The First Anniversary of Japan's Tragic Disaster

[NiTROACTiVE]

Today marks the 1st anniversary of the 8.8 earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan that killed a lot of people in the country.

My story on this: Back when it happened, I was shocked because Japan is one of my favorite counties and I was saddened as well. Ever since then, I hoped that they would do OK and I was also glad that people were donating to that country to help them out.

So yeah, this thread is a tribute to all of the people who died in the disaster in Japan, and you can contribute your thoughts about how it made you feel.

You can read this article for more info.

[DoomUK]

It's been a year already? Damn.

[Jodwin]

It sucks major balls, but at least the Japanese are better at living on with their lives than pretty much anyone else.

What I'd like to know is how to do all those nuclear power protesters plan to produce enough energy to compensate for the closed reactors. I'm not really sure that buying energy from China or wasting trillions on ineffective wind power is a much better idea.

[NiTROACTiVE]

DoomUK said:

It's been a year already? Damn.

Yeah, time sure does fly!

[lazygecko]

Could have been much, much worse. Their buildings are made to withstand earthquakes and it seems they held together really well during that disaster. Had it been anywhere else I reckon all those skyscrapers would have been rubble. Their engineers deserve credit for all of the lives they saved.

[Technician]

They're probably one of the few countries to be prepared for natural disaster. I couldn't possibly imagine the American government putting down strict building laws without it becoming as issue for the presidential debates.

Sadly, the incident proved that those reactors where flawed in both design and location. I'm confident the rebuild will fix the problems of the outdated plants. They're still keeping it pretty hush hush, though.

[Jodwin]

Technician said:

Sadly, the incident proved that those reactors where flawed in both design and location.

Sure, but then again, where else would you place nuclear reactors in a country like Japan if not on the coast? Also, it took a fucking massive tsunami to cause the damage, I'm not sure what kind of preparations you'd need to be perfectly safe from that, but it would certainly be inhuman.

[dannebubinga]

I had booked a flight to Japan with departure 2 days after the earthquake. I stayed at home...

[Technician]

Jodwin said:

Sure, but then again, where else would you place nuclear reactors in a country like Japan if not on the coast? Also, it took a fucking massive tsunami to cause the damage, I'm not sure what kind of preparations you'd need to be perfectly safe from that, but it would certainly be inhuman.

Japan is an island you can drive across in a few hours, distributing the power is not an issue. Build the reactors on the opposite side of the fault lines, not between them. Yes, it's less convenient but practical.



Also, that reactor was cold war trash. Even the west is dropping all reactors that share it's faulty, outdated, design.

[Maes]

Japan has also a fucked up electrical grid, from an engineering point of view, with half of the country working at 50Hz and the other half at 60Hz with the two grids being incompatible and unable to sustain one another, so relocating all of their power in one, convenient zone for all of the island is simply not feasible, not without massive transport costs and power losses, or without a major restructuring of their power grid.

TBQH I was a bit shocked when I first heard of that, I'd imagine that such a situation could have evolved in some third-world shithole where competing colonial rulers imposed first one standard then another, not in the world's most advanced industrial nation.

[NiTROACTiVE]

GeckoYamori said:

Could have been much, much worse. Their buildings are made to withstand earthquakes and it seems they held together really well during that disaster. Had it been anywhere else I reckon all those skyscrapers would have been rubble. Their engineers deserve credit for all of the lives they saved.

Yeah, Haiti's buildings didn't do so well when they had their earthquake. I felt sorry for Haiti as well.

[Aliotroph?]

I found when I was in Japan that they seemed to have that lack of a standard with all kinds of things: bathroom fixtures, staircases, railings, roads, etc. It was weird. Yes, there's lots of variation in most places, but when one building has automatic, ass-cleaning toilets and the other has squat toilets it's just odd.