While the Russian national newspaper, RIA Novosti focuses on what is in 'western' news in their English edition, htere are parts of Russia, China, Canada, the Pacific Islands, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand worried about the outcome. Outcomes that might be personal in that people are visiting in Japan and the potential for tsunami effects.
Tsunami to hit U.S. west coast, Alaska (click here)
Tsunami waves unleashed by a series of massive earthquakes in north-east Japan on Friday are expected to strike the western coast of the United States and Alaska, the Alaska Tsunami Warning Center said.Tsunami warnings have also been issued for Guam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Hawaii and Canada....
The picture accompanying this article is profound. The fires, the flooding and the devastation of an 8.9 earthquake. While everyone wants survivors to 'dial in' the chances any survivor in these areas even has any infrastructure to make that happen is unlikely.
In areas like this there is only ONE authority ABLE to begin to RECON the ability for search and rescue. That is the militaries of the area. ALL NGOs will be helpful, but, they have to be 'staged in' for there to be any sincere SAFETY and EFFECTIVENESS. I sincerely don't want to hear how any military operation is standing in the way of any Not-For-Profit organization.
IT IS NOT POSSIBLE to move into these areas without prior knowledge and an 'expert base' to achieve those goals. With a 8.9 on the Richter there are going to be substantial 'aftershocks' and otherwise. With significant aftershocks comes new tsunami warnings.
Japan's people, throughout that nation are traumatized. THEY LIVE THERE. In the last decade that country has sustained an enormous amount of trauma from earthquakes. If NGOs want to help, then help the people that have survivied this quake and are paralized in their own lives because of the repeated trauma simply living in this island nation.
Add to that the threat of North Korea's nuclear program and the dangers faced by the people of South Korea and what does that equate to? Security? If it only could be true.
This quake happened at 05:46:23 UTC, which is about midnight EST. I was awake then. I wasn't on the computer, but, the news said nothing. I remember the Indonesian Christmas quake. Within minutes there were reports streaming about that event.
Oh, well. It simply tells me that the quake has hit some vital areas and the information was very remote in coming to the global community.
NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN (click title to entry - thank you)
When I look at the 'shake map' the quake was 24.4 km deep or just over 15 miles down into the crust of the Earth. That is a fairly shallow eipcenter and why the energy wave did such damage. Ths shake map is not that large and while there is significant damage to the East Coast of Japan it appears to be limited there. The after shocks continue to radiate both deeper and shallow around that epicenter. So, what ever is happening it is limited to a specific stress point in the planet.
continued...
