The Quake Through Eyes of Slashdot Japan 265
This is a report restricted to Kanto area. I was in the office in the heart of Tokyo, and probably because the building was old, I felt strong swaying horizontally. (It was not a vertical shake. ) It might be a bit misleading to call it “severe” but, I have never experienced being in a building moving sideways in such strong motions, despite that my office was in the lower level. After I evacuated to the park, there came another shake which sent cold shiver down my spine as I heard the surrounding buildings making strange squeaky noises and deforming into parallelogram shape. I went back home on foot. Privately owned stores and those selling non-daily necessities were closed. But fast-food restaurants and convenient stores were opened and seem as usual, except that there were more customers. Just about how crowded it gets during lunch time. We can call it a turmoil with everyone wondering how to get home faced by severe traffic congestion and paralyzed railroad system, but my personal view is that this earthquake is not that devastating, and Kanto area will be back to normal by Monday if there aren't any more earthquakes. To my surprise, everyone around me remained calm, probably being used to having earthquakes.#1916274
This is another report from metropolitan area in Tokyo. My observation and impression of the situation is exactly the same. Once the aftershock subsided, all the urban functions were back on operation except the railroad system, which made me think “Wow, that's just what Japan is about!” There were just few things that were not normal: the room was submerged by busted plumbing and the streets were overcrowded with people. (#1916333)
Right after stricken by the earthquake, infrastructures and transportation facilities stopped operating, and it became the biggest problem even in the non-victimized area. Most of the people working in Tokyo take about 30minutes to hour-and-a-half to commute to their offices from their residences not only in Tokyo but also in Saitama, Chiba, and Kanagawa using railroad transportation system. Although few of the railway lines got back to operation, many people were left with options to either spend the night in institutions such as schools and concert halls or walk back home which would take several hours.
With determination, I walked back home from Hachioji area to Nerima. On the way, I purchased a recycled bicycle at a bicycle shop. Now at 23:23, I'm home. It took me 5 hours. (#1916403)
Struck by the earthquake around 3pm while I was riding the Yokohama-line. Passengers were guided to walk to the close-by station and it was already 4:00pm. After that, we were left on our own to go wherever. I walked for 5 stations, and it took me 4 hours to get back to the office. (#1916480)
However on the next day of the earthquake disaster, most of the transportation facilities were operating and at present, most of the railway lines are running under special emergency timetable. Now, most attention goes to the power problem and the critical status of the nuclear power plants. By the devastating earthquake, some of the thermal and nuclear power plants in the Kanto and other eastern areas were shut down. The cooling system failed at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, and despite the attempts to cool down the reactor externally, the situation is yet not contained. Meanwhile (although it is still not at a level of casting imminent hazard upon the residents and the environments of the surrounding area), disperse of the radioactive substances was announced causing anxiety to grow among those mainly in the Kanto area (Fushikusha Diichi Nuclear Power Plant status, CRITICAL). As to the nuclear plant related issues, news papers and TV have provided inaccurate information to stir up confusion, but it was Dr.Hayano, a professor at Tokyo University and a researcher at CERN, whose accurate explanation on the situation provided through Twitter eased the anxiety of many people(@hayano). Shut down of the power plants attributes to the power shortage problem. The attempt to decrease the power consumption by dividing the region of coverage to cut down power alternately, which is called the “planned power outage”, was implemented for the fist time(TEPCO carried out rolling outage). There were confusions as the announcement was delayed to inform which of the region was to go out of power in what time. However, websites such as “”Operation Yashima ” (the power conservation strategy depicted in the popular Japan Anime “Next Generation of Evangelion”) spread out the idea of power conservation and helped to keep the rolling blackout to a minimum. Also, daily commodities and fuel shortage is a problem. Water, bread, and preserved foods were soon gone from the stores, and gasoline and kerosene are also under-supply. Devastating news drove panicked people to buy excessive amount of toilet paper, batteries, and flashlights which became a problem. Slashdot Japan has posted a story Why do people panic buy toilet paper? which received much attention.
On my way back home, I stopped by a drug store to buy daily necessities. But all the toilet paper which is usually stacked under the banner was totally gone. There are some twitters saying that it reminds them of the Showa oil shock, but as I didn't experience that on real time, I have no clue. If anyone knows why there are people who would go out and panic buy, please let me know undercover.
Yesterday 3/15, I was in Hokkaido (island located at the north end of Japan), and just before I was about to fly back to Tokyo, my sister gave me a hasty phone call to bring back diapers for her baby. She told me her baby was wearing her last diaper, and all the diapers were emptied from the shelves of all the retail stores she could go to. Luckily, Hokkaido was not affected by the earthquake, and daily commodities were still on shelves as usual. So I brought her back a huge stack of diapers, two loaves of bread, 4 packs of ramen-noodles, cookies, and batteries. These panics are expected to wane by this weekend. Contrary to these hysterical panics, some raise their voices to say “Especially at a time like this, we should live as we usually do”. Some intellects and celebrities were calling on to “those who were affected only slightly by the disaster” to “go out and continue to consume for the sake of reducing the impact on the economy”. But they were criticized for “lacking in prudence”, drawing much attention (In a crisis like this, is it indiscreet not to practice “self-regulation”?)
The whole thing (Score:1, Insightful)
"but my personal view" (Score:3, Insightful)
That was pretty close to my response from my armchair before we got news of the extent of the nuclear plant failures. I felt pretty low about it at the time, and although I came to terms with it and got to just feeling dumb already this made me feel even better. Hope springs eternal, I guess. Once again, the Japanese impress the rest of us with their patience.
Panic (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Panic (Score:5, Insightful)
And rightfully so. Here in Europe, people are buying masks and iodine pills. I don't know much about geography or wind currents, but no matter where I look there is a) half a planet between us and the plants that cooked off and b) at the very least either the Himalaya or two oceans and some land in between us and the disaster, no matter what direction the death cloud could take, it simply cannot reach us.
Do you think people would go so apeshit about something that happened half a world away if it wasn't for the panic hype of the media?
Re:Panic (Score:4, Insightful)
If it hapened in the US it would be complete chaos (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Panic (Score:5, Insightful)
I work for a multinational company. On our internal system, someone in Bangalore broadcast the news about the Japanese earthquake soon after it happened. The first response? An American saying "We're hearing about it on the news. I sure hope you're OK in India."
Maps are useful.
Re:We appreciate your support! (Score:5, Insightful)
You know what, DNS-and-BIND, I retract my recommendation to come over and help people in your case. Your attitude isn't needed here and wouldn't be appreciated by anyone.
We will continue to help each other through the situation, whether it's the minor annoyance of not having enough food in Tokyo thanks to panic buyers, not being able to get to work because trains aren't running, not having power, or the serious crisis of not having a home to go back to up in Miyagi and Iwate. Or even the annoyance of dealing with idiots who falsely accuse us of carnig more about Tokyo than the countryside. We will get through our problems, large and small. Keep calm and carry on!
Re:Animals knew it was coming (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:We appreciate your support! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:We appreciate your support! (Score:3, Insightful)
DNS-and-BIND, your lack of social skills is exceeded only by your douche-baggery.
Fortunately, this skill set is in great demand: Have you ever considered work as a Wikipedia editor?
Email us- You'd fit right in
Re:Panic (Score:5, Insightful)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/mar/17/japan-nuclear-crisis-tsunami-aftermath#block-28 [guardian.co.uk] - "The death toll from the earthquake and tsunami is expected to exceed 10,000"
Indeed, 220,000 died in Haiti -- smaller quake, less developed country. Things are still desperate over there, so after donating to Japan, maybe spare a little for Haiti.
Re:Panic (Score:4, Insightful)
Oh please. Maybe it's different where you live, but nobody around here -- Germany -- is "going apeshit" and there is zero panic. Unless you consider turning away from nuclear energy as a panicky reaction, but that's not what you were talking about. Maybe some people are buying masks and iodine pills, but I haven't heard any reports about that being a wide-scale phenomenon, and besides, having those around might not be the worst idea in the world if you're living in the vicinity of a nuclear power plant.
I think everybody knows that Europe will not be directly affected by the nuclear accident in Japan, despite its massive scale. (The indirect effects, mostly economical, are something else entirely.) And of course, the whole thing, the devastation after the earthquake/tsunami as well as Fukushima, is a huge, huge story in the media -- and it damn well should be.
Re:Donations - does Japan need the money? (Score:4, Insightful)
While Japan presumably does not need money, they do need help. For example, they need experienced teams of rescue workers scouring the countryside finding still-living victims. They need food, water, and supplies delivered to areas suddenly unreachable through normal means. They need crews to rip apart buildings to rescue those trapped inside.
Those teams are predominately run by volunteer organizations such as the Red Cross, LDS Church, etc. Japan will not pay those organizations for the help they receive - just as no one else has to pay. So those organizations will need additional funds to cover operations in Japan.
So in answer to your question, "does Japan need the money?"
Japan, no. Red Cross, yes.
Re:"but my personal view" (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, you may feel eager to feel better from hearing 'good' news - but really, you're just fooling yourself. The OP may 'feel' the earthquake was not devastating and he may 'think' the Kanto area will be back to normal, but his views are from a worms eye point of view outside of the area where the quake hit. The relatives of the thousands of dead and the tens of thousands without homes or jobs would probably disagree with his estimation that the quake was 'not devastating'. The Kanto area may be back to normal by Monday, but the Kanto area wasn't hit by the full force of quake - the Tohoku area was. *They* aren't going to be back to normal by Monday. They aren't going to be back to normal next year.
This whole report is infuriatingly meaningless. It's like hearing from residents of St. Louis a week after Katrina - "yeah, we got a couple of inches of rain, but we're cool now". It's insulting as hell to the dead and the homeless and those whose livelihoods were destroyed.