Tsunami Warnings March 2011

[Lori]

http://ptwc.weather.gov/

So I didn't see a topic brought up about it yet and it's all I've heard about at school which is where I am now so I can't get any youtube video's to link but it's crazy.

Does on here live in a Tsunami warning zone that may have been affected. Do you know anyone who was? Thoughts on it?

A couple of news reports:
http://tinyurl.com/tsunamiinhawaiiinfo
http://tinyurl.com/tsunamiinjapanyahoo

[Brittomart]

Can we talk about Japan? It's making me really sad.

[Jammies]

Lori, I've got a friend studying in Japan who hasn't checked in via Facebook or e-mail or message board, and it's impossible to get calls into the country right now, so yes, I'm worried about her. Also, the loss of life is just devastating.

[Lori]

Good grief! For a minute I thought maybe I had started a thread and then forgotten all about it! Thank god I haven't lost all my marbles.

Jammies, ach. I know the phone lies in Japan must be absolutely nuts. You must be worried sick.

Tsunamis scare the crap out of me. Can you imagine seeing a 30ft wall of water coming at you? Biblical proportion of terror.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

A man in California has already been swept to his possible death by a high wave in Crescent City, just south of Oregon.

[Jammies]

*hugs Britt* It's making everyone mad.

Lori, a friend's daughter survived the '05 tsunami with her camera and the clothes on her back, so I keep hearing her descriptions.

[Lori]

Oh wow. That's astonishing! What a gift to have for the rest of your life - to have that first hand perspective every day of just how precious life is.

[Phil]

I was at a meeting most of the day today. Two of the people at my table had missionary relatives in Japan. The man to my right was in contact with his son, who is currently based in Tokyo. The woman across the table said her brother is serving his mission somewhere near the Sendai airport -- that's where he was when he managed to text her a message that he was okay.

[Knarik]

The problem with the nuclear plant in Japan can result in even more problems than the earthquacke and tsunami did.

[Janice]

My sister lives in Hawaii. Her son posted that the harbour where she lives took some damage, but they are all ok.

We've certainly seen a lot of devastating earthquakes recently.

[Lori]

Jammie, have you heard from that person yet?

Yes more doom and gloom with the nuclear reactor. And we all know why: THE END IS NIGH!

[Jammies]

Yes, Lori, Sara checked in this morning, thank you!

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

Very, very sad. Some of the photos are just nuts. I saw an aerial photo that captured the tsunami wave offshore, rolling towards shore. Freakishly scary. I don't know what camera took it. It sort of had the look of a security camera, but in color, but I don't know what type of camera would be taking shots of the ocean like that.

[Heidi]

I saw it too, LG, and had the exact same thought. Maybe it was a photo taken with a special USGS camera? I'll bet the scientists probably knew about the quake as it was happening... and were probably able to predict a tsunami... maybe?

[Lori]

I read that it won't because in Japan the coolant is in a sealed container whereas in Chernobyl it wasn't. HOWEVER, it's still pretty bad.

[Heidi]

My friend in Japan shared today that the earthquake's been upgraded to a 9.0. Anyone else hear this news?

[Félix]

I did.

[Lori]

Sorry I was sick all weekend and didn't come on this since last Friday when I posted right before the bell.

I'm super glad to hear about loved ones who you have heard from and are doing fine and glad to hear that your friend is fine Jammies!

Huge casualties get to me. I can't stand things like this going on and I hope everything turns out okay in the end. :(

Now I must go read/post on a more uplifting board before I cry because I'm a wimp like that and cry if I think on things like that too long! :x

[Lori]

Oh and Lori you can give me a new nickname if you want with your seniority here, to avoid confusion. :x As long as it isn't too outrageous I'm open to suggestion. :P

[RandomAnthony]

Uh, are we all gonna die of nuclear fallout?

[Sarah]

I think you're relatively safe in Wisconsin.

Has anyone else been absolutely dumbfounded by some of the responses?
I've seen multiple facebook posts saying that this is divine retribution for Pearl Harbor. And others whining that Japan has somehow caused gas prices to go up.

It amazes me that people can look at something this devastating and find a way to blame the victims.

[Lori]

To say the least! Scary how some people think. I guess dropping a nuclear bomb doesn't even begin to settle the score.

Lori - haha no not necessary at all! Unless my nickname becomes something like "senior biddy."

[RandomAnthony]

Sarah Pi wrote: "I think you're relatively safe in Wisconsin.



Err...what about our friends in the northwest? I'm serious. This is kind of freaking me out.

[Lori]

Erm. I've thought of that. Ahem. Seattle is supposedly overdue for A Big One. Like the one in Japan.

Annnnd, my heart rate just increased.

[Lori]

It really all depends on the wind.

Here's a site that shows the utter devastation. I won't blame anyone who doesn't want to see more. http://www.abc.net.au/news/events/jap...

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

At this point the situation in Japan feels like that moment in the apocalyptic disaster movie where the President is sitting around a big table with his whole cabinet, having the emergency meeting, and everyone around the table is giving worse and worse news, and he finishes the meeting by saying, "God help them."

[Lori]

:( Yea My science in a Changing World class is now playing footage every day and we decided to start our next section on Nuclear Power to get down to some stuff we're wondering so hopefully I'll be more educated in this stuff soon and know more.

I'm someone who cry's over every little thing so if I let myself sit and think about it too long I would probably get really upset about it and cry. That's why I try to keep myself going on all kinds of things. Like for my Wellness class first half of the year I got upset thinking about natural disasters etc because we had a question of the day every day and the question one day was something like " If you could save someone very close to you that you love from a fatal car crash, 100-150 people from your town from a plane crash or a whole mess of people from another country from a natural disaster" And I chose the natural disaster just because I was thinking how upsetting it would be to loose the ones closest to be in the car crash and if I could prevent the natural disaster then I could prevent a lot more people from feeling that way about their loved ones. :(

And now again after posting on here I must go find a more uplifting topic! :)

[Sarah]

Lori wrote: "Erm. I've thought of that. Ahem. Seattle is supposedly overdue for A Big One. Like the one in Japan.

Annnnd, my heart rate just increased."

The whole time I lived in Carnation I was freaking out about earthquakes and dam breaks. The town had a dam drill every week, with a voice on a loudspeaker coming through the woods. I kept picturing O Brother Where Art Thou, or The Sweetheart Season and everything getting swept away by the water. Our emergency plan was to jump on the horses and ride across the trestle and then straight up the hill to Weyerhauser company land. It stressed me out. I can't imagine how people make their homes there permanently.

[Phil]

Carnation is something of a pit. I don't know why people choose to live there.

[Sarah]

I had me a job supervising four wranglers, ten unit staff, twenty horses, and a hundred kids. Good times.

[Jammies]

Thank dog for that!

The French Embassy is offering their people plane tickets home, while the Italian Embassy is refusing to let their people leave.

[Jackie "the Librarian"]

I don't think Carnation is a pit, it's just so far from everything else. Well, except Duvall. And unless you had a job right there, like Sarah, the commute would be horrendous.

I guess if you really, really like strawberries, you might choose to live in Carnation.

[Youndyc]

The major charities have all set up Japan-specific funds. Such devastation - it's truly incredible. The videos taken by people who were watching the waters come in are amazing.

[Sarah]

Jackie "the Librarian" wrote: "I guess if you really, really like strawberries, you might choose to live in Carnation. ."

Yes! Those poor children. Whenever a counselor ran out of things to do with her kids she would drag them down to Remlinger Farms to pick berries til their fingers bled.

And one time we had a camper with disabilities who had been sent without her meds, and she ran away in the middle of the night. We had half the staff out chasing her through the berries. The poor girl who caught her made the run barefoot. Ouch.

[Sarah]

I am so disgusted by the people who are mocking the victims of natural disaster. You expect it from comedians and idiots (Gilbert Gottfried, 50 Cent) though it still can't be condoned.
But Rush Limbaugh http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03...
making fun of refugees for the fact that they are still recycling even in the shelters? That's remarkable, not mockable.

And Larry Kudlow's remarks on CNBC were reprehensible.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03...

[Jackie "the Librarian"]

Rush Limbaugh is a cretin, but we already knew that.
I guess we know what Mr. Kudlow's priorities are now.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

I don't even get why anyone would mock recycling in a shelter.

Kudlow's remark was so ass backwards I assumed he misspoke. I mean, the guy is a total ass, but asses misspeak sometimes too. He did tweet later that he flubbed the line. Probably whole lobes of his brain are decayed from so much cocaine use.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

I'm feeling sad about the radiation. U.S. and other citizens are being urged to get the hell out, but what about the poor Japanese who can't leave?