plants when the reason they made them in the first place was to remove dependence on foreign oil.. so what do they expect the consequences for destroying these nukes will be? this energy needs to come from somewhere.

 

eh, whatever. i need to sleep.

[rSquar3d 0]

I get the point. But then, there's something in Japan called Honne and Tatamae. Now, the Honne is what we English-speakers would probably define as "reality," and the Tatamae is the "facade" that covers this reality. Japanese culture places a great emphasis on pride, honor and perfection. Now, in various circumstances, the Honne (which may be negative, may ruin pride, etc.) is disregarded, and the Tatamae is used to ensure that the image of honor and perfection is preserved.

 

I assume, somehow, that while the Japanese government seems to be calmly handling the situation, it is still possible for their culture to override their logic, hence them showing the world a Tatamae that things are bad, but not THAT bad, whereas the Honne is actually worse than the Tatamae they're showing. It's a cultural thing.

[rSquar3d 0]

And I'd hate to say I told you so. Latest headline on MSNBC: Japan crisis exceeds Three Mile Island, expert says; no fly zone declared.

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42084187/ns/wo...ws-asiapacific/

 

Again, the Tatamae strikes.

[Nmenth 291]

Three Mile Island was hardly even a disaster. The workers were ignorant and incompetently made things worse than they would have been, but there wasn't a big problem in the first place and ultimately, there wasn't a big problem in the end.

 

Saying this is worse than Three Mile Island, but not quite as bad as Chernobyl is like saying getting punched in the face is worse than getting flicked, but not quite as bad as getting run over by a speeding eighteen wheeler.

[Guest Stevie_K]

Tired of reading comments from these so called "experts". They have been saying the same thing over and over on every media for almost a week.

"There's a potential danger that this might turn into a catastrophe". No **** Sherlock

[rSquar3d 0]

Radiation levels up in Tokyo, slightly above a hundred miles away from Daiichi. They're saying it seems to be a disaster, at most at the regional level (and that's the worst case), but it seems that it'll be just in Japan.

[rSquar3d 0]

Another update for naysayers: U.S. is already issuing a 50-mi danger zone for Daiichi (except with high-level clearance), up from Japan's 13-mi; second, significant radiation has been detected in an 18-mi radius (note the fact that Japan is maintaining the 13-mi danger zone despite that fact). Third, tiny amounts of radiation have reached as far as California.

 

I think we can all begin to worry that this MAY be a second Chernobyl. I hope to God it isn't, but at this point, it's just that possible. Plus, the Japanese government really seems to want to put a pretty image instead of the real image (blame their Tatamae culture).

Edited March 18, 2011 by rSquar3d

[Guest Rabbit]

I'm in California, and I'm not worried. Chernobyl was still not that bad, sure, it affected the immediate environment, but reports clearly indicate that even if there was a meltdown, the radiation that would get to my state would be harmless because of the minimal level it would achieve on the surface.

[Plok 327]

Chernobyl was still not that bad, sure, it affected the immediate environment

The immediate environment was most of Europe!

Take a look at what Wikipedia says:

It is considered the worst nuclear power plant accident in history, and it is the only one classified as a level 7 event on the International Nuclear Event Scale.

(...)

The resulting fire sent a plume of radioactive fallout into the atmosphere and over an extensive geographical area, including Pripyat. The plume drifted over large parts of the western Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and Northern Europe. Large areas in Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia were evacuated, and over 336,000 people were resettled. According to official post-Soviet data, about 60% of the fallout landed in Belarus.

[PurpleGaga27 40]

I'm in California, and I'm not worried. Chernobyl was still not that bad, sure, it affected the immediate environment, but reports clearly indicate that even if there was a meltdown, the radiation that would get to my state would be harmless because of the minimal level it would achieve on the surface.

 

That somehow triggered the huge amount of sales used for potassium iodine and masks, in which they don't do much good against radiation.

 

But we shall see if the nuclear issue gets even worse.

 

Here's the update from local metro LA: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011...california.html

Edited March 18, 2011 by zocom7

[rSquar3d 0]

The last update was that Japan raised its nuclear alert level from 4 to 5 (on an international scale). For comparison, another level 5 meltdown was Three Mile Island, while the only level 7 was Chernobyl. However, again, it is important to note Japanese culture at this point; I can't stress that enough. They have this tendency to sit pretty and act as if it's still workable, whereas it is possible that it isn't workable anymore. I mean, I don't think that the U.S. military would issue a 50-mi quarantine zone for no good reason.

 

And also, it is important to note that the French Autorité de sûreté nucléaire (Nuclear Safety Authority) already considered it as a level 6 incident, even when Japanese officials stated it as level 4, and at the present, the U.S.-based Institute for Science and International Security considers it a level 7 incident already, at par with Chernobyl.

Edited March 19, 2011 by rSquar3d

[Nmenth 291]

I mean, I don't think that the U.S. military would issue a 50-mi quarantine zone for no good reason.

Again, it is a precaution.

 

They evacuated for Three Mile Island too, but that incident exposed people to less radiation than 100 mrem, which is pretty much negligible.

[Chimas 7]

Coincidence or not, in January 17 this year, I wrote this Briefing for a SP mission for CnC95

 

MISSION: LIQUIDATORS RALLY

 

1=A radioactive disaster is on its way in a NOD nuclear compound in your sector. Due to the unreadiness of

2=our troops, we can only provide a massive force of UN-NDLTs (Nuclear disaster liquidators team).

3=Unfortunately, Kane is hiding this lethal threat to his own troops. First, use the small regular forces to combat

4=NOD defenses and then, deploy tactics to rush in the NDLTs until you take over the main core. Destroy the

5=powerplants to prevent soil contamination or the backflow over the core. We don't know the time left,

6=our gamma ray spectrometers are already contaminated. So keep the NDLTs going.

 

 

The term "liquidators" comes, of course, from the Chernobyl crisis.

The idea is a different base invasion where the NDLTs (ENGs) have to reach the core of the base in a limited amount of time

Maybe 1 or 2 late commandos to destroy the secondary targets.

 

I'm revealing this, because, after this Fukushima crisis, this mission might become a little inconvenient by the time the mission is published.

But, what else can I say, once nuclear threat is part of the CnC95 culture.

 

 

[Nmenth 291]

I'm revealing this, because, after this Fukushima crisis, this mission might become a little inconvenient by the time the mission is published.

Psh, anyone that can be offended by a game doesn't deserve to play it.

 

I don't care if the Soviets smash the twin towers in Red Alert 2, or what monuments are desecrated in Zero Hour. People are just too @#$%!& offended by things these days, they need to shut up and accept that no game is trying to directly insult an entire culture (unless it is, but even then, so what? @#$% whiners...).

[rSquar3d 0]

@Nmenth: That.

 

However, back to topic. Here's an article (or two) to ponder on.

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42171731/ns/wo...ws-asiapacific/

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42165497/ns/wo...ws-asiapacific/

 

And again, back to the issue with Japanese culture: while the U.S. was being completely honest about what went down in TMI, the Japanese have a tendency to pretend that things are pretty even though they're not. And let's not forget the threat assessments of various international bodies, which differ greatly from that which the Japanese government releases in their updates.

 

But then, they said that "[power is back up and the plant workers are working to get cooling water flowing in the reactor cores.]"

 

However, how much of that statement is actually true remains to be seen. Again, Japanese culture.

[PurpleGaga27 40]

Another piece of update, even there's a email hoax about acid rain in LA County:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-03...0,2040675.story

 

[rSquar3d 0]

Lulz. Now that's just retarded. Radiation doesn't cause acid rain in the first place. It's hydrocarbons like CO2 emissions, and other stuff from factories.

 

Talk about people causing more trouble in times like these...

[Nmenth 291]

CO2 doesn't cause acid rain either, SO2 does.

 

CO2 is not some apocalyptic gas that is the ultimate cause of all that is bad in the world...

 

[Luk3us 63]

I think this entire affair is being blown out of proportion, sure its a going to have a significant impact in that immediate area. But to think its going to affect somewhere as far away as the US, is just fear mongering, I blame the US 24/7 news networks who have nothing better to do than scare everyone for the sake of ratings and attention.

 

Again, Japanese culture.

 

lol, misleading the public isn't a cultural thing, everyone government does it, they just don't want to start a panic.

[rSquar3d 0]

@ Luk3us: The Japanese thing isn't really "misleading," and I never called it that. I did explain what Honne and Tatamae were, and while on I wouldn't define it as a cultural thing if it only prevails in the government sector (that would be political), the thing is, it isn't. It's prevalent in ever corner of Japanese society. The Japanese have such a high emphasis on honor and perfection that they would lie to retain that image.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honne

 

And it's not just the U.S. networks; you'd have to diss all international news networks (from MSNBC to CNN to BBC) to say that it's just scaremongering, what they're saying.

 

@Nmenth: I stand corrected. I really forgot my 3rd year chem class. >

[Nyerguds 102]

Hey, I got an idea. This is a really unique chance... let's all send lizards to the Fukushima power plant

 

GODZILLA YEAH!

[Plok 327]

Seems you don't like New York City very much

[Nyerguds 102]

What the hell man. Godzilla is the Tokyo Destroyer.

[PurpleGaga27 40]

More bad news out from Japan's nuclear power plant:

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/asia/R...-118779069.html