8.8 JAPAN Quake and Tsunami.

[Nigelinoz]

BBC News - Tsunami hits north-eastern Japan after massive quake
CNN is reporting that NRT and other airports are closed.

 

[nlagalle]

BBC News - Tsunami hits north-eastern Japan after massive quake
CNN is reporting that NRT and other airports are closed.

The footage we are getting here at work is amazing...

 

[Nigelinoz]

A.B.T confirms that both Narita and Haneda are closed.
Major earthquake in Japan: Tokyo's Narita and Haneda airports closed - Flights | hotels | frequent flyer | business class - Australian Business Traveller
My thoughts and prayers are of those affected and I hope any AFF members there are safe and well.

 

[Nigelinoz]

Apparently two runways at Haneda have reopened.
Plane Talking reports that there are two NRT bound Jetstar flights that will probably be diverted.
Regards
N'oz

 

[whereishome]

Tokyo will be fine.

I used to live and work in a town just south of Sendai, in which the Sendai international airport was located. Airport is under water, 1km from a school I used to teach at. I've been watching footage of cars and buildings being flushed up the Natori and Sendai rivers.

It's horrible - I can't get through to any of my friends. Facebook and mixi are more reliable than the phone lines.

 

[kamchatsky]

Very sad to see this happening. Amazing but very sad footage coming out.

The tsunami is higher than the pacific islands and will also hit Hawaii in 4 hours. I wonder what will happen to north pacific islands such as Micronesia, Guam, Palau, Marshall Islands etc .....

Prayers to all the people living at the pacific basin.

 

[Balwyn3103]

A number of flights from the States are being diverted to Yokota AFB just outside Tokyo. I saw another report that KIX is closed too. Not sure if this is confirmed

 

[samh004]

I’m hearing and seeing reports Onagawa nuclear power plant is on fire, nearby to Sendai. Not sure if it’s just fear mongering or not.

Others have linked here, for a direct stream from Japanese TV.

 

[Nigelinoz]

Update on Jetstar Japan services - 11 March 2011 (8pm AEST / 6pm JST)


Jetstar has this evening diverted two A330 services, JQ 25 Cairns-Tokyo and JQ 11 Gold Coast-Tokyo, to Guam due to the closure of Narita International Airport following an earthquake and subsequent tsunami warnings. Both of these flights have safety landed in Guam.

Jetstar has subsequently cancelled JQ 26 Tokyo-Cairns and JQ 12 Tokyo-Gold Coast service and is liaising with affected customers.

Jetstar will resume its Tokyo services pending the reopening of Narita International Airport and is continuing to monitor the situation.
Services to /from Kansai International Airport (Osaka) are not affected and continue to operate as scheduled.

For customers travelling to/ from Japan until 13 March 2011 (inclusive):

Passengers can rebook on alternative Jetstar services or alternative Jetstar destination in Japan. Revised travel dates must be within two weeks of the original planned dates of travel. Jetstar will waive change fees and fare difference.

Jetstar Telephone Reservations can be contacted on 131 538 (from Australia) or + 0120 934 787 (Japan).


Qantas
Latest information as at 8.30pm AEDT Friday 11 March 2011
Flights to Narita Airport in Tokyo are currently experiencing disruptions and cancellations due to the earthquake that stuck the region today. Narita Airport is currently closed to all flights and at this stage, we do not have information when the airport will re-open.
Qantas has delayed the following services to Narita, QF21 Sydney to Narita, QF79 Perth to Narita and QF22 Narita to Sydney.
For the latest flight status information please refer to the Flight Status page at qantas.com.
The following commercial policy options are available to Qantas customers holding a valid Qantas (081) ticket issued on/before 11 March 2011 for travel to/from Narita, Toyko who wish to make changes to their booking for travel up to and including Monday 14 March 2011.

 

[Hvr]

A contingent of Australian MPs are trapped on a bullet train in Japan.
Federal Member for Fadden Stuart Robert was among the MPs left stranded when shinkansen trains stopped when an 8.9-magnitude earthquake struck off the north of Japan late Friday afternoon.

Amazing footage as others have mentioned. Hope my friends there are ok.

 

[odysseus]

Was devastated when I heard this this evening. Very tragic scenes there, and unfortunately potential for more.

 

[drmikki]

There are evacuations around one of the nuclear plants in the north (Fukushima) due to cooling system failure, an explosion at a petrochemical plant in Sendai, and a big fire at a refinery in Chiba (near NRT).

Phone lines are badly affected but apparently there is semi-decent SMS and some internet access. Trains have been cancelled. Anyone trying to locate people can use Google Person Finder ( in Japanese and English.

Any AFFers stuck please PM me and I will see what I can do - I have friends/family outside Tokyo and used to live there.

I hope you all are safe tonight.

 

[QF WP]

A number of flights from the States are being diverted to Yokota AFB just outside Tokyo. I saw another report that KIX is closed too. Not sure if this is confirmed

I had a friend from FT, Greg, who was on one of the AA flights diverted to the AFB. will post more when I have time



Sent from my iPhone using AFF Mobile

 

[drron]

Truly horrific.We had plans of staying near Sendai in June.The footage from the airbridge at Sendai was amazing.
Our thoughts are also with the Japanese people.

 

[Hvr]

Amazing footage as others have mentioned. Hope my friends there are ok.

One is but some of her friends are missing.

No word from the other.

 

[Zippy7]

I was sitting on 32nd Floor of a building in central Tokyo when the quake struck.

It seemed that the locals weren't really concerned until about 15 seconds into it, when it got worse and did not stop as expected. We all crawled under the desks, because that's what you're supposed to do.

Absolutely crazy stuff. I stayed at the office until about 7pm or so - the earth kept moving every now and again (a few times each hour). No obvious damage to buildings in Tokyo, but we did see lots of black smoke immediately after the first shock, then later we saw a huge fire off in the distance (with some pretty impressive fireballs).

Despite staying in a nice hotel (Four Seasons Maranouchi), I didn't have a very good sleep (there were quite a few aftershocks which caused the bed to wobble, and curtains to sway). You'd also hear squeaking of sorts. I was packed, with clothes and shoes ready to go.

The phone system was out for a while, my mobile and blackberry also lost connections at various times (requiring reboots). I got loads of texts and emails from people at odd times! SMS's took some time to get delivered.

I should write up a proper trip report - currently logged in at the Sakura Lounge at Haneda Airport (this is a nice lounge!!!!). Have had a throbbing headache since Friday - can't wait to get a decent sleep.

Might post more from HK when I get there.

 

[Nigelinoz]

FOX News reporting an explosion at the Fukushima nuclear plant and that caesium particles have been detected in the atmosphere which means the core has melted.
God I hope they are wrong.
This is an absolute tragedy.

 

[anat0l]

FOX News reporting an explosion at the Fukushima nuclear plant and that caesium particles have been detected in the atmosphere which means the core has melted.
God I hope they are wrong.
This is an absolute tragedy.

There was a report that in order to relieve some of the pressure in the reactor they opened some vents (sorry - wrong words here since I'm not right down on how a nuclear power plant works). Naturally (no pun intended), this venting to the atmosphere is laden with radioactive substance and certainly more than standard ambient. The engineers, of course, claim that the radioactivity is minimal (I guess they are using a plume dispersion theory), but still....

Of course, if the core really has melted then there's real trouble coming....

I was sitting on 32nd Floor of a building in central Tokyo when the quake struck.

<snip>

I should write up a proper trip report - currently logged in at the Sakura Lounge at Haneda Airport (this is a nice lounge!!!!). Have had a throbbing headache since Friday - can't wait to get a decent sleep.

Might post more from HK when I get there.

Great to hear you're safe Zippy7, and thanks for the insight.

Don't feel too rushed to get a TR out or at all - just focus on getting back to physiological normality.

 

[Mal]

There was a report that in order to relieve some of the pressure in the reactor they opened some vents

That's the old story. New story is:

FUKUSHIMA, Japan, March 12 (Reuters) - Radiation leaked from
an unstable Japanese nuclear reactor north of Tokyo on Saturday,
the government said, after an explosion blew the roof off the
facility in the wake of a massive earthquake.

The developments raised fears of a disastrous meltdown at
the plant, which was damaged by Friday's 8.9-magnitude
earthquake, the strongest ever recorded in Japan.

WRAPUP 12-Radiation leaking from Japan's quake-hit nuclear plant | Reuters

 

[medhead]

One is but some of her friends are missing.

No word from the other.

I'm really sorry to hear that.

There was a report that in order to relieve some of the pressure in the reactor they opened some vents (sorry - wrong words here since I'm not right down on how a nuclear power plant works). Naturally (no pun intended), this venting to the atmosphere is laden with radioactive substance and certainly more than standard ambient. The engineers, of course, claim that the radioactivity is minimal (I guess they are using a plume dispersion theory), but still....

Of course, if the core really has melted then there's real trouble coming....

It is basically a big kettle where they pump water around in a closed loop to extract the heat and use to run turbines and get power. Apparently, what happened is that the cooling system stopped pump so heat and stream builds up inside the cooling circuit, which needs to be vented to avoid an explosion. The few reports I heard said that they have already vented. The radiation levels around the plant were reported as being 8 times normal. I'm not really sure what that means (typical BS reporting by news media). Is it times normal for the typical radionuclides that are in stream? in which case it is still 2/3 of a nothing. Or is it 8 times normal background radiation? Still pretty much likely to be a trival amount of radiation, I'm not sure about background radiation levels in that area so I can be more precise.

However, reports of caesium are interesting as this is a fission product and not something that I would think would be in stream. I might have to turn on the TV.

That's the old story. New story is:

WRAPUP 12-Radiation leaking from Japan's quake-hit nuclear plant | Reuters

holy cough