An international telecommunication symposium was held in the quake/tsunami hit Japanese city of Sendai. The goal was to discover which form of telecommunications works best in a tsunami disaster.
Cells phones proved to be useless, as there was no way to charge the batteries. Use of pay phones was limited because of tsunami damage.
It turns out that the best way to communicate with disaster victims is still the tried and true Radio! A study found that most survivors, who knew what was going on, were listening to portable radios.
The boss of Japan’s NHK broadcaster (NHK actually won awards for their reporting on the disaster), said in the next disaster they will focus even more on getting useful information out for those survivors who might be listening on portable radios.
A ghostly reminder of the March 11, 2011, Mega Quake and tsunami that hit north eastern Honshu, Japan, made its way back home.
The boat belonged to a fisherman from Otsuchi in Iwate Prefecture. Otsuchi is one of the coastal towns devastated by the tsunami. The fisherman did not survive the monster tidal surge, but his boat amazingly did.
Nearly one year after the disaster the ravaged boat was found drifting, more than 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) away, on the other side of Japan, in the Sea of Japan (aka East Sea). It was returned to the fisherman’s son, who lives in Kamaishi City.
The son said he intends to repair the boat and go fishing.
“When the disasters occurred in Japan, we responded quickly and we continue to help. Much good has been accomplished, but a year later there are still thousands of animals in desperate need. The headlines may have faded away, but the crisis has not. There is still much work to be done and we need good hearted people everywhere to help until all the animals are safe, secure and reunited with those they love.”-Robin Ganzert, American Humane Association
The March 11, 2011, tsunami destroyed many lives, including farm animals and pets. And just as those humans who survived were made homeless, so were the pets. The resulting nuclear disaster made things worse. People who still had their homes were forced to flee the radiation, many pets and farm animals left behind.
The Japanese government said their efforts resulted in only 330 animals being rescued. Some private groups disobeyed government orders, and attempted to rescue the animals, but hundreds still starved to death (there is video on YouTube, it’s disturbing). One year later the situation for pets is only a little better.
In one city, Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, there are 26 statues. They represent the bodies who could not be identified. 1,555 residents of Rikuzentakata died on March 11, 2011.
In Minamisanriku Town, Miyagi Prefecture, relief volunteers are still working there one year later. Before they started yet another day of work, 300 volunteers gave a sunrise prayer for the thousands of missing and dead.
Minamisanriku Town was one of the hardest hit by the tsunami. It’s where Miki Endo stayed at her Disaster Center post blasting evacuation orders over the town’s loudspeaker system, until the tsunami blasted away the three story building she was in. Watch haunting Japanese video report here: Minamisanriku, hometown of Heroine Miki Endo is becoming Atlantis
But Miki was not alone in that Disaster Center, she had dozens of co-workers as well as her boss, all hoping they could help.
One co-worker was at the hill top Evacuation Center, but he couldn’t bear seeing what was happening and returned to the Disaster Center. He led many of his co-workers to the top of the three story building, unfortunately the tsunami was four stories tall, and all were killed.
The skeletal remains of the Disaster Center has become a shrine.
Don’t forget the eight firefighters of Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture. The 57 year old firefighter, Fujio Koshita, rang a warning bell even as the tsunami headed right for him! Seven other firefighters died helping people get to higher ground.
They say Fujio violated his own rule about personal safety: “Don’t die. Rescuers must stay alive.”
Watch the Brian Barnes video of Otsuchi tsunami. In the video you can see that water levels rose even before the tsunami hit, it caught videographers by surprise. At 6:20 into the video they realize the city was already flooding. At 8:00 in the tsunami finally hits, you can hear cracking sounds as buildings break.
According to the latest official Japanese government numbers, more than 19,000 people were killed. Many more are still without permanent places to live. 3,000 people are still listed as missing. I’m sure there are many dozens of other heroes and heroines that we will never hear about. But true heroes never die: “…The fireman was brave. I’m proud of him.”-16 year old Kaito Yamasaki
I’ve been following this tragedy since March 11, 2011, and the one constant in all this is the unbelievable level of incompetence within the government leadership, and with the corporations in charge of the nuclear power industry in Japan!
Today, March 11, 2012, an official report says the corporate & government leadership of Japan still don’t know what is really going on with the General Electric designed nuclear disaster reactors at Fukushima Daiichi!
Dozens of government sanctioned investigation teams have revealed the insufficient measures against tsunami, and the inadequate responses to the nuclear accident. But, no one knows just how bad it is inside the reactor units!
Of major concern: Radiation levels emitted from the power plant are still so high that TEPCo still doesn’t know where the high levels of radiation are actually coming from, so far everything they’ve been telling the media has been a wild ass guess! TEPCo (Tokyo Electric) has recently admitted that radiation levels are so high around some areas of the nuclear compound that they can not send people in to find out what’s going on!
You know, I’ve said it many times before, Bill Nye (that old science guy) has said it many times, the Ukrainians and Russians have said it: Why don’t they dump sand, lead and concrete on the damn thing?
On March 11, 2011, a 17 ton tourist bus was left on top of a two story community hall building, after the tsunami sucked itself back out to sea.
That was in Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture, Honshu, Japan (Nippon).
On March 10, 2012, nearly one year later, the bus was finally removed from the roof. Many survivors said it was a bad reminder of the tsunami. The owner of the bus company said the sight of his bus on the roof drove him to swear that he will operate his bus line again.
The bus had been sitting in a garage, 500 meters (1,640 feet) from its resting place, when the tsunami swept it away. Watch NHK reporter who filmed as she ran from disaster video to see the bus immediately after the tsunami.
After the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the Japanese government concluded that their tsunami shelter guidelines were insufficient. Only now are they issuing the new guidelines!
The government study of tsunami shelter construction in Japan, revealed that such shelters would not hold up to a tsunami similar to the one that occurred in the Indian Ocean. On March 11, 2011, Japan was hit with such a tsunami.
The new guidelines (developed before the 2011 tsunami) recommend the use of stronger building foundations, among other things.
Officials with Japan’s Land Ministry have issued new warnings about the dangers of tsunamis. They revised their estimations of tsunami damage, based on what happened on March 11, 2011.
They concluded that earthquakes of magnitude 8.4 or greater, just off Japan’s Pacific coastline, could generate huge tsunamis.
On the Pacific side of Japan, tsunamis could reach 12 meters (39 feet) high, and destroy eight of Japan’s 19 Pacific ports. Officials say the existing tsunami walls are not sufficient to protect the ports.
Local officials have revealed that not everyone was evacuated out of the 20km (12.4 miles) “No-Go” zone around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
Officials have revealed that at least five bodies were found that showed signs of starvation. Most of them were old people. One man was trapped on the second floor of his home after the tsunami destroyed the first floor. He was found only two weeks after the March 11, 2011, disasters. A woman was trapped because she could not walk, she was found in April 2011.
Japan’s Nuclear Safety Commission reviewed the ability of hospitals to deal with nuclear accidents. The results were not good.
The found that five hospitals, located near the General Electric designed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, were not able to deal with the nuclear disaster.
Fukushima Medical University Hospital, a core care facility for radiation exposure, was too busy dealing with victims of the natural disasters, to be able to deal with victims of the nuclear disaster.
The Nuclear Safety Commission discovered a huge problem; Japanese hospitals are not set up to co-operate with each other regarding major disasters. This would have been a great help. They are now working on new policy that will include such co-operation in the future.
