Japan’s tsunami and nuke plant emergency: how you can help those in need
Ethan A. Huff
NaturalNews
3/13/2011
(NaturalNews) By now, most everyone is aware of the massive and devastating 8.9 earthquake that recently hit off the east coast city of Honshu, Japan, and the monstrous tsunami that followed. Combined with continuing aftershocks and several other earthquake incidents that occurred both before and after what has been dubbed the biggest earthquake to hit Japan in recorded history, much of the nation has been left in ruin. Homes and businesses have been leveled, and many people are missing, injured, or dead. These people need our help, and if you feel compelled to help support emergency aid efforts in Japan, NaturalNews has a few trustworthy options you may want to consider.
The Buddhist Tzu ChiFoundation, a credible organization to which NaturalNews has made numerous donations on previous occasions, has set up a relief center in response to the disaster. The center is providing victims with hot food, snacks, internet access to contact their loved ones, and a place to rest or sleep. To make a financial donation to the Tzu Chi Foundation, visit the site.
The Salvation Army in Japan has also sent a team to the most damaged city of Sendai to provide basic necessities for victims there, and to assess the situation to see what else they can do to help. This group has long been on the ground around the world providing relief for those in need. You can donate to the Salvation Army efforts by visiting this site.
As far as the current situation, crews are still rummaging through the wreckage near the areas hit hardest by the disaster in order to assess the full extent of the damage. Tens of thousands of people have been reported missing, thousands of others have been found dead, and the overall destruction is immense. The Boston Globe says that roughly 9,500 people from the town of Minamisanriku, which represents roughly half of the town’s total population, are missing. Another report from CNN states that more than 5.1 million homes are without power, and the Japanese Defense Ministry has deployed 190 aircraft and 25 ships to aid in relief efforts…
CAJ note: updated with corrected links.
Update: Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan says nation is facing its worst crisis since World War II.
Voice of America in Asia, Japanese Struggling to Find Food and Water in Disaster Area
Related: 25 cm shift in Earth’s axis has little effect, experts say
Initial results out of Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology show that the 8.9-magnitude earthquake that rattled Japan yesterday shifted Earth’s rotation axis by about 25 centimetres.
INGV’s report, which came hours after the devastating quake, is equivalent to “very, very tiny” changes that won’t be seen for centuries, Canadian geologists say.
Only after centuries would a second be lost as each day is shortened by a millionth of a second, according to University of Toronto geology professor Andrew Miall.
“Ten inches sounds like quite a lot when you hold a ruler in front of you. But if you think of it in terms of the earth as a whole, it’s absolutely tiny; it’s minute,” he said.
“It’s going to make minute changes to the length of a day. It could make very, very tiny changes to the tilt of the Earth, which affects the seasons, but these effects are so small, it’d take very precise satellite navigation to pick it up.”…
Update 2: Of more serious consequence, however, is the potential for radiation fall-out across the Pacific from the Fukushima reactor meltdown. JammieWearingFool has a somewhat tongue-in-cheek article full of important links and this sobering graphic:
Go to JammieWearingFool to see the graphic at full size.
Update 3: How the nuclear emergency unfolded, at Weasel Zippers. At therightscoop, a video, Japan: Before and After the Tsunami: “This is stunning video from NHK World (Japan TV) that shows aerial views of Japan before and after the earthquake and tsunami…”
