Japan Earthquake and Tsunami (March 11, 2011)

[Vexx]

Parents in Japan comb through school that's now a graveyard
Tatsuhiro Karino paused at the top of the muddy hill, took his wife, Masako, by the hand and led her slowly down to the ruins of the elementary school that entombed the body of their daughter, Misaki. Dwarfed by four mammoth cranes digging into the wreckage, the 40ish construction worker gently pulled a veil over his wife's face to shield her from the dust and whiff of death. But he couldn't protect her from this: the grim task of locating the body of their 8-year-old child, among the 94 students and teachers killed when their school was leveled March 11 in nature's twin strike of shaking ground and torrential wave.

(Los Angeles Times, Mar 23)
Link: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...,2848039.story

[NameGoesHere]

Originally Posted by FatPianoBoy

Does the rating of 1 Sievert adjust based on actual effect on human tissue or is it related to a certain level of radiation being given off by the element in question? It's common sense that the radiation you're exposed to by standing next to a microwave affects your body significantly less than an eqivalent amount of radiation coming from atoms lodged in your body.

I was trying to find the DoD handbook to this, but I failed. I don't think anybody else answered so...no, it's not. Your comparison to the microwave...well, alpha and beta emitters are stopped by just several feet of air. They must rely on a carrier. Measurements currently given are in Sv/hr. You can...guesstimate(!) with the internal conversion. You need plain Sv (contaminant and amount ingested need to be known) of effective rate converted for an equivalent comparison though. Sv is to quantify biological effect on human tissue (so it is the actual effect, but not quite what you want). When worrying about ingestion, the units to look for are Bq or Ci.

Thick
Thin

That being said, there's no way to detect any of this accurately on the fly, and wind was blowing away from Japan the first few days, so that was a lucky break. Life goes on.

[Green²]

Originally Posted by english.kyodonews.jp

The Tokyo metropolitan government warned Wednesday that infants should not drink tap water in Tokyo's 23 wards and five of its suburban cities as radioactive iodine exceeding the limit for them was detected in water at a purification plant.

The amount of the substance was 210 becquerels per 1 kilogram of water at the plant in the Kanamachi district of Katsushika Ward, which serves the cities of Musashino, Mitaka, Machida, Tama and Inagi as well as central Tokyo, above the limit of 100 becquerels for infants but below 300 becquerels for older people, the metropolitan government said.

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/80564.html

The problem is that people will likely only hear the "radioactive" and "exceeding the limit detected in water" part of the warning. This may cause some panic buying of bottled water. So here's what you do, Japan:

You bring in Christine O'Donnell to some location inside Tokyo. You have her drink the water straight from the tap, at least three time per day. You broadcast this live during the local news hour, as though it were an addition to the local weather report. If she doesn't melt, you should be good to go.

[SaintessHeart]

I was hoping that the radioactive water could actually turn Japan into a real Academy City.

Seriously speaking, I don't think the level of radioactivity could do much damage. Real irradiated water has a different colour under white light.

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by Green²

The problem is that people will likely only hear the "radioactive" and "exceeding the limit detected in water" part of the warning. This may cause some panic buying of bottled water. So here's what you do, Japan:

You bring in Christine O'Donnell to some location inside Tokyo. You have her drink the water straight from the tap, at least three time per day. You broadcast this live during the local news hour, as though it were an addition to the local weather report. If she doesn't melt, you should be good to go.

Yeah.... my well water is "irradiated" from the minerals in the water table. Its simply noise level against the background solar/space radiation I get from standing outside.

Seriously, I'd like to take a bat and make reporters construct bar graphs that show exactly how this extra radiation compares against the radiation people get just being alive.

Infants and children, yes, err on the safe side simply because they've got a long time to live in which exposure can build up. Me at age 53? Hand me another bottle to drink.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Green²

The problem is that people will likely only hear the "radioactive" and "exceeding the limit detected in water" part of the warning. This may cause some panic buying of bottled water. So here's what you do, Japan:

You bring in Christine O'Donnell to some location inside Tokyo. You have her drink the water straight from the tap, at least three time per day. You broadcast this live during the local news hour, as though it were an addition to the local weather report. If she doesn't melt, you should be good to go.

Before pointing and laughing at the Japanese for panicking, shouldn't you wait for them to panic?

[Green²]

Originally Posted by NHK World

Supermarkets in Tokyo are crowded with shoppers buying mineral water after a radioactive substance in unsafe levels for infants was detected in Tokyo tap water.

At a supermarket in eastern Tokyo, stocks of plastic 2-liter mineral water bottles sold out in 20 minutes, immediately after the Tokyo Metropolitan government's announcement on Wednesday about the detection of iodine in tap water.

Shoppers who came later bought up smaller water bottles or bottles of barley tea.

A housewife with 3 children said she was worried because she heard children are more vulnerable to radioactivity. She said she believed it is not known how long such substances remain in water.

A woman in her 60s said she had visited 4 supermarkets for water. She was concerned about absorbing water through cooked meals.

The store manager called on customers to stay calm, saying additional water deliveries were expected soon.


http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/23_34.html

It would probably have great meaning if Prime Minister Naoto Kan went live on television and drank water from the tap.

[RRW]

http://gizmodo.com/#!5784988/first-l...ophe/gallery/1


First Look Inside Fukushima Reactor 3 After the Catastrophe Is Rather Unsettling

[Kyero Fox]

that plant looks rather old

[RandySyler]

I don't understand this whole iodine in water business being a big deal. At my house, our well pulls water that has a rather large amount of sulfur content. It's not enough to do any harm at all, but it is certaintly more chemically potent than these low levels of iodine, and this is water that we use everyday. This radioactive water is more of just a media scare tactic. They even say that the water is no big deal, but they still report it and make people panic. I'll even bet that a lot of that water had iodine in it for a long time before the quake.

[JMvS]

Originally Posted by RandySyler

I don't understand this whole iodine in water business being a big deal. At my house, our well pulls water that has a rather large amount of sulfur content. It's not enough to do any harm at all, but it is certaintly more chemically potent than these low levels of iodine, and this is water that we use everyday. This radioactive water is more of just a media scare tactic. They even say that the water is no big deal, but they still report it and make people panic. I'll even bet that a lot of that water had iodine in it for a long time before the quake.

The concern was not about iodine per see, but about it's radioactive isotope that was released by the reactors.

The body needs iodine, and thus, when absorbed, iodine is assimilated, and tends to accumulate in the thyroid gland. The potential problem is this: accumulation of radioactive iodine, meaning your tissue will get a continuous irradiation as long as the iodine lasts in the body.

Hence the iodine pills: their purpose are to absorb a massive done of safe iodine, in order to fill all iodine receptors, allowing the radioactive iodine to go trough.

[Random32]

Originally Posted by Kyero Fox

that plant looks rather old

It is old. Nearly 40yr I think.

on the topic of the Japanese panicking, I heard some places running out of bottle water within 20 minutes of the announcement, haven't confirmed though and it probably isn't normal.

[Tri-ring]

Originally Posted by JMvS

The concern was not about iodine per see, but about it's radioactive isotope that was released by the reactors.

The body needs iodine, and thus, when absorbed, iodine is assimilated, and tends to accumulate in the thyroid gland. The potential problem is this: accumulation of radioactive iodine, meaning your tissue will get a continuous irradiation as long as the iodine lasts in the body.

Hence the iodine pills: their purpose are to absorb a massive done of safe iodine, in order to fill all iodine receptors, allowing the radioactive iodine to go trough.

Again that is not a problem since iodine isotope's half life is eight days and there is no more released iodine so the amount will die down.
A spike is only a spike and will cause permanent damage.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by JMvS

The concern was not about iodine per see, but about it's radioactive isotope that was released by the reactors.

The body needs iodine, and thus, when absorbed, iodine is assimilated, and tends to accumulate in the thyroid gland. The potential problem is this: accumulation of radioactive iodine, meaning your tissue will get a continuous irradiation as long as the iodine lasts in the body.

Hence the iodine pills: their purpose are to absorb a massive done of safe iodine, in order to fill all iodine receptors, allowing the radioactive iodine to go trough.

I thought the potassium iodide pills "coat" the thyroid glands with KI, then when the radioactive iodine comes along, the potassium displaces from the original iodine they are chemically bound to, binds to the radioactive iodine and gets flushed out of the body.

[WanderingKnight]

I'd wonder more about the chlorine in regular tap water than such low levels of iodine-131. Though if I was in Tokyo, I would surely be buying bottled water, at least as soon as possible.

[MeoTwister5]

Radioactive iodine, specifically I131, is officially used as anti-thyroid medication to treat thyroid nodules. Officially Thiouracil is the drug of choice for thyroid masses, but I131 acts faster and has a wider effect range in reducing thyroid tissue mass overall, whereas Thiouracil is more effective against active neoplastic thyroid tissue (hormonally active nodules).

It IS radioactive, and is contraindicated in pregnancy.

[Roger Rambo]

Originally Posted by TrueKnight

Oddly enough, from some news/forum and some Japanese friends I have, the US military presence helping also significantly boost the morale of the Japanese themselves moreso than their own government.......

I've been hearing things like that sporadically 2nd hand as well. What's the jist going on with that? The help of the US military is undoubtedly appreciated, but it's not like the Japanese government is itself incapable of providing disaster relief.

The only major thing I can think of, is that the US military's real life experiance in engaging in large scale logistic operations under war time conditions makes them better suited to responding quickly to a disaster like this.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Roger Rambo

I've been hearing things like that sporadically 2nd hand as well. What's the jist going on with that? The help of the US military is undoubtedly appreciated, but it's not like the Japanese government is itself incapable of providing disaster relief.

The only major thing I can think of, is that the US military's real life experiance in engaging in large scale logistic operations under war time conditions makes them better suited to responding quickly to a disaster like this.

They are the ones who developed the heliborne supply chain, probably starting as early as the Korean war where mini-helicopters are used as MASH.

Of course, then some generals thought they could drop troops too with helicopters, so someone invented a way for soldiers to get ropeburn and sprained ankles before going into a fight.

The fastrope technique is to grab the nylon rope with gloved hands and between your boots. With lightweight boots, one is going to get feetburn too. With well polished boots, there won't be any friction left to grip on. Stupid technique.

[Mystique]

Two Fukushima workers in hospital

There's 180 men, in teams of 50 who have all but signed a death sentence to save the rest of us all by fighting to calm the reactors down as much as possible for the last 2 weeks. ♥
In the words of Winston Churchill, during WW2
"Never in the ...field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."
I sadly expect more stories like this, they know what they've given up their lives for, as a foreigner living in Tokyo, I hope to respect that by trying my best in this country appreciating each extra day that I have despite things being a little tough at present.

It has been said here before but I'll bring it back to light:
Forget Hollywood or America's definitions of 'heroes', this is what true sacrifice is about and these are living heroes who'll eternally go down in history for their bravery.

Other news:
More Asian countries ban food from areas near Fukushima

[krko]

N.Korea donates $100,000 for Japan quake relief

SEOUL — North Korea has donated $100,000 for relief efforts in Japan after it was struck by a massive earthquake and tsunami, according to state media.
The North's Red Cross sent the relief fund to its counterpart in Japan, expressing "deep sympathy" for victims of the disaster and their families, the Korean Central News Agency said.
The North's leader Kim Jong-Il separately sent $500,000 to help pro-Pyongyang Koreans living in Japan who were affected by the disaster, it said.
More than 25,000 people have been confirmed dead or missing in Japan, 12 days after a massive earthquake and tsunami hit the country's northeast coast and triggered a crisis at a nuclear power plant.
The communist state has no diplomatic relations with Japan, which Pyongyang usually condemns as an imperialist aggressor, referring to its harsh colonial rule over the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945.
The two countries have not yet resolved disputes over the North's kidnapping of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s to help train spies.

You know you're in deep shit when even North Korea starts to send donations.