Japan Quake and Tsunami

[BH]

dragonboy has ties to Japan (hence his name). I'm not sure he lives there now, but I'm sure he's concerned.

My best friend and family live in Tokyo and my cousin lives in Kyoto. I believe these are ok. I'm still worried though.

Hey guys,

Has anybody heard from dragonboy? I haven't been around for a while and don't know if he still lives in Japan or not.

Hope all's well with your friend and cousin Jaimoe.

So awful. All of it. And now the problem with the nuclear power plants. Can only send our good hopes a

nd wishes. Good point about their technology el chode.

Hey doc, great to hear from you.  Hope all is well.  Dragonboy moved back to London and then on to Spain I believe a year or two ago so he should be safe.   Although I have not heard from him and I'm sure he is very concerned about family and friends in Japan.   Hope he checks in soon....

[tdb810]

Hope Tomokai checks in soon too!
I had his email address in my phone, or at least I thought I did.....ugh, it was the first week with the new phone and I must have screwed  it up.  :( 

[darkglow]

saw a picture of my old ship on CNN.com delivering aid supplies by way of helo.. i would give up a months worth of pay (assuming my bills were taken care of) just to be able to go back to my ship and help.

the stories keep getting worse and japan is very unable to help themselves on their own right now. the best thing we can all do is donate a few dollars where you can to the red cross. 1.5 million households without food and water and the temperatures are near freezing in most places.

[bluesky]

About Tomoaki, I wrote him a pm the other day, no word yet. But he has only posted once and that was after Danz started the thread to contact him. We should hope the best for him and understand that we might not hear from him for awhile.

[tdb810]

About Tomoaki, I wrote him a pm the other day, no word yet. But he has only posted once and that was after Danz started the thread to contact him. We should hope the best for him and understand that we might not hear from him for awhile.

Yup, I was just checking that thread too. I was also able to tell from his profile that he was last active on the board on March 6. It gives me hope that he was on so recently, that he will check in once he gets the chance.  Prayers for everyone affected by this devastating tragedy.

[danz]

My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected by this. 
I emailed Tomoaki and I will give you guys an update when I hear back.
Are these rampant natural disasters ever going to stop?  It seems like they are only becoming more frequent...

[Hawkeye]

Message from my bro this morning:

"hey im doing okay for now but a lot of people arent. some of my japanese friends cant even buy food and water because its sold out. ive been trying to help them out as much as possible but its been really tough because we are working 12 hours a day 6 days a week. it is very crazy here and its not really improving. more nuclear reactors are melting down and we are still having earhquakes. its up to around 300 now. if they cant get control of the nuclear situation we might even have to evacuate. i know its somewhat serious because they arent letting new people pcs in and they arent letting people that are pcsing to other bases leave. but anyway.. how is everything there? i really hope you get that job. i know its something you are actually interested in at least"

I can't imagine being without food or water.  And worrying about when the next quake might come.  The the reactors.  And the cleanup.

[tdb810]

Message from my bro this morning:

"hey im doing okay for now but a lot of people arent. some of my japanese friends cant even buy food and water because its sold out. ive been trying to help them out as much as possible but its been really tough because we are working 12 hours a day 6 days a week. it is very crazy here and its not really improving. more nuclear reactors are melting down and we are still having earhquakes. its up to around 300 now. if they cant get control of the nuclear situation we might even have to evacuate. i know its somewhat serious because they arent letting new people pcs in and they arent letting people that are pcsing to other bases leave. but anyway.. how is everything there? i really hope you get that job. i know its something you are actually interested in at least"

I can't imagine being without food or water.  And worrying about when the next quake might come.  The the reactors.  And the cleanup.

So glad to hear your brother is ok.  This is such a tragedy, and so much uncertainty right now with the nuclear situation....I guess the best we can do right now is send money to help with getting the basic necessities over there. 
Thanks for the update.

[YouAre_GivenToFly]

I work in the Medical supply chain for the US DoD. When things like this happen (most recently Haiti and Katrina) this place gets very, very busy. This time, though, there's a conference call everyday with USPACOM but not much else beyond that. The Navy is supporting the effort with what they have in stock.

I can't speak for what is going on on the food/subsistance side of things, but I'm quite surprised medical supplies aren't in huge demand right now.

[el_chode]

I work in the Medical supply chain for the US DoD. When things like this happen (most recently Haiti and Katrina) this place gets very, very busy. This time, though, there's a conference call everyday with USPACOM but not much else beyond that. The Navy is supporting the effort with what they have in stock.

I can't speak for what is going on on the food/subsistance side of things, but I'm quite surprised medical supplies aren't in huge demand right now.

From what I've read two things are at play:

US Media are being drama llamas and overplaying the situation to an extent
Japan is making every effort to handle this on their own first before requesting help

[ynwa]

i'm so glad to read that our friends from this forum & their families/friends are all ok so far and am hoping that the good news continues re: Tomoaki.  my thoughts & prayers go out to everyone effected by this awful, awful tragedy.

   

   


   

[ynwa]

I work in the Medical supply chain for the US DoD. When things like this happen (most recently Haiti and Katrina) this place gets very, very busy. This time, though, there's a conference call everyday with USPACOM but not much else beyond that. The Navy is supporting the effort with what they have in stock.

I can't speak for what is going on on the food/subsistance side of things, but I'm quite surprised medical supplies aren't in huge demand right now.

From what I've read two things are at play:

US Media are being drama llamas and overplaying the situation to an extent
Japan is making every effort to handle this on their own first before requesting help

i heard that as well.

re: the media - of course this is a massive "story" & there's a whole lot of us that want to remain informed on the latest devlopments.  but i agree that some of it seems to be a bit much.  for example, yesterday i heard a soundbite of some female reporter acting completely shocked to see that people were still recycling and she just had to ask someone "why and how (she) could possibly be thinking of such things at a time like this".

what a fucking moron.  in times of great tragedy, people need some kind of normalcy.  what was so strange about it?  i really couldn't believe my ears.

[el_chode]

I work in the Medical supply chain for the US DoD. When things like this happen (most recently Haiti and Katrina) this place gets very, very busy. This time, though, there's a conference call everyday with USPACOM but not much else beyond that. The Navy is supporting the effort with what they have in stock.

I can't speak for what is going on on the food/subsistance side of things, but I'm quite surprised medical supplies aren't in huge demand right now.

From what I've read two things are at play:

US Media are being drama llamas and overplaying the situation to an extent
Japan is making every effort to handle this on their own first before requesting help

i heard that as well.

re: the media - of course this is a massive "story" & there's a whole lot of us that want to remain informed on the latest devlopments.  but i agree that some of it seems to be a bit much.  for example, yesterday i heard a soundbite of some female reporter acting completely shocked to see that people were still recycling and she just had to ask someone "why and how (she) could possibly be thinking of such things at a time like this".

what a fucking moron.  in times of great tragedy, people need some kind of normalcy.  what was so strange about it?  i really couldn't believe my ears.

Reminds me of the time I almost got suspended in high school for laughing in the hallway the day after there was a car accident claiming the life of some younger students. Not laughing at them, just laughing at something nondescript.

One of those formative experiences actually.

[Ruckus]

I'm grateful for wireless technology and social networking as it has allowed my cousin and a friend of mine from Japan to keep me up to date on what they are experiencing.  That said, there may be some drawbacks as well.

http://www.aolnews.com/2011/03/15/glenn-becks-message-from-god-5-moronic-thoughts-on-the-japan/

[BH]

I get the awful sinking feeling that the worst of this tragedy is still yet to come.  Here we are a week later and there are thousands of people living in the dark and cold with no food and still no help.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1367473/Elderly-hospital-patients-left-die-Japans-nuclear-zone-400-000-fight-survive-tsunami-humanitarian-crisis.html

[el_chode]

I get the awful sinking feeling that the worst of this tragedy is still yet to come.  Here we are a week later and there are thousands of people living in the dark and cold with no food and still no help.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1367473/Elderly-hospital-patients-left-die-Japans-nuclear-zone-400-000-fight-survive-tsunami-humanitarian-crisis.html

Really? I feel "optimistic" if that's a fair word to use. Japan has had its share of disasters, natural and military. They're a society that at least has the knowledge and ability to respond better than most others, and they said that Chernobyl is ruled out and the worst they should suffer is a Three Mile Island-level issue on that front.

That's not to say that it won't be hard. But Chile bounced back pretty well last year for similar reasons, and I don't think they'll suffer like Haiti.

[BH]

Who said Chernobyl is ruled out?   I was under the impression that they were running out of ideas for cooling the exposed rods and were getting close to having to cover it with sand and concrete which sounds a lot like Chernobyl to me.

Did you read the article I attached that mentioned all of the elderly patients that were left behind?   In a society where the elderly are honored much more than they are in this country.

I'm not saying they won't bounce back.   And yes, Haiti has far worse problems in many ways.   I guess I'm just a bit shell shocked after reading more of the "close up" stories that are finally starting to come show up.

[Jaimoe]

Japan won't suffer like Haiti because its a wealthy and industrious country with lots of powerful allies and a resilient populace (despite their crippling national debt). Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world, and could have used the near billion in US aid, but I believe that money is still being blocked by one politican.

My friend and his wife are being forced to stay on the job in Tokyo. She's a nurse and he works for a newspaper. He's frustrated and scared, but has arranged to get his kids to Canada if need be.

[el_chode]

Who said Chernobyl is ruled out?   I was under the impression that they were running out of ideas for cooling the exposed rods and were getting close to having to cover it with sand and concrete which sounds a lot like Chernobyl to me.

Did you read the article I attached that mentioned all of the elderly patients that were left behind?   In a society where the elderly are honored much more than they are in this country.

I'm not saying they won't bounce back.   And yes, Haiti has far worse problems in many ways.   I guess I'm just a bit shell shocked after reading more of the "close up" stories that are finally starting to come show up.

I don't have the link on this computer, I read it at work. It was from the BBC. The interior ministry or whomever is handling the situation raised the seriousness level to 5, which is the "three mile island" level and making this the third such incident ever. The same article explained that Chernobyl is ruled out at this point absent another catastrophe. As of print time (around lunch, EST), they said power to reactor two was almost restored, which means the pumps can once again start filling the core with water. It was either 3 or 4 that was still the concern, but they were ready to bury it in concrete and sand before it got worse.

I don't mean to come across as dismissive. I try to be the silver lining type

[Jon T.]

Class =  http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Ichiro-donates-100-million-yen-to-relief-efforts?urn=mlb-wp884