so it looks like that nuclear plant Dbaz was talking about was lying about being "A-Okay"

they're overheating and now they have to release some radioactive pressure they're evacuating people in a 6mile radius

(this was just on BBCnews ch 36)


not sure if that was discussed already ;)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...overheats.html

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/...dm095000c.html

http://e.nikkei.com/e/fr/tnks/Nni20110311D11JF351.htm

What are these triangles you speak of?

The triangle theory is that you're better off being beside something large than under something that could collapse on you (such as a desk). If you're beside something larger and sturdier than you, any debris will be stopped by the large item you're beside, and form a sort of triangle between in and the ground that ideally you're encased in and there by protected from further debris.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_of_Life


If they haven't already, they should totally do a Mythbusters ep on earthquake survival methods.

i guess what he means is that if you were crouching beside the car, the debris miss crushing you, whereas if you were in the car, gg

The Triangle method is pretty contriversal and there has been studies outlining the fact that duck and cover is still the best method because a large majority of injuries occur through falling debris.

http://www.earthquakesolutions.com/id44.html

get under anything in an earthquake to protect yourself from the small falling objects. if the roof caves, there's not much that will save you, not even a doorway.

when the shaking stops, GTFO before the after shocks come.

Japan's quake shifts earth's axis by 25 centimetres


http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/...356/story.html

I think I'll stick with the table or doorway.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12709850
Cars were running away from the tsunami. It was horrible to see the the cars had nowhere to go and were swallowed up by the water.

Anyone know what the earthquake rated buildings are and how our highrises stack up to japans?

Newer buildings will be built to a more modern building code and should have greater earthquake resistance. Older buildings, especially those that are made of unreinforced brick or stone, may have little to no seismic resistance.

I don't have the building codes available to compare, nor would I care to, but in general Japan's building code for seismic resistance should be more stringent than what we have here.

Sounds like the Earthquake Rating is going to get bumped up to a 9.1 on the richter scale

(cnn)


edit: here's an article that mentions it

http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/248...a-wake-up-call

this would make it tied for the 4th largest earthquake ever recorded (tying it with the Indonesia quake also a 9.1)

I'm no structural engineer, so I could be way off the mark here, but I'm a designer/drafter within the construction industry.

Here in Canada, we design things as stated by The National Building Code.
There really is no such thing as earthquake proof.
In the Code, it does not say:
- design houses so they can withstand a 5 on the richter scale with only damage to the facade
- design concrete low rises to withstand a 6
- high rises stay standing after a 5.
It kind of doesn't work that way.

Sure, the code gives a guideline for loads, but it's more complicated than that. Earthquakes are hella unpredictable.
Unless the owners just plain threw money at the design and construction of the building, our local buildings aren't going to withstand a major quake.
Rather, they are designed to break a certain way to minimize loss of life.
That doesn't mean they will be structurally sound after the quakes, or livable.


Since Japan's got a history of tectonic activity, they are much better prepared in terms of training, evactuation and planning.
And I'm almost certain their code is much more rigorous than ours.

I'm less concerned about the roof collapsing on me, but my worries are rather the aftermath.
1. Insurance companies going broke.
2. Having enough food and water for me and my family.
3. Waiting for our totally unprepared, bloated government to step in an save our ass and getting supplies into the city.
But maybe any of our Reserve personnel can weigh in on this.

I'd bet the Americans would get here first, and with more aid.

get it away from the fire!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but it looks safe as it is.

I also saw what appeared to be a R32 with a few bricks that fell on it, on CNN.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...supraquake.jpg

Wow, this catastrophe is gonna devastate Japan's economy even further.

Along with everything else, the price of food is going to skyrocket over there. I would imagine the price of rice will be unbelievable in the next little while. Most likely have to change their diet.

The rice shortage may even affect us here. Most of the short and medium grain rice we buy here is Cal Rose rice (California grown). If I am not mistaken, it is not even exported to Japan. If there is a huge shortage over there, they may start to import the US rice.

I was just at Costco, and it may be just coincidence, but Kokuho rice was down to a few bags on the last pallet. LOL, most people must think it comes from Japan and are stocking up on it........... or they're more prepared for the future shortage than I am. I love short/medium grain sushi rice. What, make sushi with long grain Thai rice? Ewwwwwww......

I guess other things like fish will be in demand as most of the fishing vessels were lost to the tsunami.

People planning to donate to the redcross because of this earthquake in Japan, don't. Japan has not asked for any aid so far, so any donations to the redcross is not benefiting any Japanese citizens. That's not to say they won't in the future.

This. Smart man.

Huh?

Just cause they don't ask, doesn't mean the Red Cross isn't preparing to lend them a hand in the future once the chaos ends.

Not likely there's going to be a problem with rice supply.

Japan only accounts for 1.9% of the world's rice production... and even then, it's not like the entire country just got wiped out.

http://www.rice-trade.com/articles/rice-production.html

China yields 32.7%, and India grows 26.0%.

Just found out an ex-coworker's brother is among the missing.

I clearly stated in my post, that they could lend a hand in the future. I was just stating that they currently ARE not. It's just for people who are donating because they want to help out the Japanese situation. I'm not saying donating to the Red Cross is a bad thing because obviously it will still benefit someone in the world.

Gizmodo has a clear explanation about it.

http://gizmodo.com/#!5781182/did-you...n-probably-not

Uh............ the Japanese do not eat long grain rice. There will be a shortage there. I'm not talking about a world wide shortage.

Japan's rice production may not hinder on a global scale, but it will affect it's own supply and prices on a national level, as most Japanese buy local.

I understood.

Not trying to hate but to clear a couple of things up,

1) The richter magnitude scale is not used in this case, it is the moment magnitude scale.

2) They don't release "radioactive pressure", they release pressure in the "Heavy water" cooling system, which may (but probably is not) radioactively contaminated.