Earthquake in Tokyo

klarification wrote:

Jtsmith1, the last I've heard is that Mao is with the Satos and they're all fine. However, I just read on FSU that Fumie tweeted about her grandfather's death. Can anyone confirm?

Yes, it's true,sigh. But seems like that Fumie deleted that tweet.

I think the decision about Worlds was made too hastily, too. We don't have all the news we can get yet and there are many things that could still happen like Pochi said. I hope that they reconsider.

Oh, no...that's horrible news about Fumie. I hope Mirai hears from her family members soon, and that anyone with family in Japan gets confirmation that they're safe.

So sad...my prayers are with the ppl of japan....

The Japanese are strong people - they will work together for each other. I pray that they find that strength within them.

The tweet of Fumie is true I saw it it was so sad and she told she needed to be strong, poor of Fumie,
Im soooo sad for Japan I wish I could stop the earth shaking, but its impossible

I think.....that nuclear station in Fukushima....

thanks for the updates everyone...i've been online for 6 hours watching the news and it's just sad. it's good to have first hand accounts from this forum. have a good sleep PP and I hope you found something to eat. Clovera glad to hear your dad is safe!!! I hope to hear from other forum members living in Japan. So far its just PP and Clovera, right? I hope the others are safe too. (Give us a buzz you guys! we're worried about you!)

I think ISU should postpone Worlds to either next month or another time of the year.
Not only it's heartbreaking for skaters (Japanese or for those who have family members in Japan) and not safe for skaters and fans to travel to the arena but most of all, it's not the right time to do it. I mean, how can you enjoy watching the competition when you know that thousands of people are suffering ? I am sure Mao wouldn't want to compete now.

I feel that ISU is a bit selfish by making this announcement right away, not even 24h after the initial earthquake. And they only mentioned that the arean was safe, bla bla. That's all they care. Shame on you ISU!

Any news of the nuclear power plant? That's what worries me most==

maybe they wont decide yet... I hope they postpone it... its a very difficult time for Japan

Thank you Pochi for the information, have a good rest and
please stay safe!

I feel very sad for all the japanese who lost someone
loved

I think a competition just 10 days after this terrible tragedy is insensible, ISU must postpone world´s date and demonstrate their support and compassion to Japan.

I know that Japan is a strong country, but the government has to concentrate their efforts in take care of the japanese people.

I'm just so worried about the nuclear plant. It can't happen.

klarification wrote:

tianrushui wrote:

I hope they could postpone the world championship or change it to other places. My city was affected during 2008 Sichuan earthquake in China. I remember how scare I was in the following weeks. I don't think it is a good idea for athletes to compete after such circumstances. And I have more concerns about the nuclear power plants. Hope they would be safe. Hope everyone would be safe.
btw. Mirai said she can't get in touch with her grandparents:(

Thanks for the insight, tianrushui! I remember that earthquake in China! Thank goodness you are alright.
Oh no, Mirai! I hope her grandparents are okay!

I found out that Mirai's parents are from Nagano and Ibaraki, so I assume her grandparents are living in those areas. There has been some casualties in Ibaraki due to some buildings having thier roofs collapsing on people, but the number of deaths are still quite low compared to the Miyagi prefecture. Nagano was struck by a 6+ quake early this morning and in the afternoon, but there has been no reports of casualties yet. I'm sure that in both areas all phone lines are dead, and most of the people there must've evacuated to shelters (schools and other public buildings with alot of space), so Mirai's grandparents being out of touch is only natural. I hope she doesn't panic too much, because her not being able to reach them doesn't mean something bad has happened to them. Let's hope her grandparents are in somewhere safe.

my heart goes out to those who suffered from the tsunami and the quake.

i hope everyone is doing fine now.

the images from web is just sad.

keep it strong!

NOO! It seems the nuclear fusion began already
My heart and all my thoughts to you in Japan! Please take care of yourself!!!!

Any news about the nuclear reactor?
I read news saying that the radioactive level are very high in the region! :s
Hope they can contain what's going on -

Its heart warming to see how many countries and orgs are deployed to provide help in such harsh times for Japan!
A massive help campaign has been raised in here -_
Lets hope for the best!!


Edit: Just read the post above! - OMG OMG OMG

If that nuclear reactor completly explode, then they will for sure cancle the worlds!

Haidogirl wrote:

If that nuclear reactor completly explode, then they will for sure cancle the worlds!

Yes, they won't have any other chances. I never thought that I would say something like this some day but there are really more important things than figure skating right now.
2010 had so much catastrophes already but 2011 seems to be even harder...
The hardest thing is the helplessness. We are sitting here, watching the news but cannot do anything... I wanna help but I can't!

josling wrote:

Haidogirl wrote:

If that nuclear reactor completly explode, then they will for sure cancle the worlds!

Yes, they won't have any other chances. I never thought that I would say something like this some day but there are really more important things than figure skating right now.
2010 had so much catastrophes already but 2011 seems to be even harder...
The hardest thing is the helplessness. We are sitting here, watching the news but cannot do anything... I wanna help but I can't!

Yeah so right, and the german news always makes it even more worse than it really is, thats why i watch jap. news only I freak out by the german news

Oh god, the clips I've seen of the nuclear plant in Fukushima are just... I continue to pray for Japan. Be strong guys.

MaoChan756 wrote:

Any news about the nuclear reactor?
I read news saying that the radioactive level are very high in the region! :s
Hope they can contain what's going on -

Well...one of the boxes or whatever you call them containing a nuclear reactor exploded some hours ago in Fukushima, yes. They're announcing over and over on tv that the radiation level around the station is higher than usual...but they can't or won't tell us exactly how much higher than usual it is. People living around the station within a range of 20km have already evacuated. They already had people evacuate within 10km during yesterday. I don't think there were that many people living in those areas since it is quite out in the countryside, so as long as they were thorough, I'm sure everyone is gone by now.

It seems that the temperature in one of the nuclear reacters started going up after the first major quake. There is supposed to be water inside, covering the main part of the reactor to cool it down and keep it to a certain temperature, but the water decreased little by little since yesterday. A professor at some university who knows about these things was explaining that if the water decreases more, they would have to let some of the steam out of the box where the reactors are to avoid explosion. They said that letting out the steam, would not cause much trouble because although there are little bits of nuclear bits inside it, the percentage is very low, and they'll let it out while the wind is blowing towards the sea, so the mainlands would hardly be affected. I'm not sure they did that or not before the explosion. It seems that those large box like things with the reactors in them couldn't hold the amount of hot air inside and blew up! To me, radiation is what scares the shit out of the most. I have to get me one of those gieger counter things!

Now, all we can do is hope the wind is blowing towards the sea, and not the other way. If the wind keeps blowing outwards from the mainlands, we might be lucky and end up only with some mutilated fish in the near future. Otherwise, the people living around, evacutated or not will have to live with the fear that they might have been exposed to a crucial amount of radiation for a long time. If someone was right near the reactor when it started to leak, he or she will probabaly die within a few hours bleeding from every part of the body having your cells totally destroyed. In the end it seems in such cases you literally melt down to death. There was a small accident in a different power station several years ago where a worker was exposed to high radiation, and that was the way he died according to the doctors who treated him. This is terrible of course, but when you are exposed to radiation up to only a certain amount, you might go on living for years as if nothing happened and then one day find out you have a serious case of cancer or leukemia or other crucial diseases of almost any kind. Effects from radiation isn't curable. Once you are in contact with something nuclear, it won't go away, it will destroy a certain amount of your cells and you will start losing immunity to all sorts of illnesses. Even if it turns out you are all right, your child or grandchild might inherit the influences of the radiation, and they may turn out to have serious illnesses.

Ironically, there is also a nuclear power station in Miyagi too, but it's reported to be stable with no trouble or danger so far. There were some reports of a minor leak in another nuclear power station located in Niigata, right after the Nagano area which is right next to it was struck by a 6+ level quake early this morning and again in the afternoon, but they seemed to have taken care of it. There has been no reports of any danger around those 2 stations where the earthquake hit much more harder than Fukushima. Maybe something was wrong with the reactor even before the earthquake, who knows? Our nuclear stations do take as much precaution as possible in case of earthquakes, so what happened in the Fukushima station is actually highly unlikely.

Anyway, not only those who live around Fukushima, but everyone in Japan should avoid going outside if it should rain for the next few days I think. Those nuclear bits which were freed into the air isn't just going to vanish away. Some of it might get into the clouds above, and those clouds may be blown anywhere carrying bits of nuclear in them. This might sound a bit extreme, but that's what happened in Hiroshima, so everyone in Japan, keep this in mind just to stay on the safe side.

And as Haidogirl says, they'd better cancel Worlds! I still can't believe ISU made a statement yesterday that they will have Worlds in Tokyo as scheduled. The radiation from the station explosion will not effect Tokyo I think, but in anycase my country is not in a state to be able to hold an international event of any kind at the moment. Most of the members in the Japanese forum believe they should either postpone or relocate Worlds just like most of you here. As much as we were looking forward to it, we don't think we can assure the safety of the entering foreign skaters. Even if Tokyo is totally back to normal by the 21st of this month, the damaged areas would still be in chaos with many in need of help. Having Worlds in Tokyo during such a time is most likely to be criticized by society, and will do no good for the skaters nor the sport either. ISU said that they decided to have Worlds as scheduled on the basis that the Japanese Skating Fed has confirmed them that the Yoyogi Stadium where the competition is to be held has not been damaged by the earthquake at all. What a stupid excuse to avoid postponing or relocating! It's not the building they should base their decisions on. It's the people they should be thinking about. The audience should end up with alot of empty seats because half the people in our country cannot possibly go to Tokyo even if they had tickets. The Japanese skaters might have missing relatives or friends in the damaged areas, not being able to focus on the competition. And surely, all the foreign skaters wouldn't want to come to Japan after all this would they?
Even if they are forced to, I'm sure they'd all feel uneasy skating in a country which is half dead.

I'm going to mail ISU and tell them not to do it. If any of you would be willing to do the same, I'd be most grateful.

http://www.sportcentric.com/vsite/vform/page/feedback/1,11038,4844-130886-132194-74548-user-feedback-start,00.html

PS: Imagine having Worlds in Tokyo, in a country all depressed and worn out from the chain of disasters since yesterday. Imagine Yuna scoring 150 or something again and winning, while Mao, Miki and Kanako couldn't focus on their performances due to some mental influence from the earthquake. Imagine Pattie in the middle of the podium deserving to be there for his accomplished quads, while Dai, Nobu and Takahiko all failed their quads due to the same reason as the Japanese ladies. It would be torture for our country to have to see Worlds turn out like that in the front of our eyes. Even if all is scored fairly, this kind of ending would only depress a large number of people here who are already feeling very down. Should any of our Japanese skaters win, they would have a hard time figuring how to react. If they smile with joy, people will bash them for being insensitive towards the victims of the earthquake. If they cry and dedicate their victory to the victims, people will bash them for acting hypocritical. Having Worlds in Tokyo would be like pushing them into a corner. I can't possibly let them do it.

klarification wrote:

Jtsmith1, the last I've heard is that Mao is with the Satos and they're all fine. However, I just read on FSU that Fumie tweeted about her grandfather's death. Can anyone confirm?

Yes, she wrote something about that on facebook, but maybe it isn't related to the earthquake..

Quote :

And my grandpa died this morning at the hospital.

he went to hospital because of Brain hemorrhage last week,but

maybe because of the earthquake,the electrnic system had problem.



But many people are in difficult situation so I have to be strong.



Thanks again and talk you soon.



.

That is so sad, horrible...I hope they all stay safe!

PochinkoPotanko wrote:

PS: Imagine having Worlds in Tokyo, in a country all depressed and worn out from the chain of disasters since yesterday. Imagine Yuna scoring 150 or something again and winning, while Mao, Miki and Kanako couldn't focus on their performances due to some mental influence from the earthquake. Imagine Pattie in the middle of the podium deserving to be there for his accomplished quads, while Dai, Nobu and Takahiko all failed their quads due to the same reason as the Japanese ladies. It would be torture for our country to have to see Worlds turn out like that in the front of our eyes. Even if all is scored fairly, this kind of ending would only depress a large number of people here who are already feeling very down. Should any of our Japanese skaters win, they would have a hard time figuring how to react. If they smile with joy, people will bash them for being insensitive towards the victims of the earthquake. If they cry and dedicate their victory to the victims, people will bash them for acting hypocritical. Having Worlds in Tokyo would be like pushing them into a corner. I can't possibly let them do it.

Brava, Pochi! You've done a good job in analyzing a potential scenario complete with potential outcomes/reactions from the skaters and the people watching if ever Worlds will go as planned. I'm sure ISU won't be that willing to let this slide because they have spent millions for this year's Worlds, but can't they just put aside their selfishness and stop and think even for a minute? Maybe they would find it in their oh-so-cold hearts to recognize the severity of the situation in Japan. I am sure that it would work out for them too... I mean, people might commend them for being sensitive to the current situation or something.

Anyway, we can only hope for the best. There is a lot of support circulating around the globe for Japan. I've heard that the officials are doing their best to organize the relief effort. Thank goodness the human heart is filled with so much love and compassion.

klarification wrote:

PochinkoPotanko wrote:

PS: Imagine having Worlds in Tokyo, in a country all depressed and worn out from the chain of disasters since yesterday. Imagine Yuna scoring 150 or something again and winning, while Mao, Miki and Kanako couldn't focus on their performances due to some mental influence from the earthquake. Imagine Pattie in the middle of the podium deserving to be there for his accomplished quads, while Dai, Nobu and Takahiko all failed their quads due to the same reason as the Japanese ladies. It would be torture for our country to have to see Worlds turn out like that in the front of our eyes. Even if all is scored fairly, this kind of ending would only depress a large number of people here who are already feeling very down. Should any of our Japanese skaters win, they would have a hard time figuring how to react. If they smile with joy, people will bash them for being insensitive towards the victims of the earthquake. If they cry and dedicate their victory to the victims, people will bash them for acting hypocritical. Having Worlds in Tokyo would be like pushing them into a corner. I can't possibly let them do it.

Brava, Pochi! You've done a good job in analyzing a potential scenario complete with potential outcomes/reactions from the skaters and the people watching if ever Worlds will go as planned. I'm sure ISU won't be that willing to let this slide because they have spent millions for this year's Worlds, but can't they just put aside their selfishness and stop and think even for a minute? Maybe they would find it in their oh-so-cold hearts to recognize the severity of the situation in Japan. I am sure that it would work out for them too... I mean, people might commend them for being sensitive to the current situation or something.

Anyway, we can only hope for the best. There is a lot of support circulating around the globe for Japan. I've heard that the officials are doing their best to organize the relief effort. Thank goodness the human heart is filled with so much love and compassion.

I just stated something quite similar in the other thread!
It would be extremely unfair for jap skaters!
Thanks for the link Pochi!

It's a terrible tragedy When I read various reports it almost seems like science-fiction... Unbelievable!
My thoughts are with everyone in Japan.

I also hope skaters, our forum's members and their realtives are and will stay ok!

I'm so glad you're fine Pochi! I was really worried about you. Say safe! And thank you for sharing news and your feelings with us.