The Japanese government now says the official number of dead has hit 13,000.
This number will increase, as local prefectures are giving numbers that, taken together, are more than the official national government count. Also, there are still tens of thousand missing, according to local governments.
After watching interviews of tsunami survivors it has become clear that there was very little time between the 9.0 quake and the first tsunami surge.
Most survivors say there was less than 15 minutes from the time of the quake to the tsunami impact. An environmental activist from the United States, Brian Barnes, says where he was it was less than 7 minutes. He says most of the people of Otsuchi, where he was, died. The city is wiped out. Barnes survived because he immediately drove to higher ground after the quake, with the tsunami showing up after he got to the top of the hill.
Most survivors say any emergency preparedness training they underwent in the past, did not prepare them for this.
Japanese Red Cross Society www.jrc.or.jp/english/index.html
A volunteer fire chief in one of the towns hit by the tsunami, says he regrets doing his job. He and others had gone to re-enforce a sea wall, which proved futile.
When he returned home he found that his wife and children had been swept away by the tsunami.
Reuters reporting that several foreign companies, operating in Japan, have started evacuating employees to the southern part of Japan.
Companies with evacuations underway are; German technology companies SAP and Infineon, German tire and auto parts maker Continental, and French car maker Peugeot.
Boeing has suspended business travel in Japan.
Companies standing by with evacuation plans are; Volvo and several European banks.
IBM and CISCO Systems say their operations have not been affected and have no plans to evacuate.
NHK restating emergency quake warning. Reporters say they can feel tremors.
NHK listing numerous cities that have been hit with quakes registering between 4 & 6 on the Japanese quake scale. So far no tsunami warnings.
East coast of Chiba, magnitude 6, depth 10km. Chiba Prefecture near Tokyo.
NHK reporting that the Japanese government is warning of strong earthquakes. Asking people to prepare. They named at least 4 prefectures including Chiba.
Using Global Volcanism Program (GVP) website, monthly reports, I totaled the number of volcanic events, around the Pacific Ring of Fire, for the year 2010. Then I averaged the number of events over the whole year. The monthly average number of volcanic events, for 2010, came to 5.3. Keep in mind that at least 90% of the world’s volcanic events took place on the Ring of Fire, in 2010.
The GVP weekly activity reports include “ongoing” activity, so I threw those out and counted the “new” activity only. It is clear there is an increase.
For the reporting month of January 2011, I counted 16 new activity reports for the Ring of Fire. For February it is 13. The first week of March is 2 (I expect March will end up with a high number, due to what’s happening in Japan).
Maybe the GVP has differences in what they post for monthly vs weekly, but, the most monthly activity in 2010, was in February with 9 (remember I did an average for the whole year). You can see, comparing February 2010 to February 2011, there is an increase of 4.
Is this cause for alarm? Maybe not. I went back to February 2001, and there was much more volcanic activity then (I counted 24). Another issue is how the GVP gets it information. The website states that information comes from “…hundreds of correspondents, scientists, and other volcano observers that contribute information.” GVP does list activity reports that they have determined to be “false”.
A magnitude quake hit Tokai Region of Japan, in Shizuoka Prefecture, at 10:31pm Japan time. This area is further south from the area hit by the big quake/tsunami, it is southwest of Tokyo.
The quake was 10km below the surface. No concern over tsunami event. No damage reported at nuclear power plant in Shizuoka Prefecture.
Trading in Japan’s stock markets fell for a second day. This is due to announcements that not only are Japan’s industries going to be shut down for longer than thought, but that Japanese consumers are pulling back on spending big time (especially now that they can’t get out because of the radiation).
For those of use dealing with high fuel prices, the fact that Japan’s industry is shut down, and Japan’s consumers are holding back, is resulting in dropping oil prices. The situation in Japan means demand for oil there could drop enough to counter the predicted increase in world demand for oil.
Another reason for the drop in oil prices is that investors are shifting to liquid assets, meaning CASH. This is an indicator that investors feel it is not worth putting their money into stocks or commodities, due to what looks like a looming world economic collapse.