tsunami

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Inside the Hell That Is Fukushima

Little sleep, food, water; plenty of stress, danger, misery

(Newser) - As if risking their lives to work feverishly to avoid nuclear meltdown wasn't grim enough, there's no respite for the weary workers at Japan's hobbled Fukushima Dai-ichi plant. A Japanese nuclear official who just returned from five days at Fukushima paints a picture of life on the inside, reports the...

Latest Casualty of World's Upheaval: Media Budgets

From Libya to Japan, the money's running out

(Newser) - There’s been a lot of news around the world in 2011—too much, in fact, for some news organizations to handle. Japan, Libya, and Egypt have stretched already tight cable and broadcast news budgets to the breaking point, The Wrap reports. “We've already had a year's worth of...

Fukushima: Big Radiation Spike Was Wrong

Worker fled before taking second reading

(Newser) - That big spike in radiation levels 10 million times normal that Fukushima Dai-ichi reported earlier? Inaccurate, red-faced officials at Tokyo Electric Power Co now say. "The number is not credible," says a spokesman. "We are very sorry." The apology came after employees fled the complex's Unit...

Japan Radiation Hits Las Vegas
 Japan Radiation Hits Las Vegas 
Mar 27, 2011 5:59 AM CDT

Japan Radiation Hits Las Vegas

What happens in Fukushima does not stay in Fukushima at all

(Newser) - The amounts are tiny, but radiation from Japan's crippled nuclear plant has reached all the way to Las Vegas, reports the AP. Minuscule amounts of iodine-131 and xenon-133 reached a monitoring station in Sin City, though scientists emphasized it posed no health risks. "Unless you have an accident like...

Radiation in Fukushima, Nearby Waters Spikes

Radioactive iodine hits 10 million times normal level, forcing evacuation

(Newser) - Radiation is spiking both in and around the stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, forcing workers to evacuate the plant. Radioactive iodine in water leaking from the No. 2 reactor's turbine housing unit soared to 10 million times the usual limit, said Tokyo Electric Power Co., where workers had been struggling...

Japan Earthquake, Tsunami Death Toll Passes 10K
 Japan Death Toll 
 Passes 10K 
Mar 25, 2011 6:00 AM CDT

Japan Death Toll Passes 10K

17K still missing as concern grows over food, water

(Newser) - A sad milestone out of Japan: Two weeks after the quake struck, its official death toll has broken the 10,000 mark—and that number is still on the rise, with more than 17,400 missing. Police estimate the toll will surpass 15,000 in the hardest-hit prefecture alone. Among...

2 Japan Nuke Plant Workers Hospitalized

Tainted water 'seeped' through protective clothes

(Newser) - A pair of nuclear workers in Japan have been hospitalized amid concerns of exposure to radiation, the BBC reports. They had been laying cable at Fukushima Dai-ichi’s No. 3 reactor in an effort to fix its cooling system. “Although they wore protective clothing," said a spokesman, "...

Japan Resorts to Mass Graves
 Japan Resorts to Mass Graves 
Mar 23, 2011 2:16 PM CDT

Japan Resorts to Mass Graves

Quake left too many dead to cremate

(Newser) - Thanks to the earthquake, the Japanese have been forced to do a lot of something they usually avoid at all costs: burying their dead. Japan’s Buddhist traditions dictate that bodies should be cremated, and the ashes stored in family tombs; burial is outright illegal in many places. But with...

Baby Dolphin Rescued From Japan Tsunami Trap
 Baby Dolphin 
 Rescued From 
 Rice Paddy 
TSUNAMI AFTERMATH
Mar 23, 2011 1:37 PM CDT

Baby Dolphin Rescued From Rice Paddy

Man pulls animal out, drives it to sea

(Newser) - A baby dolphin trapped in a flooded rice paddy after Japan’s tsunami has been returned to the sea, Reuters reports. "A man passing by said he had found the dolphin in the rice paddy and that we had to do something to save it," says a pet...

Regulators Ignored Warning Signs at Fukushima

Despite noted problems, an extension was granted for oldest reactor

(Newser) - Government regulators were concerned about the oldest reactor at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant—but still approved a 10-year extension for reactor No. 1, just a month before the devastating earthquake and tsunami that landed the country in its current nuclear crisis. A report from the regulatory committee noted...

First American Victim of Japan Tsunami Confirmed

Taylor Anderson, 24, was last seen biking home from the school where she taught

(Newser) - From Japan, fresh heartbreak that truly hits home: The first known American victim of the earthquake has been confirmed. "It is with deep regret that we inform you that earlier this morning we received a call from the US Embassy in Japan that they had found our beloved Taylor's...

North Korea: Use Your Dog as an Earthquake Alarm

State media looks to animals' 'sixth sense' for disaster

(Newser) - North Korea has a team of experts ready to alert the country to impending earthquakes—the only trouble is, its members can’t talk. State news media has encouraged citizens to look to their pets for notice of coming natural disasters, advising North Koreans to watch for dogs barking furiously,...

Oregon May Get Nation's First Tsunami-Resistant Building

Cannon Beach considers $4M city hall

(Newser) - Maybe Japan's plight will make the cost easier to swallow: The Oregon city of Cannon Beach is kicking around the idea of building a new city hall that would have the distinction of being the nation's first tsunami-resistant building, reports Scientific American . Among other things, the design calls for concrete...

What It's Like to Drive Into a Tsunami

Driver captures moment when big wave takes his car for ride

(Newser) - The dramatic videos of Japan's earthquake and tsunami just keep coming. In this newly released one, a driver's camera captures the moment when a wave overwhelms his car on a coastal road. He got out safely. "When I turned the corner I could see the wall of water,"...

Japan Admits Response Fell Short

'In hindsight, we could have moved a little quicker,' says spokesman

(Newser) - As Japan continues its struggle to get the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant under control, a government spokesman acknowledged that the initial response to the earthquake and tsunami was lacking, reports AP . "In hindsight, we could have moved a little quicker in assessing the situation and coordinating all that information and...

'Supermoon' Nearest Earth Tomorrow

But contrary to rumor, it had nothing to do with Japan's earthquake

(Newser) - Hope for clear skies: A "supermoon" is due tomorrow. NASA scientist Jim Garvin explains that a supermoon is "when the moon is slightly closer to Earth in its orbit than on average"—a situation that’s "most noticeable" when it coincides with a full moon, as...

Japan Nuclear Plant Solution: Bury It?

Crisis continues as authorities rush to cool reactors by any means necessary

(Newser) - Japan is considering burying its troubled nuclear plant in sand and concrete—the same move made in Chernobyl 25 years ago, Reuters reports. “It is not impossible to encase the reactors in concrete. But our priority right now is to try and cool them down first,” said an...

Fukushima Plant Worker: 'Please Stop Attacking Us'

My coworkers are putting their lives on the line, she says

(Newser) - Michiko Otsuki is sick of people ripping on Tokyo Electric Power Co. Otsuki is one of the workers who evacuated from the Fukushima nuclear plant on Monday, and afterward she took to her blog to give the people she left behind there a voice. “People have been flaming Tepco,...

Japan's Emperor: Don't Give Up

'I'm deeply concerned about nuclear situation,' says Akihito

(Newser) - In a sign of the increasingly critical nature of Japan's nuclear plant tragedy, the nation's emperor appeared on TV to plead with his countrymen: Don't give up. "I am deeply concerned about the nuclear situation because it is unpredictable," said Emperor Akihito in a rare address to the...

Calif. Student Spots Japanese Family Alive on YouTube

She sees sister waving sign that family is safe

(Newser) - Need to check on your family after a tragedy? Tune into YouTube. That's what a University of California student did to find any scrap of information about her family back in Japan. She was thrilled to spot her sister in a 45-second YouTube video waving a placard announcing: "We...

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