10,000 missing in Minamisanriku?

[jannyk]

Dear sweet jesus....

#
1252: Japan's Fuji TV has run a screen caption saying that as many as 10,000 people are missing in the town of Minamisanriku in Miyagi prefecture.

#
1254: And Kyodo news has published photos of Rikuzentakata, where hundreds of people are feared dead. They show houses smashed to fragments - a scene of total devastation.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12307698

[ananda]

1. I think the death toll will be in the hundreds of thousands.

This is a disaster of epic proportions.

This is the strongest quake Japan has ever experienced, and the fifth
largest worldwide.

The nuke disasters will take a toll as well, and that might extend beyond
Japan.

[malaise]

4. More tsunami warnings

http://yokosonews.com/live

[WinkyDink]

11. Exactly. Why do people think this will be any LESS than in Indonesia??

[Bonobo]

18. Because Japan is a much more advanced country. nt

[VermeerLives]

20. Bingo! (n/t)

[uppityperson]

41. Warnings got out faster also, to places further away. nt

[VermeerLives]

19. Let's hope and pray that that it is less than Indonesia

Japan and Indonesia are completely different cultures. Japan is a wealthy nation and very technologically advanced; Indonesia is not. The sad truth is that poorer nations always suffer more from these catastrophic events. The plain truth is that without wealth a nation cannot build an infrastructure that protects human life. The Japanese people are very resourceful and disciplined. They won't sit around just waiting for help and wondering what to do (much like the American people). Japan recovered from the Kobe earthquake without help from anyone (they refused help - this is largely a cultural thing). This time they are asking for help from the U.S. (and possibly other countries). It is these qualities of character, combined with their wealth and technology, that will enable the Japanese to recover from this disaster.

[Posteritatis]

31. Because Japan is competent at planning for such events. (nt)

[Bonobo]

17. You are off by two orders of magnitude in my opinion.

I think it will be more like 1,000, maybe 2,000. But not more.

[jannyk]

21. I think you are wrong

- they've discovered 2 groups of 3-400 bodies each at the seashores of 2 different areas already. That's 6-800 toward your total. What about the missing ship with 100 aboard, the missing train with 200+ aboard. Not to mention the 10,000 missing from Minamisanriku (just one tiny town of many obliterated). This doesn't even take into account those actually killed in the earthquake.

Are they only feeding you 'happy news' over there?

[Bonobo]

22. God, I hope that the 10,000 are just out of touch... My god...

No we are getting the full news, but as you suggest, these things have a way of getting steadily worse as things are found out.

Maybe I am just deceiving myself. But that would still mean you are off by 1 order of magnitude.

I pray you are wrong.

[jannyk]

23. Did you see the aerial pics? There's nothing left but the hospital

Absolutely. Nothing. It's so fucking sad. BBC showed the pics, but they originated from NHK tv .

I would love to be wrong. I pray to be wrong, but the reality is not looking good.

Peace, and so glad you and yours are ok.

edit: name of tv station

[Bonobo]

24. I have seen...

It's just unfathomable...

I cannot believe it. I cannot.

But I am so afraid.

[jannyk]

25. I'm really sorry B, but we just exceeded your low estimate

　　From the NHK scrawl:

　　　　About 600 people have been confirmed dead in Friday's earthquake. An additional 400 to 500 bodies found in Miyagi Prefecture are likely to bring the death toll to more than 1,000. 　

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/　

And while I was posting this BBCTV announced number of confirmed bodies is 1700

They haven't even started searching all those vehicles and smacked up houses yet.

[Bonobo]

28. My god, I realized I know someone in that town. Keisenuma.

I met her online. She is an English teacher at a middle school there. OMG... She likes to cook and has a great sense of humor. A beautiful young woman and we both watched Chef Ramsay online and met there and chatted....

Oh shit. :(

[AsahinaKimi]

37. hang in there

:hug:

[Kuroneko]

26. 10000 Missing

They are unaccounted but the situation is chaotic. Then there is still good hope to find them.
One important point is that there was early warning about the tsunami then people had a chance to escape.

[jannyk]

29. I agree - there's always hope....but

it is the surviving 7,000 that made it to higher ground. They and the official search parties are yet to find any trace of the others.

[Kuroneko]

30. Good news???

The estimate number of victim announced by the NHK is less than previous. They have gone from 1600+ to 1000+.

I also don't think that they have finished to recense all the surviving. And there is alway all the people away from home. Then still hope.

[jannyk]

33. that is good news. and yes, we will continue to hope for every one of them

Welcome to DU Kuroneko.

:hug:

[roguevalley]

40. this is beyond comprehension. I dread this happening here

although where I am it would be almost impossible to have much of a tsunami. The cook inlet is our ace in the hole.

[malaise]

2. The death toll is continue to rise

That tsunami destroyed every one and everything in its path. The scale of destruction is frightening.

[jannyk]

6. We saw hundreds die last night and that was just in the camera frame

all those moving vehicles that had nowhere to go and were overwhelmed. I saw people abandoning cars and running in vain - I had to stop watching I couldn't hack it.

Many would have been washed out to sea in the backwash (as in Banda Achai). We'll never know the real toll - but it will be high, sadly very high.

[alphafemale]

3. I can't even imagine what an 8.8 might have been like

Isn't every tenth degree on the scale doubling the force?

[Angry Dragon]

5. I think every .1 is to the power of 10

[alphafemale]

8. okay...what does that mean? nt

[jannyk]

9. It means the Japan earthquake as approx 100 times more than the one

in San Francisco Bay Area (Loma Prieta). Loma Prieta waws a 6.9-7.1 depending on which data you look at. A 7.9 would be 10 times as powerful. An 8.9 is 100 times as powerful (10x10). I lived through Loma Prieta and cannot comprehend what 8.9 would be like.

[Posteritatis]

32. Something like that; it's definitely not a linear scale

The quake yesterday involved eight thousand times more energy than the Christchurch one, I believe.

[jannyk]

7. Per live stream from Japan. Town was 17000 and washed away

- yes, nearly all of it! Police and officials can only find 7,000 of the 17,000 alive.

And this was only one of the towns obliterated by the tsunami.

http://yokosonews.com/live

Nothing to view regarding topic as is live tv broadcast

[KharmaTrain]

10. Awful Geography...

http://maps.google.com/maps?rlz=1T4SNNT_enUS394US394&q=Goog&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wl

This poor town looks like it not only was close to the epicenter but also sits in a river valley that worked as a funnel for the surge from the Tsunami. Here's hoping those figure are premature and many were able to escape to high ground.

[WinkyDink]

12. Escape how?! To where ? In what time-frame?!

[KharmaTrain]

13. High Ground...

The warnings and sirens were up and going when the first shaking occured and there was about a 10 minute lag time for the worst of the waves to crash into the town. The fact the quake happened during the late afternoon may...and I say may...have given some folks a chance to seek high ground. I saw a BBC World report on how the people in these towns have regular disaster drills and my hopes are that these may have led people to be aware of their situation...as opposed to it hitting in the middle of the night when people are asleep. The problem is that with no power there's no communications and rumors can travel faster than the realities on the ground.

[Old and In the Way]

39. Makes you wonder, though, if people in Japan might disregard these warnings.

If the region is prone to earthquakes, would these audible warnings get ignored over time? I don't really know the warning system that Japan employs,works...but human nature is pretty universal. If there's a single audible warning that trips for any earthquake event, it wouldn't surprise me if, over time, people tend to ignore them. If that was the case, perhaps they need to modify their audible warning system in a way that differentiates for magnitude.

[jannyk]

14. Watching it live last night there was no escape

I don't know about that particular town, but we saw the flattest terrain that stretched for miles and so many moving vehicles swallowed by the deluge - they had nowhere to go and no time to get there.

[KharmaTrain]

16. The Lag Time...

I saw the same footage and being in a valley is sure to funnel the effects of the water...a real bad situation. My hope is that there was a several minutes (I heard reports that there was about 10 minutes from the first shaking to the water starting to pour over the sea walls) that may have been enough time for people to move to the nearby hills that, while isolated, would have moved them out of harm's way. I'm looking at the Google Earth topography map and there looks to be some high hills in and around the town. I don't discount what's being reported...just going to wait until there's some more on the ground verification. I'm just trying to hope for some positive in what looks like a very bad and tragic situation.

[jannyk]

15. BBCWorld just showed before and after aerial photos of town

ONE building left standing (the hospital) in a town of 17,000

[Le Taz Hot]

27. Dear goddess . . . n/t

[Dappleganger]

34. Remember that communications is down for many of them

so they need time to be able to get somewhere to call.

[malaise]

35. Before and after photos

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaclu/5519857082/in/photostream/


http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaclu/5519267771/

[AsahinaKimi]

36. After seeing video of that tsunami rolling though

taking buildings and cars with it, that figure is not surprising. This saddens me greatly, and I have been depressed about it all day. The only thing that has driven me to carry on is the fact that I was able to donate some money, what little I have. Next month, hopefully if my company is still in Business in Tokyo, and I get my direct deposit check, I will do more then 100 dollars.

頑張れ日本 !!

Donations to: www.globalgiving.org

[Overseas]

38. I'm still watching the devastating live feeds too.

Japanese coastal towns are so lovely. So sad to see the destruction. I just couldn't have imagined the power of those massive multiple tsunami waves.