Japanese Earthquake

star gazer

A devastating earthquake has struck off the North East coast of Japan and has resulted in tsunamis which have hit the coast and caused huge damage. It is likely that many have died and everyone wishes the emergency services well in their efforts to minimise the loss of life. There have been aftershocks so people have been told to be vigilant.
CNN RTE BBC
Air travel as well as road and rail travel have been affected as have communications. Electricity is down in some areas.

eigrod

RIP to those who have died and hopefully any further devastation will be limited insofar as possible

star gazer

There are concerns about two nuclear power plants with the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant causing a precautionary evacuation of nearby residents. A second plant had a fire in one of its buildings but so far there are no reports of any leak from either plant. Large transport arteries have been shut down in many areas including Tokyo. Reports of two to three hundred bodies along the coast of North Eastern Japan and a passenger train missing. There are several fires in affected areas with a major one in an oil refinery near Tokyo that is very intense. It has been one of the biggest earthquakes of the past hundred years anywhere on the planet.

RTE live tracker

My condolences to all those affected. I fear that the level of destruction will mean a much higher final death toll.

Atavan-Halen

Such a tragedy RIP those who died and hopefully there'll be no more after-effects of the earthquake.

bananaface

my boyfriend is over there, in furukawa which is close to sendai. hes safe and im so thankful for that. just want him home now cant imagine what the people of Japan are going through right now..

star gazer

It is very distressing to see the scale of the destruction on TV and the great tragedy that many people were probably in the path of the tsunami. The bleak scenes in the places closest to the earthquake epicentre where there was a stronger tsunami and less warning to reach safety are terrifying. The added worry about the situation in the nuclear power plants must be very difficult on the people of Japan who have so much to deal with already. Our thoughts and hopes are with them at this difficult time.

richymcdermott

Im Donating my money to japan , my heart goes to those who lost there lives and those who lost there family members , i hope they can build on this tragedy

star gazer

Tragically the death toll has continued to rise and the search continues for the missing but at this stage the chances of finding survivors is very low. Some issues have arisen about food produced in the region around the nuclear plant.
BBC

Workers are close to restoring power to cooling systems at a quake-hit Japanese nuclear power plant, officials say.

Workers hope to connect cables to four of the six reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant by the end of the day.
The earthquake and tsunami it triggered crippled the plant's cooling systems, and some radiation has leaked.

Food products from the Fukushima prefecture now have been banned from sale after radioactive contamination was found in milk and spinach.
...
Just over 7,300 people are known to have died in the disaster on 11 March. About 11,000 more remain missing.The authorities have begun building temporary homes for some of the hundreds of thousands of people still sheltering at emergency evacuation centres.

World Health Organisation FAQ

me-skywalker

Another earthquake 250km from Hokkaido, 6.5 on the richter scale with a metre high tsunami expected.

Hopefully is enough time for coastal evacs and no more quakes or tremors to add to this and so no loss of life.

daelight

It was M6.8 and 10cm tsunami occurred.

Just had M6.1 60km from Tokyo, offshore Chiba but no problems.