MikeA comments

Sorry, I'm not sure why the link didn't work. Please try this one:

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/typhoon-talas-kills-dozens-1315320187-slideshow/people-transfer-relief-goods-japan-ground-self-defense-photo-234333417.html;_ylt=Akx8vJ4_zHWPRKP3xqXp_HBfaP0E;_ylu=X3oDMTQwZmdmYmVoBG1pdANTbGlkZXNob3cgR2FsbGVyeSBWaWV3IFVTBHBrZwNkNWQ2ZjFiZS03ZjQ1LTNkMjEtODczMy03MTkzNTA1YTk3MDQEcG9zAzUEc2VjA2VuZF9zcwR2ZXIDNTZjNzM4MjAtZDhlMi0xMWUwLWJmYmUtYTk3ZTcxNjU0YTY4;_ylg=X3oDMTFtbjZqNHVyBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdAMEcHQDc3MtZ2FsbGVyeQR0ZXN0Aw--;_ylv=3

@kansaifun: I believe I was correct, the helicopters are landing and unloading into waiting trucks, not "air dropping". So the original headline was using "air drop" incorrectly. Here is a link to a photo showing this happening, along with more photos of the search & rescue operations.

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/typhoon-talas-kills-dozens-1315320187-slideshow/people-transfer-relief-goods-japan-ground-self-defense-photo-234333417.html;_ylt=Akx8vJ4_zHWPRKP3xqXp_HBfaP0E;_ylu=X3oDMTQwZmdmYmVoBG1pdANTbGlkZXNob3cgR2FsbGVyeSBWaWV3IFVTBHBrZwNkNWQ2ZjFiZS03ZjQ1LTNkMjEtODczMy03MTkzNTA1YTk3MDQEcG9zAzUEc2VjA2VuZF9zcwR2ZXIDNTZjNzM4MjAtZDhlMi0xMWUwLWJmYmUtYTk3ZTcxNjU0YTY4;_ylg=X3oDMTFtbjZqNHVyBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdAMEcHQDc3MtZ2FsbGVyeQR0ZXN0Aw--;_ylv=3

I thought air drops were prohibited in Japan.... dropping aid supplies to the Fukushima earthquake victims

kansifun, I understand your question but I wonder if this is a translation or semantics issue. The headline says "Air drops", but the article speaks of helicopters descending on towns. That implies landing.

Perhaps active military personel can clarify for us, but I thought air drops were pushed from the back of a transport/cargo plane in flight, that is: without the plane landing. The cargo usually descends with a parachute attached. This stuff is usually specially packed to survive such a drop. It's not very well controlled and can be dangerous as well as damaging the goods, although new US military cargo drops can be autoguided by GPS from 20,000 feet. So perhaps that is why drops are not allowed in populated areas.

Whereas helicopters, for the most part, will land briefly, even if they just push it out the door and then lift off.

Maybe in translation an incorrect word was choosen. I'm not sure if there was immediate aid deliveried by helicopter in Fukushima, but I know eventually there was. Could be the scale was so much greater and the infastructure so much more damaged, that the ramp up time was much longer and even finding where to deliver aid was challenging. Also, the first hours & days of any disaster are spent in search & rescue, which would be considered more urgent a priority than delivering aid. Sometimes it a tradeoff, hoping those alive can survive until aid arrives.

Not the best situation, but given the scales involved, perhaps all anyone can do.

Pity such technology is only developed for the military. If it was originally designed for civilian use, maybe many lives could have been saved?

Where in the article do you read anything about miltary, funding or otherwise? The researchers are associated with Hokkaido and Kyoto universities in Japan and San Francisco State University in the US. The stated purpose has been to study ocean currents and they have been doing so with the radar stations for the last 10 years. This was the first time they have observed tsunami in radar data.

The above information was all within JT's article, but seemingly glossed over. In another news article, I found the facility in the US is funded by the California state government, not the US Federal government. Because of this fact, it unlikely to be a miltary project and cannot be a miltary only project.

http://www.earthtimes.org/scitech/radar-results-japan-disaster-tsunami-warning-system/1262/

Tying this ongoing research with miltary funding as a possible reason for lives lost is uninformed, disingenous, and just plain wrong. Perhaps posters on JT should take a step back, a deep breath, and a minute to think before they post a "an off-the-cuff statement. But it seems that would take more time and effort than most posters seem to be willing to spend. Especially if they might discover they are wrong. Posting unsubstantiated claims as "fact" isn't very helpful, but seems to be common on JT.

A more useful action might be to push for more funding into research that can help, while accepting that such research takes time.

Dewaashita at 08:52 PM JST - 5th November --- The hat, is this how Tribbles hibernate?

I know what a Tribble is, and you are right...

It's a cookbook!!

I got it. It is great! (But shows our age...)