During the last week Chie and I have been watching the news almost constantly when we have had a TV available. We have been switching between NHK (Japanese official TV) on the one hand and CNN and BBC World on the other hand.

The information you get is quite different, besides the fact that the NHK news are communicated in a language that contains too much kanji for my taste 😉 NHK usually are first with the latest information in many cases and is very fact based on details but analysis and what-if scenarios are not their strong point.

The analysis aspects are what, among other things, CNN and BBC World are bringing in a non-sensational journalistic way. In the presence of a nuclear crisis you sometime want to hear what experts have to say about the available facts and you want to hear about realistic what-if scenarios. So that you can make appropriate decisions on a timely basis.

Though NHK is not strong in bringing this type of analysis they have a really strong point. They have real-time earthquake warnings which may be a life saver in some cases.

As an example, when we had dinner today we were as usual (the last week) watching NHK news when “beep, beep, jishin…” warning sounded and information popped up on the screen. An earthquake of magnitude 5+ in Ibaraki-ken. About 10 seconds later our building was shaking. A shake that felt like 3+ in magnitude.

Imagine now that you are about to be hit by a major earthquake and you could get this information just a few seconds ahead. Maybe enough time to get to the most secure place in your close vicinity. Maybe just enough time to grab a bottle of water or a jacket on the way to that place, just in case the worst would happen. Unfortunately the systems we have today can help you only when you are off the epicenter, i.e. when it takes time from when the earthquake occurred until the quakes hit you. But it is at least better than nothing.