Image via WikipediaIn the early afternoon of 11th March 2011 the biggest ever recorded earthquake (in the 140 years recording history of Japan and the fifth strongest earthquake worldwide) hit 130 km off the coast of Japan. A sunny spring day turned into one or maybe the worst day for Japan. The magnitude of the earthquake reached 8.9 on the Richter scale and it was even recognizable in Tokyo (400 km away from the epicenter of the earthquake).The problem hasn't only been the earthquake in the ocean off Japan as a result of this earthquake a tsunami has been built up by the earth movement under water and pushed monster waves with 10 meters height up to 10 kilometer into the coastal area of the city Sendai in Japan. Boats, cars, houses, even two trains have been simply washed away by the massive waves and it's now expected that there might be at least more than 10.000 persons dead.
Until Monday morning more than 530.000 persons lost their homes (more than 80.000 had to leave their homes because of the nuclear emergency and the 20 km area around the nuclear power plant Fukushima). Additionally more than 100.000 persons have to leave their homes since Monday, 14th March 2011 because the security area around Fukushima has been expanded from 10 to 20 km.
Updates are following 2 - 3 times daily - more news reports can be found at the end of the post!
NUCLEAR Power Plants radiation leaking + possible meltdown in more than 2 plants expected, a third plant in Onega has a malfunctioning cooling system! Read a Live Ticker update about the Nuclear Danger after the videos!
Two live streaming channels added (Japanese language but pictures speak more than words!)
More footage of the tsunami which hit Japan in the following video (including burning oil refinery & buildings)
Another big risk that occurred is that around the Pacific coast are many of the nuclear power plants which had to be shut down after the earthquake because the electricity got cut or for security reasons. Some of the emergency electricity supplies didn't work anymore after the earthquake struck Japan.
So there is a high possibility that we might get another Chernobyl disaster in Japan with massive consequences for the environment not only in Japan!
On 12th March 2011 at 7 am (Japanese time) the radioactivity in the control room # 1 in the nuclear plant of Fukushima-Daiichi (250 kilometers away from Tokyo) was already more than 1000 times higher than the normal value after they had to release pressure and radioactive vapour from the nuclear plant (reported by news agency Kyodo).
At 8 am the Japanese Premier Minister Naoto Kan extended the security zone around the nuclear plant Fukushima to a 10 kilometer zone instead (prior 3 kilometer).
At 9 am the second nuclear plant Fukushima 2 which is 12 kilometers away from the first nuclear plant is reporting about problems with its cooling system, too as they are no more functioning!
At 8 am the Japanese Premier Minister Naoto Kan extended the security zone around the nuclear plant Fukushima to a 10 kilometer zone instead (prior 3 kilometer).
At 9 am the second nuclear plant Fukushima 2 which is 12 kilometers away from the first nuclear plant is reporting about problems with its cooling system, too as they are no more functioning!
At 2:47 pm news about radioactivity leaking from the nuke plant emerged. The radiation levels are already 20 times higher than humans are exposed to for each year.
Around 5 pm news about an explosion in the nuke plant Fukushima 1 running on the tickers of the news agencies.
5:15 pm Video of a Japanese news agency is showing damages at the nuclear power plant in Fukushima
5:45 pm News Agency Jiji announced that the roof of the nuclear power plant has collapsed!
13th March 2011
7:00 pm: Japan is asking Russia for delivery of gas as they expect soon a power shortage. Population is asked to use electricity only if necessary. Russia's prime minister accepted the bid and will deliver gas to Japan.
11:00 pm: Nuclear emergency announced for Nuclear plant Onagawa because of higher than usual radiation.
Volcano Shinmoedake releases Ash and stones. The Ash reach nearly 4.000 meters up into the sky. The Volcano Shinmoedake is located 1.000 kilometer far away from the earthquake region.
14th March 2011:
1:15 am: Cooling system in Nuclear Power Plant Tokai stopped working, it is south from Fukushima.
4 am: More than
