Category Archives: International

International

Firefighter gave life ringing emergency bell as the Tsunami came roaring in

In Otsuchi, Japan, residents honored one of their long time firefighters, after he saved their lives, but lost his.

Otsuchi is far north of the epicenter of the March 11, 9.0 earthquake. Yet they got hit just as hard by the resulting tsunami. In fact the quake caused the coastal town to lose electric power instantly. That’s when 57 year old Fujio Koshita decided to use an old bell at his fire station, to warn residents of the approaching tsunami.

Fellow firefighters said he ordered them to leave as well. Being the senior firefighter, by age, he had the authority. Toru Suzuki, also a firefighter, said Koshita climbed onto the roof of the fire station and began ringing the old bell as hard as he could.

“It was really loud. The fireman was brave. I’m proud of him.”-16 year old Kaito Yamasaki

Akira Sasaki, another fire fighter who helped factory workers get to higher ground, said he apologized to Koshita. He said Koshita responded by saying “It’s all right. I will take care of it here.”

The sound of Koshita’s bell ringing echoed across the village until the giant waves swept away the fire station, and Koshita.

Fujio Koshita was not the only firefighter in Otsuchi who died. Seven other firefighters are dead or missing. Most were helping seniors and disabled people get to higher ground, some were trying to close the 12 flood gates on the town’s sea wall.

Otsuchi had a population of 15,000, now they are missing at least 10% of their residents.

Fujio Koshita must’ve known how bad the tsunami was, because, according to other firefighters, he violated his own rule about rescue workers; “Don’t die. Rescuers must stay alive” because your job is to help other people.

Koshita’s body, as well as others, have not been found.

 

 

Business/Economics, International

TEPCO offers piddly $12.00 per person compensation for nuke disaster

Tokyo Electric said it has started paying Japanese municipalities directly affected by the nuclear disaster.

One town, Namie, refused the money.  Basically it is an insult, because when they divided the TEPCO offer by the number of their population and it amounted to only $12.00 per person. Namie officials say money is needed, but it’s obvious TEPCO’s offer wont help anyone.

International, Opinion, U.S.

al Qaeda taking advantage of Libyan civil war, taking Western supplied weapons for Rebels, for use againt the United States

Gaddafi said it, exclusive reports in some western media sources said it, and even the U.S. Admiral in charge of NATO said it: Al Qaeda is operating with the Libyan rebels we are supporting.  And now they are taking the weapons for the rebels, for later use against the West.

Reuters is reporting that Algerian intelligence has proof that al Qaeda is operating in Libya, and they’re taking Western supplied, and captured Russian, weapons out of Libya.

Algeria, right to the west of Libya, has spent years trying to keep al Qaeda out. Now they’ve stepped up security operations because of the Western backed rebellion in Libya, precisely because they know al Qaeda is involved.

Algerian officials are amazed that the U.S., and other UN coalition countries are supporting, essentially, al Qaeda.

Haven’t we been here before? We supported a certain group who fought in the Afghan/Soviet War, that group became al Qaeda led by bin Laden (by the way not Afghani, but Wahhabi Arab), and that group declared war on the United States.  Then we invade Iraq, supposedly because of connections to al Qaeda, which were false, and as a result al Qaeda actually got into Iraq (Saddam Hussein was actively fighting al Qaeda before we invaded). Now there is more and more proof that we are supporting al Qaeda in Libya.  Sompin’ funny goin’ on here!

Remember the old “Sanford and Son” TV show?  Let me paraphrase Red Fox’s character’s favorite phrase for his son: “Obama, you big dummy!”

Fukushima, International

Russia offers Nuke Sub Cleaner to Japan

Russia is offering a ‘water cleaner’ used on decommissioned nuclear submarines, to Japan.

State-run Rosatom corporation, which is involved with taking apart old nuclear submarines, has a device that ‘cleans’ low level radiation from water.  TEPCo has to periodically release low level radioactive water into the ocean, to maintain operational safety at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant.

Also, Reactor 2 continues to dump high level radiation contaminated water into the ocean.  However the Russian water cleaner can not handle the higher levels of radiation.

The Russian water cleaner is a 65 meters (213 feet) long floating platform that was build with money from Japan. Rosatom officials say they are ready to tow it to Japan, if requested.

International

Miyako City hit with highest tsunami so far; 125 feet high

University of Tokyo Associate Professor Yoshinobu Tsuji, along with others, have surveyed damage at the coastal city of Miyako.

They’ve concluded that the height of the March 11 tsunami, in that area, was 38 meters (125 feet) high, and swept 200 meters (656 feet) inland.

The wave height was due to the geography of the coast line.  Associate Professor Yoshinobu Tsuji expects that they will find evidence of even higher wave action in the surrounding area.

International, U.S.

Dengue Fever spreading like wild fire in South America, Hawaii getting hit, thank climate change & humans

Dengue fever is spread by Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes, and thanks to the extra rain South America is getting, those mosquitoes are breeding like flies.  Even Hawaii, in the Pacific Ocean, is reporting cases.

Brazil is the hardest hit, so far, already more than 30,000 cases, just in the state of Rio alone, and at least 23 dead. The capitol city Rio de Janeiro is reporting that so far this year, cases have skyrocketed 2059%, compared to the same time last year.

Argentina is already warning of the spread of Dengue to other South American countries as the wet weather continues.

In Paraguay, so many people have crowded into hospitals with Dengue that officials canceled elective surgeries to free up beds. So far this year 18 people have died of Dengue in Paraguay. Compare that to all of last year, when they had 15 deaths.

The U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) has confirmed at least four cases in Pearl City, Oahu, Hawaii, with 12 more suspected cases.  In Hawaii Dengue is spread by the Asian Tiger mosquito (Aedus Albopitus).

CDC officials say Dengue originates in humans, but is spread by mosquitoes.  Tracking Dengue fever is more about tracking where infected humans travel. Most people show no symptoms. The CDC website has more information.

Dengue cases are hitting all over the world, in mainly humid climates, or areas that are getting more rain than usual.

 

Business/Economics, International

Despite claims, Looting is taking place in Japan

I watched an economic forum on what will happen to the Asian region, economically, on NHK.  During the introductions, one of the representatives talked about how well behaved the Japanese are after their March 11 disasters.  She used an example of “no looting going on” as proof.

Well, guess what, looting is taking place.  Hiroshi Takagi, of Miyagi Prefecture, says his pharmacy has been robbed three times since March 11. Locals have been forced to create their own neighborhood watch groups, patrolling the streets at night. Even the Japanese National Police admit crimes in the disaster areas are becoming a problem. They say calls to police have increased 60% since the disasters.

International, Opinion, U.S.

Japanese government holding up Aid Moneys, Red Cross frustrated

‘‘Although it is not the duty of the central government to decide how to distribute the funds, we would like to devise some sort of guidelines to enable speedy distribution.”-Yoshihiro Katayama, Internal Affairs and Communications Minister

In another example that shows Japan is not prepared for disasters, billions of donated money is sitting around waiting for the national (central), and local governments, to figure out what to do with it.  Which is amazing because they were able to deal with a similar situation after the 1995 earthquake, what’s the problem now?

Local governments are complaining about how the money is going to be issued. Also, government officials say they are waiting for the charities to recommend how the money should be used. Did anyone tell the charities?

International, U.S.

3 day search ended, only 78 bodies found

After three days of intense searching by about 20,000 U.S. and Japanese military personnel, only 78 bodies were found.

It was hoped the low tide would reveal more of the missing.

At this point, Japanese national police say there is more than 15,000 people missing. And that is based on reports from living relatives. Police say that the actual number is much higher, because entire families were washed away in the March 11 tsunami, leaving no one to report them missing. Also, documentation of residents in the hardest hit prefectures, were also washed away.

The death toll, so far, going by numbers presented at the prefectural level, is more than 10,000. Again, that is expected to go up as bodies are found.