March 2011 Tohoku Earthquake

[keitaro]

alot of manufacturing companies are shut today such as canon's factories maybe due to power issue? i guess this could be extending as well.

[miyakoji]

Bikkuri, in one of those JRTR pdfs that you linked to, I think I read that at least JR East has 2 of its own sources for traction electricity.  Are those only part of the supply?  But regardless, I agree with you.  People insisted on going to work after the Hanshin earthquake too, didn't they?

[bikkuri bahn]

Bikkuri, in one of those JRTR pdfs that you linked to, I think I read that at least JR East has 2 of its own sources for traction electricity.  Are those only part of the supply?  But regardless, I agree with you.  People insisted on going to work after the Hanshin earthquake too, didn't they?

 

That's a good question.  On the TV news yesterday it was mentioned that JR East's company owned power generation (hydroelectric?) was adequate enough to run Tokyo area railways and shinkansen, but that more rural area electrified routes would lack power.  Perhaps they are cutting back anyway as part of the general effort to conserve.  Also JR Tokai does not have independent power generation capability so they are at the mercy of TEPCO rolling blackouts, at least until somewhere around Shizuoka Pref. (the dividing line of 50hz/60hz).  Private railways similarly are affected.

[Morian Miner]

Bikkuri, in one of those JRTR pdfs that you linked to, I think I read that at least JR East has 2 of its own sources for traction electricity.  Are those only part of the supply?  But regardless, I agree with you.  People insisted on going to work after the Hanshin earthquake too, didn't they?

 

That's a good question.  On the TV news yesterday it was mentioned that JR East's company owned power generation (hydroelectric?) was adequate enough to run Tokyo area railways and shinkansen, but that more rural area electrified routes would lack power.  Perhaps they are cutting back anyway as part of the general effort to conserve.  Also JR Tokai does not have independent power generation capability so they are at the mercy of TEPCO rolling blackouts, at least until somewhere around Shizuoka Pref. (the dividing line of 50hz/60hz).  Private railways similarly are affected.

 

I had just read an article from a few months back regarding JR East possibly having to cut back on hydro power, after having (for years) taken more than their allotment of water to power their hydro plant. Did that ever get straightened out? If not, nothing like what's going on to "solve" that problem.

[bikkuri bahn]

I don't know how that controversy ended up, but now it's the least of the concerns for JR East.

 

On thing I'd like to remind forumers living outside of Japan- English language media sources can be inaccurate in the smaller details- one article described a resident of Koriyama being nervous because the city was "near" the nuclear power plant (actually it's 60km or so away).  Another paragraph mentioned tsunami-displaced people in Iwaki, which is actually much nearer to Fukushima No1 Nuclear Power Plant, but no mention of that.  In another news report, a map showed the locations of nuclear power plants- one was correctly in Fukushima, but the other was placed somewhere just south of Sendai(!)- I believe it's really Fukushima No. 2 plant.  On the first day of reports, a Guardian report stated fatalities of 88,000- it turned out the lazy reporters had used machine translation of information on the number of stranded commuters in Tokyo on Friday evening.  Foreign reporters based in Tokyo are notorious for their lack of Japanese language ability.

[bikkuri bahn]

alot of manufacturing companies are shut today such as canon's factories maybe due to power issue? i guess this could be extending as well.

 

Yes, I reckon that is the main issue.  With some firms, disruption in the "just in time" supply chain may also be an issue.

[CaptOblivious]

I assume the image on the front of Kato's page has to do with the earthquake. Could someone translate it?

http://www.katomodels.com/

[Tenorikuma]

I assume the image on the front of Kato's page has to do with the earthquake. Could someone translate it?

http://www.katomodels.com/

 

It's a message by company president Mr. Kato and the rest of the Kato employees expressing their condolences to everyone for their losses in the earthquake and wishing for the speedy recovery of those affected.

[bill937ca]

The earthquake from a dealer's perspective. What a mess.  Multiply that by millions of homes and businesses and none of this appears in the official numbers.

 

http://www.hlj.com/specials/sendaiearthquake?utm_medium=slide&utm_campaign=TOP_page&utm_content=earthquake-banner.png

[Martijn Meerts]

I bet those items destined for the "Scratch & Dent" bin are going to sell pretty fast, and end up on eBay moments later with tasteless descriptions...

[westfalen]

On the TV tonight was a shot of a bus parked neatly on top of a three or four story building when everything else in sight is unidentifiable rubble. Amazing, until you remember that rubble was a town on Friday morning.

[bill937ca]

[Bernard]

BB - Well said.

When the Twin Towers went down in NYC it took almost a year to clean up the area...and they still aren't close to finish rebuilding that area of NYC.

What happen in Sendai is far worse, (not to mention other parts of Japan) the whole city is in ruin. Emotionally I can't see how people can return to work, there is so much work to be done in the relief effort, not to mention finding relatives & friends.

[Mudkip Orange]

When Houston got hit with Ike the city was pretty much rebuilt within a month. Contrast this with New Orleans which will probably never be rebuilt fully.

 

Culture really drives this. Japan from everything I know has the kind of culture that is well suited to rebuilding. I think they will bounce back pretty quick.

[miyakoji]

Culture really drives this. Japan from everything I know has the kind of culture that is well suited to rebuilding. I think they will bounce back pretty quick.

I was thinking this as well.  If anyone knows how to rebuild, it's the Japanese.  Unfortunately the death toll is horrendous, and the situation with that power plant is worrying.

[Kabutoni]

I think, one of the problems with rebuilding is that the areas flooded were mostly populated with elderly people and were already seeing a significant decrease of inhabitants. The question is more: are people willing to return to the affected areas? Most young people don't want to live in the countryside any more and do business in primary sector economy firms (e.g. agriculture, agribusiness, fishing). I could be proven wrong in the future and backfire on me, but that's how it looks now IMHO.

[Mudkip Orange]

I think, one of the problems with rebuilding is that the areas flooded were mostly populated with elderly people and were already seeing a significant decrease of inhabitants. The question is more: are people willing to return to the affected areas? Most young people don't want to live in the countryside any more and do business in primary sector economy firms (e.g. agriculture, agribusiness, fishing). I could be proven wrong in the future and backfire on me, but that's how it looks now IMHO.

 

Interesting thought. That's pretty much what happened after Katrina, people who had been living in Houston or Dallas for a year decided "damn, Texas ain't bad" and made the relocation permanent. So while the Japanese certainly have the cultural and technological capacity to rebuild, maybe market forces will prevent it from being as extensive as it otherwise might be.

[stevenh]

I can't keep away from the news feed... Japan, you have my thoughts and prayers... Fukushima especially.

I can't see anyone moving back there in a while... the situation at the Plant is just worsening by the minute.

[bikkuri bahn]

Yes, a big question about rebuilding the affected towns along the coast is whether people will want to live there anymore.  Certainly the elderly will likely stay, but any young(er) people will either leave or move further inland.

 

A good commentary/explanation of the mechanism of nuclear power plants specifically in the case of Fukushima Daiichi (the nuclear reactor is a GE design):

http://mitnse.com/2011/03/13/why-i-am-not-worried-about-japans-nuclear-reactors/

 

Another commentary, which, besides the reports of forumers here in Japan, provides some perspective on events in Japan:

http://www.kalzumeus.com/2011/03/13/some-perspective-on-the-japan-earthquake/

[Tenorikuma]

I think, one of the problems with rebuilding is that the areas flooded were mostly populated with elderly people and were already seeing a significant decrease of inhabitants. The question is more: are people willing to return to the affected areas? Most young people don't want to live in the countryside any more and do business in primary sector economy firms (e.g. agriculture, agribusiness, fishing). I could be proven wrong in the future and backfire on me, but that's how it looks now IMHO.

 

Still, there was a lot of agriculture and industry in this region that will need to be resumed one way another. And then there are the six damaged ports, approximately a thousand damaged sections of expressway, several dozen damaged sections of track, and so on. And if 200,000 people decide not to return to the devastated regions, they still need to find housing somewhere.

[Fat Al]

Kobe, to this day, seems to be rebuilt up to 85% of its original scale before the 94 quake. Becuase the population loss was so great from the quake, there were many places they couldn't rebuild, or had no need for rebuilding, and were left abandoned.

 

I've already heard from a Japanese friend of mine that Minamisanriku may be abandoned altogether.

 

p.s. My friend has now evacuated to Tokyo from Fukushima. He wanted to go back to Sendai to help, but there is no way to go back up there now. It sounds like the entire Northeast is isolated by road and rail now. The people who can leave the area by themselves are going through Akita and Yamagata to Niigata, and then evacuating to Osaka.

[Guest Closed Account 1]

My prayers are with everyone affected.

 

Did Japan truly move 8 feet on the map?

[disturbman]

I really would like that news feed coming from the Fukushima power plant to stop getting worrisome. Everyday brings new bad news. The fourth reactor is now on fire and releasing radioactivity in the atmosphere. It also seems that the situation is worsening in the fifth and sixth reactors...

[Martijn Meerts]

I really would like that news feed coming from the Fukushima power plant to stop getting worrisome. Everyday brings new bad news. The fourth reactor is now on fire and releasing radioactivity in the atmosphere. It also seems that the situation is worsening in the fifth and sixth reactors...

 

It's the media that makes it more worrisome than it might be. They do seem to like blowing things out of proportion. Obviously, the radioactive clouds are a problem, but the amount of radioactive particles in them isn't insanely high, certainly not high enough to label the thing "Wind of Death" as they do in the Netherlands. So far, everyone still agrees a meltdown is highly unlikely (apart from the anti-nuclear crowd of course)

 

Still, it remains to be seen how severe it's going to be.

[westfalen]

The media do concentrate on the bad news. I haven't seen any mention on TV here that most of Japan outside the earthquake area is almost carrying on business as usual, they talk as though all of Japan is in ruins and chaos.