The Third Day of the Northeast Japan Great Disaster
As the great earthquakes and tsunami happened in the afternoon of Friday, we have had some room to settle down over this weekend.
The death toll in this great disaster has risen to about 2,000, and it is expected to reach over 10,000, since many are still missing.
Now, in several hours the next morning, namely the first Monday morning after the disaster, will begin in Japan. However, 95% of Japan's business and administration is not influenced by this disaster.
Among 47 prefectures that constitute Japan, only three prefectures are seriously damaged. Among 7 or 10 largest cities of Japan, only Sendai has suffered a direct impact from the great earthquakes/tsunami.
It is true that some plants of Toyota, Sony, etc. in the Tohoku Area (of northeast part of Honsyu Island) have been influenced due to mostly power outage. But, business is expected to resume as usual on Monday morning in the authentic world No.2 economy.
Yet, 150 or so America rescue crew from California arrived at Aomori Prefecture today. Emergency aids from Germany, Switzerland, and China have also landed on Tokyo Narita Airport and etc.
Finally, it is officially announced that a possibility of an aftershock with a magnitude 7.0 or so occurring in the coming two days is 70% and the one in the coming five days 50%.
Japan is moving forward over the grand earthquake/volcanic belt running over the rim of the Pacific Ocean.
Indeed, this great earthquake occurred as the Pacific Plate moved down into, and went under, the North American Plate, off northeast Honsyu Island or at the location under the sea just 400 kilometers or 300 miles northeast of Tokyo.
PART 13-8:
Prefectures around Tokyo are going to undergo restriction on their use of electric power, starting from tomorrow; Prime Minister Mr. Naoto Kan authorized it.
The Fukushima nuclear power plants have provided electric power to Tokyo and other prefectures on the Kanto Plain. The outage of the nuclear power plants and other thermal power plants is causing power shortage in office buildings and homes situated in the Kanto Area, including Tokyo Prefecture.
No power-use restriction is going to be imposed on the 23 wards or the main districts of Tokyo Prefecture.
This restriction is expected to continue into April.
PART 13-7:
Both the Fukushima No.1 & No.2 Power Plants have still some troubles in cooling the nuclear reactors.
Tsunami broke a system to use seawater as coolant in some units of the No.2 Power Plant.
The second unit of the No.1 Plant has its reactor vessel failing in filling its inside fully with water. Accordingly, the pressure inside the vessel has increased.
At 10:50 p.m.
PART 13-6:
Total 300,000 people are forced to say in shelters and refuges in the tsunami/quake-hit area of northeast Japan; many lost homes.
At 7 p.m.
PART 13-5:
Tsunami readiness advisories are all rescinded by the Japanese Government at 6 p.m., all over Japan, finally.
PART 13-4:
The three prefectures hit the hardest are Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima.
The confirmed death toll is now over 1300.
The number of casualties in the Miyagi Prefecture is expected to reach over 10,000.
At 4:30 p.m.
PART 13-3:
More than 10,000 citizens are found to be missing after the 3/11 Great Earthquake of Japan.
Some local towns on the Northern Pacific Ocean are found to have most of their residents missing.
In the worst case, the total casualties could rise up to tens of thousands.
At 3:50 p.m.
PART 13-2:
Magnitude was officially corrected by the Japanese Meteorological Agency to 9.0 from 8.8 for Japan's earthquake of this Friday. The world 4th largest among all the earthquakes since 1900.
An expert said that this series of earthquakes in Japan is equivalent to the one that happened 1200 years ago, before the coming of the samurai era, around the Tohoku Region of Honsyu Island, Japan.
The 2004 Sumatra Great Earthquake had a magnitude of 9.1.
PART 13-1:
Every TV station in Japan is still dedicated to all-out broadcasting of the situation after the great earthquakes and tsunami in the northeast prefectures of Honsyu Island, or the northeast region from Tokyo.
The big concern is now on the third unit of the Fukushima No.1 Nuclear Power Plant which shows some troubles in cooling down fuel.
It was the first unit of the Fukushima Plant that had its housing building blown off yesterday.