Japan Earthquake

[BigD]

Shocking images, thoughts and prayers with those effected and who will continue to be for some time to come.

[Ferg]

It's a testiment to the Japanese building regs for earth quakes that such a massive quake hasn't resulted in massive destruction in the cities.

thoughts with those affected.

[Andy D]

Completely sickening watching the footage, feel so sorry for those poor poor people caught in it.

[Peter]

Mass, let me know if i can do anything to help. I'm pretty sure they will be ok.

The phone systems are still problematic however txts do seem to get through after a delay.

Cheers, Peter

[tut]

Phone lines, mobile phones are all down, but Skype and Facebook have really come into their own.

Woman talking to 5live at the moment on Skype and it is crystal clear.

tut

[ed]

Shocking images, thoughts and prayers with those effected and who will continue to be for some time to come.

What he said, very sad indeed.

[Modena Scotland]

Thanks for your wishes.

Cheers Pater, hope this hasn't put you off Japan.

[tut]

Getting serious.

Explosion and fire at the Nuclear Reactor and looks as if a wall has been breached.

tut

[BiggestNizzy]

Something has went bang, I always beleived they could drop the control rods in and kill the reaction

[foz01]

Makes us realise the uk actually that bad, natural disasters are pretty limited! Hope it doesn't get really bad!

[duggiesmith]

People here are moaning about a couple of inches of snow which will probably be gone by tomorrow.
Kind of puts it into perspective.
Thoughts are with those who have friends and family over there.

[Mr Momo]

A lot of respect for the Japanese, who seem to i) be well organised, ii) have well constructed buildings and iii) have made enough friends around the world that countries are genuinely offering heartfelt and practical support. Still not sure about teh wisdom of Nuclear Power Plants so close to the plate....

You just have to look at Google Earth and the depth change from the Okhotsh Plate (1000m water depth) to the Pacific Plate (7000m water depth at the fault) to realise that is a monster subduction fault throw

[tut]

Out of interest I was checking how many nuclear reactors there were world wide and there are around 450 plus 150 research reactors.

Japan has 55 and France gets 79% of its electricity from nuclear power. World wide it is 14%.

tut

[scottishselise]

Condolences etc

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/world ... ml?_r=2&hp

[cla5h]

Still not sure about teh wisdom of Nuclear Power Plants so close to the plate....

You're not the first person I've heard saying similar, but it's a "knee-jerk" reaction - how many people have been damaged by nuclear accidents in the last: year; 10 years: 50 years?

I believe Chernobyl killed a few dozen at the time, and a few hundred in the clean-up. It's estimated that a few thousand (worst case - a few tens of thousands) will die from the ongoing radiation after-effects.

Lazily picked from Wikepedia: "Worldwide it was estimated in 2004 that 1.2 million people were killed (2.2% of all deaths) and 50 million more were injured in motor vehicle collisions" - gross over-estimate? Even in the UK alone, it's a fact that over 2000 people are killed every year on our roads, but nobody's prepared to give up their cars.