The Fukushima reactor is 100 miles north of Tokyo. Tokyo has 13 million people.

The scope of this disaster is impossible to comprehend, and may get infinitely worse if that reactor vessel ruptures.

Latest news Saturday morning, Oz time [10.00] is that the reactor is fine....was shutdown.   Rest of the news here was about chasing up the 12000 Aussies who are over there...if they're OK....

Just proves that whatever happens on this planet affects us all. Nearly every country having nationals from other countries either living or working there. If the human race can't pull it together I don't hold out much hope for it. Fortunately now that the OT is done with ... The report said if they couldn't cool the reactor it would be like Three Mile Island. Tame compared to Chernobl.

Some good news. I have a cousin in Okinawa. He is ok, an his wifes parents in western Tokyo are fine as well. Okinawa was pretty much untouched by this mess.

Because they are far enough away, thank goodness. West coast US got hit with the tsunami. Nothing as bad as other places although there is one person missing. Swept out to sea they think.

Climat en furie!

A l'heure où le Japon compte ses morts et disparus une pensée profonde pour ce peuple vivant dans cette region du globe la plus vulnérable aux tremblements de terre.

Est ce que notre humanité en est en partie la cause?

Personnellement, je pense que notre réchauffement climatique est en cause responsable de l'emballement des accelérations sismiques vulcanologiques et bien d'autrres phénomènes à venir.

Sommes nous résponsables?

Il est facile de comprendre que notre terre rendue à l'etat d'effet de serre par le rebondissement de la chaleur sur la couche d'ozone accentue un poid considérable provoquant une pression atmosphérique importante par la fonte des pôles, la désalinisation des océans, ne pouvant provoquer que des perturbations élevées sur les zones du globe deja fragilisées.

Quel héritage laissons nous à nos enfants?

Notre humanité devra bien comprendre et s'adapter à l'évolution des catastrophes naturelles s'intensifiant, et changer notre mode de vie qui en sera bouleversé.

Cause à effet ?

Notre nature nous montre que nous allons subir une modification géographique dans l'avenir et s'éloigner des zones à risques.

Quel temps nous reste t'il?

Le temps n'a pas d'importance face à ce que nous démontre notre planète car au fur et à mesure des années le changement nous mettra de toute façon à contribution et nous fera comprendre ce que nous devons faire pour survivre à notre civilisation.

Toutes mes condoléances au peuple Japonnais qui est notre...

Jef

It just blew up.

No way????

It did! A huge explosion rocked the power plant and the authorities fear a meltdown is likely. Radiation levels inside are 1,000 times normal and the surrounding area contains more radiation than is normally absorbed by a person in a year. Over 100,000 people living in the region have been evacuated and they do not believe there is any danger beyond the six mile limit for the power plant. That however remains to be seen.

Oh shit!!!!

With the reported levels of radiation there is every likelihood that the immediate area will be unusable for years and years.... and that's even before a core meltdown.  It surely isn't something Japan needs, given its population and that land is always at a premium there.

I also read before that Japanese authorities are saying that it could be weeks, even months before a final death toll can be released.  I can believe that, given the footage I saw of the tsunami and how far and wide it reached inland.  That was horrendous in anyones language.

Unfortunately, both the news of the shutdown and the explosion are true. The explosion was probably caused by the accumulation of hydrogen gas.

"FUKUSHIMA, Japan, March 12 (Reuters) - Radiation leaked from
an unstable Japanese nuclear reactor north of Tokyo on Saturday,
the government said, after an explosion blew the roof off the
facility in the wake of a massive earthquake.

An unchecked rise in temperature could cause the core to
essentially turn into a molten mass that could burn through the
reactor vessel," risk information service Stratfor said in a
report before the explosion. "This may lead to a release of an
unchecked amount of radiation into the containment building that
surrounds the reactor."

This is really bad news. The one ray of goodness out of all this are all the disaster teams being rushed to Japan. At least in all this devastation the world is cooperating in trying to help those in this overwhelming catastrophe.

On another note, the quake shifted the earth's axis 25 cm. (or 9.84 in.). That will have climate repercussions. To what degree, I have no idea. The Chilean quake shortened days very slightly (1.26 millionths of a second). This quake may partially reduce or reinforce that.

We already have a human catastrophe in Japan, but if what happened in Chernobyl happens there too, a 30 Km (19 miles) area around the reactor will have to be evacutated and will remain inhabitable for several years. This would be like nothing we have ever seen in an island the size of Japan, with over 127 million people crammed into it being exposed to the effects of nuclear fallout (not to mention that the nuclear reactor is right by the seaboard, and Japan is really close to mainland China and Russia).

Being a major economical power, the repercussions of such an event would be tremendous all over the world. This is trully becoming a disaster of biblical proportions.

Let's pray for the best.

It isn't that bad yet. There are contingency plans being implemented. Even if it does go into meltdown it won't be nearly as bad as Three Mile Island or Chernobyl.

Precisely, and all the tectonic, volcanic activity of the past 5 years is more likely the cause of global warming than anything man has or could have done.  The Earth is a huge and dynamic chunk of rock with many dynamic ecosystems, and man is but a piddling dot on its surface who could not possibly match the awesome power of the planet's overall dynamics. 

Yes, humanity needs to clean up its act, but charging ordinary and poor folk a carbon tax will do nothing other than line the pockets of those who seek to become considerably wealthier than they already are.  If the proposed carbon tax is implemented here in Australia, my quarterly power bill will rise to a $1,000 +.  That's going to be $4,000 p/a and closing in on  a quarter of what I get to live on.... if only I could afford to similarly pay a bunch of scientists to produce findings that were in my/our better interests.

Anyhow, I digress and my anti-global warming rant won't change the bullshit or the minds of those set to benefit most.  I am considerably better off than those affected by this horrendous natural disaster.   At least I have power... and a roof over my head.

Fortunately, Japan is well equipped and many countries have sent search and rescue teams to assist in the bid to find survivors, etc.

Let's hope not, neither Japan or the world at large can afford such a disaster... it would take decades to recover economically and otherwise, like the necessary exclusion zone in an island nation the size of Japan.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/42045714#42045714

Actual footage. The first "cube" (reactor building) on the left was the one to blow, and left just the steel scaffolding.

This in the country whose memory includes Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Not sure this'll help the nuclear industry much...