Many people in ground zero areas of Japan’s state of Honshu, who have not been able to evacuate, are using cars as shelter. There are no shelters available for them.
One woman said the cars do not have enough fuel to drive, so they are running the engines periodically to use the vehicle’s heaters to keep warm. Even if a vehicle has enough fuel to drive, all roads in and out of the area have been destroyed.
Reactor 3 has been sprayed for several hours, before spraying switched to reactor 4. Holes had been drilled into the outer walls of reactor 4. Water sprayed into holes for about an hour.
Radiation levels lower (officials saying it is not a “dramatic” reduction). Water spraying throughout the night.
Spraying operations include one truck from the U.S. military, and 10 trucks from Japanese form departments.
Trying to connect power to central control room, and reactors 5 & 6. Hoped to run reactors 5 & 6 on outside power. Reactors 3 & 4 can not be connected to outside power due to high radiation levels around the reactors.
Doctors working at overwhelmed hospitals in the tsunami hit areas of Honshu were surprised to see so many hypothermia cases.
This is because most of the medical personnel were in “earthquake survivor” mode, meaning they were expecting conditions related only to the earthquake. They did not think about “tsunami survivors”. It is now clear that, despite the 9.0 quake, the victims coming into shelters and hospitals are suffering from the effects of the tsunami.
The water off Japan is cold, it is winter there. The water in the Indian Ocean, where the 2004 Sumatra tsunami hit, is much warmer so hypothermia did not become a major issue there.
Dozens of people died after being take to emergency shelters, probably from hypothermia, because the shelters were NOT prepared for what happened.
In a press conference Japanese Fire Fighting officials have expressed sorrow for the literal sacrifice that fire crews, at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, are making.
They stated that many of the fire fighters insisted they were willing to endure high levels of radiation if it would help solve the crisis. One official said his own wife understood that it could be necessary for him to become a “savior” for Japan.
Officials are now saying that some workers at the plant have radiation exposure equivalent of 10 chest X-rays every hour.
Japan’s Nuclear Safety Commission recommended that people near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant should take iodide. That recommendation was made to local officials on 16 March 2011.
Japanese Cabinet Secretary, Yukio Edano, announced that milk and spinach has tested positive for radiation contamination.
The milk tested came from Fukushima Prefecture. The spinach came from Ibaraki Prefecture. 6 samples of spinach were tested. The radiation levels exceeded Japanese Food Safety codes. They are now trying to determine if any contaminated milk, or spinach was actually shipped out.
Ministry of Health officials will be issuing more detailed info later.
People outside the immediate Fukushima evacuation area, are being told that if they must go any where do so inside a vehicle. Also they should wear clothing so that it covers all their body. People are being told to stay out of rain or snow.
A concrete spraying truck, a type similar to that used at Chernobyl, is being brought in to be used to spray water. When spraying water it has greater range and accuracy than the fire trucks. The trucks are made in Germany.
Water spraying with fire trucks resumed. The target is the spent fuel pool on reactor 3, Fukushima Daiichi plant. Temperatures are still rising.
They will attempt to spray water for 7 hours on Saturday for a total of 60 tons of water. They also say the trucks are set up so they do not have to be manned while the spraying takes place.
Hopes for reactor 5 are increasing, as signs that cooling has resumed after workers got the cooling pump running.
The tsunami destroyed most sea walls in the ground zero areas. The sea walls were ten meters tall.
Sea walls also controlled periodic flooding by the rising of normal tides. This means the areas that have lost their sea walls will suffer tidal flooding in the near future.
Japanese scientist say there is a new threat associated with tsunamis: Fire.
Thanks to our reliance on petroleum products, especially fuel, coastal cities face destruction by fire, as well as water.
Several Japanese coastal towns burned to the ground because of fires started by the tsunami. Boats, cars and fuel storage facilities hit by the tsunami, spilled fuel onto the water, catching fire, apparently by sparks from metal being clashed together in the tsunami, or electrical shorts in boats and cars.
Those fires then spread to buildings. Local fire departments discovered that water lines for fire hydrants had been destroyed by the quake/tsunami.
Hardest hit by the fires, Kesennuma, suffered intense fire. Witnesses say that fire spread throughout the city in less than 3 hours after the tsunami hit. The city was still burning 5 days later.