Japan

Thursday, 17 March 2011

aftershocks

The aftershocks continue - we have felt more earthquakes in the past week than in the past 5 or 10 years. Sometimes it's hard to know if it's a tremor or imagination. Walking around you don't feel them - even ones today that were almost magnitude 6 were not noticeable. When at home, in a building designed to absorb the shock and shake, they can be felt much more acutely.

I will post again over the weekend but for the moment this is today's list of tremors. Not that a high magnitude does not necessarily translate as high on the Japanese scale which measures the effects on the ground - the shaking effect. Of these we felt only the evening ones in Chiba and one early this morning.
http://www.jma.go.jp/en/quake/quake_local_index.html

Issued at	Occurred at	Region Name	Magnitude	Maximum Seismic Intensity (JMA Seismic Intensity)
22:04 JST 17 Mar 2011	21:55 JST 17 Mar 2011	Ibaraki-ken Oki	M5.8	4
21:58 JST 17 Mar 2011	21:55 JST 17 Mar 2011	Ibaraki-ken Oki	M5.8	4
21:41 JST 17 Mar 2011	21:36 JST 17 Mar 2011	Fukushima-ken Oki	M4.9	3
21:39 JST 17 Mar 2011	21:32 JST 17 Mar 2011	Chiba-ken Toho-oki	M5.8	4
21:36 JST 17 Mar 2011	21:32 JST 17 Mar 2011	Chiba-ken Toho-oki	M5.8	4
21:07 JST 17 Mar 2011	21:02 JST 17 Mar 2011	Niijima-Kozushima Kinkai	M2.8	1
21:02 JST 17 Mar 2011	20:57 JST 17 Mar 2011	Niigata-ken Chuetsu-chiho	M2.1	1
20:52 JST 17 Mar 2011	20:48 JST 17 Mar 2011	Fukushima-ken Oki	M4.4	3
20:47 JST 17 Mar 2011	20:41 JST 17 Mar 2011	Niigata-ken Chuetsu-chiho	M2.5	1
19:23 JST 17 Mar 2011	19:18 JST 17 Mar 2011	Shizuoka-ken Tobu	M2.8	1
18:49 JST 17 Mar 2011	18:44 JST 17 Mar 2011	Tochigi-ken Hokubu	M3.4	2
18:11 JST 17 Mar 2011	18:06 JST 17 Mar 2011	Iwate-ken Oki	M4.9	3
18:04 JST 17 Mar 2011	17:59 JST 17 Mar 2011	Iwate-ken Oki	M5.1	3
17:30 JST 17 Mar 2011	17:25 JST 17 Mar 2011	Ibaraki-ken Oki	M5.4	3
16:31 JST 17 Mar 2011	16:28 JST 17 Mar 2011	Shizuoka-ken Tobu	M2.2	1
16:01 JST 17 Mar 2011	15:58 JST 17 Mar 2011	Nagano-ken Chubu	M3.0	1
15:05 JST 17 Mar 2011	15:01 JST 17 Mar 2011	Hyogo-ken Nantobu	M1.9	1
14:35 JST 17 Mar 2011	14:32 JST 17 Mar 2011	Nagano-ken Hokubu	M2.5	1
14:27 JST 17 Mar 2011	14:24 JST 17 Mar 2011	Akita-ken Oki	M4.5	2
14:02 JST 17 Mar 2011	13:59 JST 17 Mar 2011	Tokyo-wan	M3.0	1
13:23 JST 17 Mar 2011	13:14 JST 17 Mar 2011	Iwate-ken Oki	M5.8	4
13:17 JST 17 Mar 2011	13:14 JST 17 Mar 2011	Iwate-ken Oki	M5.8	4
13:14 JST 17 Mar 2011	13:10 JST 17 Mar 2011	Tokyo-wan	M3.3	2
13:08 JST 17 Mar 2011	13:05 JST 17 Mar 2011	Tokyo-wan	M2.7	1
12:04 JST 17 Mar 2011	12:01 JST 17 Mar 2011	Nagano-ken Hokubu	M2.8	2
12:03 JST 17 Mar 2011	11:59 JST 17 Mar 2011	Niigata-ken Chuetsu-chiho	M2.7	2
11:32 JST 17 Mar 2011	11:29 JST 17 Mar 2011	Fukushima-ken Nakadori	M3.2	2
11:15 JST 17 Mar 2011	11:12 JST 17 Mar 2011	Niigata-ken Chuetsu-chiho	M2.2	1
08:43 JST 17 Mar 2011	08:38 JST 17 Mar 2011	Iwate-ken Oki	M5.6	3
08:16 JST 17 Mar 2011	08:11 JST 17 Mar 2011	Nagano-ken Hokubu	M3.1	3
07:53 JST 17 Mar 2011	07:49 JST 17 Mar 2011	Aomori-ken Toho-oki	M3.3	1
07:10 JST 17 Mar 2011	07:05 JST 17 Mar 2011	Ibaraki-ken Oki	M4.6	3
06:20 JST 17 Mar 2011	06:16 JST 17 Mar 2011	Fukushima-ken Hamadori	M3.8	3
06:18 JST 17 Mar 2011	06:14 JST 17 Mar 2011	Nagano-ken Hokubu	M2.0	1
05:34 JST 17 Mar 2011	05:31 JST 17 Mar 2011	Oshima-chiho Seibu	M2.1	2
05:30 JST 17 Mar 2011	05:25 JST 17 Mar 2011	Niigata-ken Chuetsu-chiho	M2.0	1
04:04 JST 17 Mar 2011	04:00 JST 17 Mar 2011	Fukushima-ken Oki	M4.5	3
04:01 JST 17 Mar 2011	03:56 JST 17 Mar 2011	Fukushima-ken Hamadori	M4.4	3
01:01 JST 17 Mar 2011	00:57 JST 17 Mar 2011	Nagano-ken Hokubu	M2.2	1
00:48 JST 17 Mar 2011	00:45 JST 17 Mar 2011	Nagano-ken Chubu	M2.5	1
00:33 JST 17 Mar 2011	00:29 JST 17 Mar 2011	Nagano-ken Chubu	M2.5	2

Wednesday, 16 March 2011

Out yesterday

News this morning here seems brighter on the nuclear front. A meeting at the British embassy last night put out a statement that Tokyo is too far away to be in danger, that there is no possibility of it being like Chernobyl, that there is massive international co-operation and that the Japanese govt. is being upfront with information.
http://ukinjapan.fco.gov.uk/en/news/?view=News&id=567559482

Tokyo is calm, though it felt ominous last night - closed shops, trains surprisingly empty, few people on the streets. The trains were less crowded, in part because there were more train services running but in part because it seemed that there were a lot fewer people in the city than usual. Yesterday we considered going to the Edo-Tokyo Museum, but like most museums in the city it is shut for the week. In Harajuku - one of the main shopping areas- many shops were shutting early or not open at all. There has also been panic buying at the supermarket. Yesterday evening there was no milk, bread, water, potatoes, onions, noodles, tofu, natto (fermented beans) , toilet paper, tissues in the local supermarket - probably other things as well. It seems distribution lines may have a problem - but we have plenty of food here. I am not sure how much the supply lines have been disrupted - I will see when we go out today how much restocking has been done.

The situation in the north is much bleaker. In the evacuation centres in the north infrastructure lines are down and most centres have inadequate food. Hiro was saying last night that people have a one onigiri allowance per day (about 150g at a guess) in many of the evacuation sites. This is not far from starvation rations. There were pictures of children scavenging for food in the ruins of houses swept away by the tsunami. There are so many people displaced, and such damaged infrastructure that it is proving extremely difficult to keep people supplied with food. Without doubt there will be many more people die in the coming days.

The power supply seems to be stabilizing with some of the scheduled power cuts not going ahead as planned.

I am so impressed with Japanese people. The other day we were searching out some bread. I asked a shop assistant at a bread shop in Ueno station. As he pointed to a single loaf of bread (actually it was more like 4 slices) a woman picked it up and he and I both said 'zannen' (what a pity). She must have heard us and put it back. Neither of us bought it. At the Keisei lines the queue was many hundreds long - it snaked to the corner out of sight. We were there as the reopened the lines after the scheduled black out. People filed in in an orderly way, no pushing, no shoving, no anger or frustration. Very good to see.

Tuesday, 15 March 2011

After the quake

Just a quick note to update.
Despite the horror images that seem to be gratifying foreign media, things in Tokyo are calm. There are major disruptions to transport, many shops are closed, there are few people out and about, there is no bread in the supermarkets, but all minor inconveniences compared with the situation on the Sanriku coast.

The situation on the Sanriku Coast is horrific. Although places like Hachinohe had an hour between the quake and the tsunami there were many places that had only ten minutes - not nearly enough time to get to get inland. There are no estimates of a final death toll as yet but it will surely be in excess of 10,000. The weather is not helping. Snow is still falling in Tohoku. Most supplies to Tohoku go through Sendai. Medical supplies, petrol and food are in short supply. The lack of petrol makes it hard for people to evacuate to friends or family in other parts of the country.

Information here suggests that the situation at the Fukushima plant is comparable with Three Mile Island (Level 4 disaster) rather than Chernobyl (level 5 disaster). Although the nuclear industry doesn't have the best reputation for honesty, it seems like the situation is not likely to deteriorate greatly. The Japanese media is being very calm and responsible it seems (I am limiting the TV being on as it isn:t necessary to have my nieces and nephews who are visiting freaked out by the images on the TV and the grave tones.)

Aftershocks continue - last night there we were woken by a shock, but it was close rather than big.

Today we will go out again - but will endeavour to be home earlier. With reduced services the trains are crowded to the point where Hiro has opted to ride a bicycle 14km to work today.

Things are fine. And keep away from the media ....

Saturday, 12 March 2011

The earthquake

This is an article I wrote that was published in the Guardian today.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/11/tokyo-earthquake-tsunami-japan#start-of-comments

Tokyo's sober calm

As we watch television coverage of the earthquake and tsunami inundating Japan's coastal towns, there is an eeriness in the air,

The aftershocks in Tokyo and eastern Japan continue into the night.
The quake struck at 2.46pm and seven hours later, there have been more than 70 aftershocks. In Tokyo it started off as barely perceptible movement, escalating to intense shaking that had me trying to push back plates that were falling out of the cupboard in the dining room. At the same time as I was grabbing plates, I watched the sugar bowl in the kitchen crash down from a shelf knocking cups on the bench to the floor. Without doubt it was the most serious shaking in the nine years I have been here.
Emergency mode. Most importantly gas off. In both the Great Kanto earthquake of 1923 and the 1995 Kobe earthquake, fires claimed many more lives than falling buildings. Next, turn on the television and internet to see where the earthquake's epicentre is. Japanese television begins to broadcast earthquake information within seconds. If the shaking is strong but the epicentre near, it may not be a serious earthquake.
But when the shaking is strong and the epicentre far you know the shaking is much worse in other places. This time, the epicentre was off the Sanriku coast in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures, 300km from Tokyo. At Richter 8.8 it's reported to be the largest magnitude earthquake in Japan's history. The settled areas of the picturesque Sanriku coast have low-lying fishing villages with an acute awareness of tsunami. The tsunami flood gates and inundation zone warning signs along the coast are a stark reminder of the 1896 Sanriku tsunami in which more than 20,000 people died.
Television news showed the tsunami inundating the coastal towns. As the cars bobbed around like flotsam, it wasn't clear how many of them contained people or whether the high ground was high enough, or near enough.

The trains are still out of action in Tokyo, but there is a sober calm. Many Tokyoites have opted to spend the night at their workplace. Tonight my husband, along with many of his colleagues, are staying put in their central Tokyo office until tomorrow, by which stage the trains will probably be running again. Some of his co-workers chose to walk home: part of Japan's earthquake damage-minimisation strategy is ensuring people know how to walk home from work in the event of a mass transport failure. Public buildings have been opened in central Tokyo tonight to accommodate people stranded in the city.

There is an eeriness in the air, but a spirit of camaraderie as well. Three of my neighbours have dropped by to check things are OK, whether my husband was able to come home and whether I knew how to reactivate the emergency switch that cuts off the gas supply in a major earthquake. I appreciate it. In Tokyo most people are going to bed shaken and on edge but thankful. But living here there is always a lingering sense that one day, we are going to have a big one too.