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7 injured as M6.4 quake shakes Fukushima

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That will be the quake off Izu this morning you are referring to? I'll make sure to watch out for more of your wisdom.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Just read on the headline news here on JT "Record high radiation reported at crippled Fukushima nuclear plant" I guarantee that this quake has loosened something in the dai-ichi plant.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Thank you Elbuda - I am well aware of a: how to use an iphone and an ipad. My point was that the app is several seconds behind the automatic warnings that come to other phones specifically designed for the Japanese market. Seen it in practice a few times post 3/11, with those who have had it set to Shindo 3 or more. I work in a open plan office with enough people to pass judgement on this.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Sorry Rainman, but the Iphone is not useless only if the person who is using an Iphone does not know how to download the free application Yurekuru and just put you area of Japan and to which intensity you want it to warn you for. In my case, I am in Tokyo, Kodaira and just put it to 4 shindo 4 it has not gone off, why? Because no 4 shindos or above have hit us since March 11.

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@Paul Arenson

I do not turn most articles here into TEPCO or gov, bashing. I rarely comment on most articles. I was simply providing information where I thought it was lacking. However, to do that, one has to underline why they think it is lacking.And like it or not, this is a highly politicized issue.

Sorry I wasn't saying you were turning every thread into an anti-government thread, just that it was happening. I still say TEPCO has nothing to do with this morning's earthquake. Everyone knows the situation is unstable - even the government says this. Why does it need to be brought up every time there is an article about Fukushima or an earthquake? Invariably someone does.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

@Apsara: Wouldn't want to use the Yurekuru phone app - its way behind the service offered through a standard Japanese mobile phone. Downside to having an iphone. After 3/11 those who had DoCoMo or AU phones in my office would get plenty of warning of aftershocks, those with iphones were a while behind. Useless.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

If you live in a two story house, upstairs is safer than downstairs. Usually downstairs gets crushed. That's my understanding. Be safe, everybody :)

1 ( +2 / -1 )

"sit on it? dive into it?... Please advise."

A] lie down on the floor beside your toilet B] wrap yourself around it and grab your ankles C] place your head between your knees and wait

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Mods come on? Have the government or TEPCO told you to delete anything close to the truth.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

other good choice is the toilet........................

sit on it ? dive into it ? I fail to see the Life saving feature of either act. Please advise.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Please, anybody correct me if I'm wrong, but I am pretty sure you won't get the warning on your telephone unless its expected to be a Shindo 4, or above in your area.

With the Yurekuru iPhone app at least you can select the intensity that you want to be notified of and in what area. In the month of the earthquake I set mine to shindo 3 in central Tokyo but I had to change it to shindo 4 and above because there were so many aftershocks at the time I was getting warnings every half an hour or more.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

A corpse can't sue or complain, that appers to be the idea.

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I hear there are still a bunch of people within 3 kilometers of the coast in Fukushima. Is this really true?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Definitely it woke me up. I am not sure its a shindo 3 in Gyotoku, feels like shindo 4 or 5-, scary3x...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Please, anybody correct me if I'm wrong, but I am pretty sure you won't get the warning on your telephone unless its expected to be a Shindo 4, or above in your area.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@Paul Arenson: Thanks for the references. I totally agree with you. In fact, it's common knowledge how cozy the relationship has always been between the government's nuclear 'regulators' and Tepco. There are also numerous (and very credible) reports/accounts about how both TEPCO and the Japanese government have downplayed the severity of the accident and withheld information from the public.

I have also researched a variety of sources, and it appears that nuclear experts from around the world are in turn, puzzled, concerned, and some simply amazed at the Japanese government's response and ongoing handling of the crisis. Chernobyl was handled much differently, and most would argue, much better!

2 ( +3 / -1 )

I keep praying this will stop. Japan has suffered enough this year.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Just hopr that the nuke plant will surpass all these trials...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Smorkian I do not turn most articles here into TEPCO or gov, bashing. I rarely comment on most articles. I was simply providing information where I thought it was lacking. However, to do that, one has to underline why they think it is lacking.And like it or not, this is a highly politicized issue.

When someone says not to worry, that the nuclear plant has already been damaged, then it means they do not know that the crisis has not been contained. And that necessitates underlying why it has not been contained. And that brings up the lack of info.

When the event first occurred there were lots of reports that it is under control, that the amounts of radiation leaked was not an immediate concern for human health. All products of a spin machine. The gov of the UK and its nuclear industry even were exposed this month of colluding to downplay the incident, of offering to incorporate METI into the scheme, and of going so far as the say that all that was happening was pre planned and nothing to worry about, that the reactors were, er reacting, as expected.

So if we have a severe earthquake, it is wise to remember that the initial response of those in charge was to downplay, and to consider that next time around they might be any more forthcoming with information. People who check multiple sources are probably better informed than those who just check to see if the gov made an announcement.

It is all about information, who has it, who controls it.... I have no more to say on the subject.

If there is a bias in the views presented, it does not mean that articles which do not question the behavior of the gov and TEPCO are bias free. So if you want to accept that it is all a matter of nature, fine. I gave the references. People can look them up if they choose to.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Frequent small to medium size quakes may not be a bad thing if they relieve pressure building up on a fault. It had been noted in several articles (including here in JT) that the northwest Pacific quadrant had been "ominously quiet" just prior to the monster that occurred on 3/11.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

@Paul Arenson

Do we have to turn every article in this site into a long winded excercise in J-Gov bashing? Last I checked TEPCO didn't cause this morning's earthquake.

-1 ( +4 / -4 )

out in chiba it was pretty big & seemed long, long enough to wake, think a sec or two, grab the dog(blind) & then we all headed downstairs & outside to enjoy some fresh air, then back to bed

1 ( +2 / -1 )

THAT one woke me up! I was about to open our door, but it stopped.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

I felt like I was in a washing machine this morning. Felt like I was moving in a circle.

THANK YOU whoever designed my dwelling.

Thanks

1 ( +2 / -1 )

No AU here and my iPhone was set for 4 mag or above so it was only 3 mag? Shindo?? In my part of Tokyo I just kept chatting away on Skype. Good scare though! I hate earthquakes!!!! !!!

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

I definitely felt that one. Glad I had my phone set to receive earthquake warnings. Gave me about an extra 10 seconds to get up and ready. Felt pretty big.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

As Mikeinhatch mentioned, the is a great deal to be concerned about. Whether one chooses to believe some of the more panicked speculation that is going on on many websites, reliable experts such as Hiroaki Koide point out that, far from being under control, the radiation is affecting a wide swath even outside the exclusion zones, with the government either inept or intentioanlly choosing to under react. Add to that the fact that reactor #4 has been observed to be leaning ( in May the tried to shore it up) after the explosion of #3), and you have the possibility of adding to the problems that are far from beig contained. If I recall correctly, #4 contains Fuel rods from the other reactors. There is reliBle info out there, if you conclude that Tepco and the gov, which has been shown to be lax in inspections of foodstuffs until after a problem arises, are not providing enough info. Start with Koide, and then look for radio isotope professor and medical doctor Kodam! the latter who angrily testified in the Diet that the government is acting totally irresponsibly in exposing locals to radiation by sticking to the radius model, which is this 20 and 30 mile bands radiating from the center. He says the radiation is sometimes less in the danger areas and worse even 100 km away. He says the gov has not been forthcoming even about explaining why radiation has been rellatively high in areas far from the accident.

It has to do with the explosion, he says, which sent massive amounts far, exacerbated by rain, several days Fter the quake.

I hear we cannot post links here, so I would check out the pages of people on the ground, often reported in Peace Philosophy Center (Sadako Norimatsu) on the web and Facebook. There you can see videos by Kodama and others. Koide has precious little in English. He is ignored by the mainstream press, which operates under the KISHA club system, which excludes outsiders and tends to parrot gov. ministries and the power companies. While Kodama is the rare Todai scientist who is not in bed with Tepco, Koide is an expert who is based at Kyodai.

One reason you will find good reports in the crappy weekly magazines, by the way, is that serious reporters there are not members of the KISHSA clubs and are not constrained from reporting. So we have the paradox of gossip magazines like Gendai often having better info. But you cOuld also try Shuukan Kinyoubi, which is a serious magazine.

Anyway, while it is true you have to steer clear of the many unrelible pieces of speculation out there, equally suspect is the info released by METI and it's affiliates as well as then power companies, which are struggling to minimize damage to their business Nd don't mind endangering people in impoverished areeas they build their plants,

5 ( +8 / -3 )

My AU phone didn't go off either. I hate it when they happen in the middle of the night when I can't think straight and dream about Cuba.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

My girlfriend's AU phone earthquake alarm went off about 15 seconds before the quake.

Strange. I have au and I didn't get that here in Tokyo. This one was definitely one of the biggest since 3/11 I'd say. Fairly short but quite strong.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Disillusioned, You've got it round the wrong way. You might want to do some more reading about the "Triangle of life" before you spread misconception. Most western governments have dismissed the theory as a myth and is in fact dangerous.

Drop, Cover, and Hold.

Anyway, good shake last night, but at that time in the morning I was too tired to get up.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

I would say it depends on the door-frame, if they are made from steel like overseas than I would go for it. Wooden Frame not much faith in those.

Bath-tub is a good choice but you can get trapped in one, other good choice is the toilet.

0 ( +3 / -2 )

Disillusioned: if you can walk/run to your bathtub, this is a sign that the tremor is maybe not big enough for your house to collapse. The door frames would eventually leave a space, not big, but enough for you to survive. Unless your girlfriend asks you sleep on the sofa, in the middle of the night, the door frame is maybe the only alternative. Everybody don't have a sofa...

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

mitoguitarman - Got us outta bed and under the door frames!

Actually, being safe in doorways and under tables is a misconception. Have you ever seen a collapsed house with a doorway still standing? Of course not! The is something called, 'The triangle of life'. You would have been safer laying on the floor next to the bed frame or in front of a sofa. I read a firefighters' report about this 'triangle of life' and these are the places they have found survivors in collapsed buildings. The safest place is in the bath tub, of course.

These large aftershocks are getting more frequent again. It is hard to say if it is a good or bad thing. Is it releasing pressure or building up to something bigger? - My girlfriend's AU phone earthquake alarm went off about 15 seconds before the quake.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

We've had quite a few of this size in the past few months so not much worry.

This one did wake me up...

0 ( +2 / -1 )

Got us outta bed and under the door frames!

0 ( +2 / -2 )

what's is there to worry now? these are after shocks unlikely to cause further damage to already ruined area.

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

epicentre was very close to the Nuke plants - that is a worry....

0 ( +2 / -2 )

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