The following map is a modified version of the earthquake vulnerability map published on Views of the World last month (see that page for more details on the underlying earthquake map). The map itself does not show much new information, but includes an aditional layer containing the largest cities of the world, the so-called megacities (depending on the definition, these are cities with a population of more than 5, 8 or 10 million).
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For the past 20 years or so, some seismologists in Japan have warned of the seismic and tsunami hazards to the safety of nuclear power plants, most notably Katsuhiko Ishibashi, now professor emeritus at Kobe University. Their warnings went unheeded. Yet in the immediate aftermath of the magnitude-9.1 earthquake that struck Tohoku on 11 March, pundits could be found on many Japanese TV stations saying that it was “unforeseeable”.
Guardian: Flawed earthquake predictions gave Fukushima a false sense of security
Japanese put their faith in a system that has consistently failed to predict the risk of major earthquakes, says scientist
There are now hundreds of radiation-related feeds from Japan on Pachube, monitoring conditions in realtime and underpinning more than half a dozen incredibly valuable applications built by people around the world. They combine ‘official’ data, ‘unofficial’ official data, and, most importantly to us, realtime networked geiger counter measurements contributed by concerned citizens.
Japan’s nuclear safety agency has raised the crisis level at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to 7, from the current 5.
Level 7 is the highest rank on an international standard and equivalent to the severity recorded after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.
Continue: NHK Japan
Tokyo Electric Power Company was reporting on Saturday on its survey of high-water marks left on the plant’s buildings.
It says it found that the tsunami reached up to 15 meters on the ocean side of the reactor and turbine buildings. The figure is far beyond the company’s originally estimated height of 5.7 meters.
Japan-based Associated Press photographer David Guttenfelder documents the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated the north-east of the country
PARIS, March 31 (Reuters) – Japanese authorities grappling with a nuclear disaster must hand out iodine tablets now and as widely as possible to avoid a potential leap in thyroid cancers, the head of a group of independent radiation experts said.
France’s CRIIRAD group says Japan has underestimated the sensitivity of the thyroid gland to radioactivity and must lower its 100 millisieverts (mSv) threshold for administering iodine.
BANGKOK, 29 March 2011 (IRIN) – Four days after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Myanmar’s eastern Shan State, information about the true scale of the disaster has been slow to emerge given the region’s mountainous terrain, linguistic barriers and security concerns, an aid agency with dozens of volunteer surveyors in affected areas, said.
* A total of 11,438 people were confirmed dead by Japan’s National Police Agency as of 0600 GMT (2 a.m. ET) on Thursday, while 16,541 were missing.
BANGKOK (AlertNet) – Unseasonal rains coupled with bad roads and remote locations are hampering relief efforts four days after a strong earthquake hit eastern Myanmar on March 24, aid workers said.
The 6.8 magnitude tremor killed at least 74 people and injured another 125, when it shook the famous “Golden Triangle” region, a sparsely populated, hilly area where Myanmar, Thailand and Laos meet. The United Nations says there have been eight aftershocks and the risk of landslides is high.
(Reuters): Here are some facts about radiation and the health dangers it poses-
Below are different levels of massive radiation exposure in a single dose – all measured in millisieverts — and their likely effects on humans, as published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency:
– 50-100: changes in blood chemistry
– 500: nausea, within hours
– 700: vomiting
– 750: hair loss, within 2-3 weeks
– 900: diarrhea
– 1,000: hemorrhage
– 4,000: possible death within 2 months, if no treatment
– 10,000: destruction of intestinal lining, internal bleeding and death within 1-2 weeks
– 20,000: damage to the central nervous system and loss of consciousness within minutes, and death within hours or days
Sources: Taiwan Atomic Energy Council, World Nuclear Association, US Department of Transportation, US Environmental Protection Agency
Radioactive iodine-131 at a concentration 1,850.5 times the legal limit was detected in a seawater sample taken around 330 meters south of the plant, near a drainage outlet of the four troubled reactors, compared with 1,250.8 times the limit found Friday, the agency said.
A Greenpeace team of radiation experts is monitoring locations around the evacuation area that surrounds the crisis-stricken Fukushima/Daiichi nuclear plant. They’re there to independently assess the true extent of radiation risks that the local population may be facing.
Continue: Greenpeace Int
YANGON : At least 75 people were killed and hundreds left homeless on Friday after a strong earthquake hit Myanmar, with fears that the death toll could rise significantly.
Buildings were flattened close to the epicentre while terrified residents fled their homes as tremors were felt as far away as Bangkok, Hanoi and parts of China when the magnitude 6.8 quake hit late on Thursday.
Myanmar state television confirmed a toll of 74 dead and 111 injured.
A map, which provides a general representation of the risks of earthquakes on humanity using records from the past 4,000 years, has been produced by a geographer from the University of Sheffield.
The new World Earthquake Intensity Map has been created on an equal-population map and allows us to understand the earthquake intensity in relation to today´s population distribution, giving an idea of where most people are at risk in regards to seismic activity.
It provides a visualisation of all major earthquakes that have been complied in the Global Significant Earthquake Database. The database contains information on destructive earthquakes from 2150 BC to the present day that meet at least one of the following criteria: moderate damage (approximately $1 million or more), 10 or more deaths, magnitude 7.5 or greater, modified Mercalli intensity X or greater, or the earthquake generated a tsunami.
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Social and Spatial Inequalities Research Group,Department of Geography,University of Sheffield
Food aid is flowing, refugees are restoring daily routines, and even mobile banks are appearing in north Japan as the nation rallies around victims of the March 11 double disaster.
Nearly two weeks after an earthquake and tsunami plunged the Asian nation into its worst crisis since World War II, an increasingly thorough and successful humanitarian relief operation is replacing the scenes of suffering and devastation.
22 March 2010
Update: Detailed graphical status report on each reactor unit is available.
Continue: BraveNew Climate
2011 March 22 07:18:47 UTC
LONDON (AlertNet) - Despite the high death toll and shocking devastation caused by last week’s quake and tsunami, aid workers are not pouring into Japan.
By and large Japan, as one of the most developed countries, has the capacity to respond and it has only accepted international support in a few specific areas, such as search-and-rescue teams, medical help and nuclear specialists.
Temporary housing is taking shape next to an evacuation centre in this northern Japanese town, among the first places where rebuilding from the devastating earthquake and tsunami 10 days ago has begun.
Health action in crises
WHO is providing answers to the general public’s frequently asked questions concerning exposure, food, shelter and individual protective measures on the radiation incident in Japan.
(CNN) — A massive emergency response operation is under way in northern Japan, with world governments and international aid groups coming together to bring relief to the beleaguered island nation.
16.03.2011 | Potsdam: The earthquake disaster on 11 March 2011 was an event of the century not only for Japan. With a magnitude of Mw = 8.9, it was one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded worldwide. Particularly interesting is that here, two days before, a strong foreshock with a magnitude Mw = 7.2 took place almost exactly at the breaking point of the tsunami-earthquake. The geophysicist Joachim Saul from the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences (Helmholtz Association) created an animation which shows the sequence of quakes since March 9.
Continue: GFZ Potsdam