When I nowadays feel an after-quake I go to the JMA web site. We have already had a few today. One at around 12:45. So I went to the JMA web site… And found that they must have gotten tired there because the data there has not been updated since 12:27 today :-O
[Update 13:45] OK, they seems to have had their coffee break and are back online 🙂
There is now a fear that Fukushima Daiichi (#1) Reactor #3 has a damaged containment vessel. This may have been caused by whatever caused the smoke earlier today.
The information seems to change by the minute. For instance, new information say that radiation leakage topped 10 mSv per hour a short period of time this morning.
Some alarming but very uncertain news is that the 50 workers remaining at the Daiichi plant has been asked to withdraw to a safe area. If that is the case then there is no one left “taking care” about the plant.
The latest news about the Fukushima #1 nuclear power plant is difficult to get hold of. Or should I say, it is difficult to get hold of reliable information.
What seems to have happened is that once again smoke is visible from Reactor #3 though the fire in Reactor #4 seems to have been put out. The high level of radiation leaking out during the night has gone down. Though the latest update now say that radiation leakage of up to 6 mSv per hour occurred during a limited time period today.
There are also some contradictory information regarding the personnel at the power plant. Have they been pulled out or not? It seems that most personnel has been pulled out earlier but there are still 50 that continue to work there.
Unfortunately, TEPCO, the company owning the Fukushima Daiichi (#1) and Daini (#2) Power Plants, have not been too forthcoming with information. They provide information about radiation leakage at their web site. However, I can only find information about the Daini (#2) power plant. This plant is not the one with the problems you can see on TV right now, which you can see from this English information at the TEPCO site. All Daini-reactors are in cold shutdown, which basically means that they are off and there is no risk of a meltdown etc.
How has an ordinary day changed for us since Friday’s earthquake? Actually, it goes on pretty much as it did pre-Friday’s earthquake with just a few exceptions.
In summary, the changes are not big and not really difficult. As all changes it takes some discipline and some extra thought but, as mentioned, it is not really difficult.
We also try to continue as usual. Visiting restaurants with the same frequency as usual. Go to the gym. Got to work.
Sometimes though it is not possible. Sony Ericsson where I work have, for instance, asked all employees to stay home from today until further notice. Konami Sports gym have limited opening hours, 10-18 instead of 10-22, most likely because of the irregular train schedules.
It also seems to have impacted restaurants so maybe many other people have changed their daily lives more than Chie and I have. Yesterday we visited Yasaka and while we were there they got 3 cancellations. Since Friday’s earthquake they have had 94 cancellations, counting in numbers of people. A quite big hit for a small restaurant like Yasaka.
Maybe you think I am getting excruciatingly single minded, but even though we try to think and talk about other things we are pretty much every day reminded of the earthquake by after-quakes. Yesterday was no exception. At 10:40 pm we were rocking gently in our bed.
As you can see in the images above the area where we live (purple blob in the right image) is located on the boarder between a green (3 in magnitude) and yellow area (4 in magnitude). On the 12th floor that shakes you a bit but it doesn’t move any furnitures, and once you feel there is no more energy going into the shakes they really don’t bother you that much.
To give some perspective, the red area in the left image is in the upper 6 in magnitude and about 100+ km away from where we live. Traveling through the ground the energy has reduced to around 3-4 in magnitude. Compare that to Friday’s earthquake of 8.9-9.0 in magnitude about 100 km outside of Sendai that you can find almost at the upper end of the right map, 300+ km away from where we live. From epicenter the energy traveled 350+ km to Tokyo and was reduced to 5-6+ in magnitude.
Note that the magnitudes in the images from the JMA is in the JMA Intensity Scale. Which measures the degree of shaking at a point on the earth (the colored areas and dots in JMA graphics) compared to the Richter scale that measures the local magnitude and quantifies the energy with a single number such as 8.9 or 9.0.