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President Obama Responses
Japan's Earthquake Magnitude 8.9
on March 11th, 2011
March 11th, 2011,9:31 PM
UPDATE: The President again spoke again on the situation during the opening of his press conference:
According the latest news media reports indicated that over 1000 people have died and more than 1400 are missing in six different prefectures. Estimates of magnitude range from 9.0 to 9.1 MW making it the largest earthquake to hit Japan and one of the four largest earthquakes in the world since modern record-keeping began. The earthquake triggered tsunami warnings and evacuations for Japan's Pacific coast and at least 20 countries, including the entire Pacific coast of North and South America from Alaska to Chile. The tsunami warning issued by Japan was the most serious on its warning scale, implying that the wave was expected to be at least 10 meters (33 ft) high. A wave that high was observed at 3:55 pm JST flooding Sendai Airport, which is located near the coast of Miyagi prefecture, with waves sweeping aside cars and flooding various buildings as they traveled inland.The impact of the tsunami in and around Sendai Airport was filmed by an NHK News helicopter, showing a number of vehicles on local roads trying to escape the approaching wave and being engulfed by it. A four-meter-(13 ft) high tsunami hit Iwate Prefecture. A 0.5-meter (20 in)-high wave hit Japan's northern coast. Reports indicate that the wall of water was higher than some Pacific islands and the danger of tsunami flooding prompted warnings for almost the entire Pacific basin. The United States West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning for the coastal areas of California and Oregon from Point Conception, California, to the Oregon-Washington border. Wikipedia also reported that Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) has confirmed approximately 400 dead and approximately 700 missing in six different prefectures (also reported as over 1100 dead/missing combined). Officials in Wakabayashi-ku, Sendai, which was heavily damaged by tsunami waves, stated that they had found the dead bodies of 200–300 victims. By 09:30 March 11 UTC, Google Person Finder, which was previously used in the Haitian, Chilean, and Christchurch earthquakes, was collecting information about survivors and their locations. The Next of Kin Registry NOKR is assisting the Japanese government to locate next of kin for those missing or deceased. It was reported that four passenger trains containing an unknown number of passengers disappeared in a coastal area during the tsunami. Two of the trains were on the Senseki Line. One of the Senseki Line trains was found derailed in the morning, and all passengers were rescued by a prefectural police helicopter. A 25-year-old man who was taking pictures of the tsunami waves in coastal Del Norte County, California, was swept out to sea and later found dead. Yahoo news reported that the Oil floating on water burns as a tsunami hits Kesennuma city in Miyagi prefecture March 11, 2011. Japan confronted devastation along its northeastern coaston Saturday, with fires raging and parts of some cities under water after a massive earthquake and tsunami that likely killed at least 1,000 people. NTD H Asia Brief reported that Nuclear Power Plant in Japan Fire broke out the world biggest Nuclear Plant located in Northern Japan Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant, Fukushima I, Fukushima II and Tokai nuclear power stations were automatically shut down following the earthquake. Higashidori, also on the northeast coast, was already shut down for a periodic inspection. The Rokkasho nuclear reprocessing plant, also on the coast, was being powered by emergency diesel generators. Separately, a fire broke out at the Onagawa plant. The blaze was in a building housing the turbine, which is sited separately from the plant's reactor. The White House Immediate Release, March 11th, 2011, shows that During the News conference by the President Obama says that President Obama already told Prime Minister Kan that "we will provide whatever assistance that they need. My understanding is that the main assistance that we’re going to be able to provide them is *lift capacity, the ability for us to I think help in the cleanup." Per IAEA (International International Atomic Energy Agency) reported that Japanese authorities have informed the IAEA’s Incident and Emergency Centre (IEC) that, starting at 9:00AM local time, they have started the preparation for the venting of the containment of the Unit 1 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi plant through a controlled release of vapour. The operation is intended to lower pressure inside the reactor containment. Evacuation of residents living within ten kilometres of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is reported to be under way. An area with a radius of three kilometres around the plant had already been evacuated. IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano expressed that “I would like to express my condolences and sympathies to the people of Japan who have suffered from this earthquake and to the Government of Japan,” All IAEA staff in Japan, both in the Tokyo office and in nuclear facilities, are confirmed to be safe. The following map shows that The areas affected by the quake provided by USGS:
USAID Report shows that a major emergency response operation is underway in NorthEast Japan following Friday's devastating tsunami triggered by the biggest earthquake on record in Japan. The 8.9 magnitude earthquake that hit a t 1446 local time(0546 GMT), 120 km off the northeastern coast, at a depth of 20 km was followed by 10-metre high tsunami, casuing widespread destruction. Large coastal areas have been submerged and entire villages washed away. The vast majority of casualities are likely to be as a result of the tsunami rather than the earthquake. Japan's government established an emergency Response Team, headed by Prime Minister Naoto Kan. The Government has mobilized thousands of troops for the rescue effort. More than 300 planes and 40 ships are conducting airlifts and boat rescues. Continued aftershocks and tsunmi are hampering resuce efforts. Up to three metre high waves continue to hit the coastline. There have been at least 79 aftershocks. In the region since the first powerful earthquake and 16 of them have been greater than 6.0 including a 7.1 magnitude. Estimates of magnitude make it the largest earthquake to hit Japan and the third, fourth, or fifth largest earthquake in the world since seismological record-keeping began. Since the earth quake in Sendai city, March 11, 2011, there have been after shock 6 times different Magnitude on a same places with the slightly different epic center locations which caused death toll more than 1000 and more than 1,400 people were missing, see the following:
You can see the Aftershock magnitude trends after the major 8.9 earthquake within short period time. USAID responded immediately to Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. Also The USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team (USAID/DART) Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) component concluded two weeks of operations in Christchurch on March 8. The USAID/DART commenced demobilization of the USAR component on March 9, with the final USAID/DART member scheduled to depart New Zealand on March 12. Deepest Sympathy and condolences those of who lost loved ones and families from the Earth quake and Tsunami also prayers for quick recoveries for those of who injured through the disastrous nature disaster.
Sources: Youtube
Sources:
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Earthquake Report by USGS
preliminary Magnitude 8.9 for
near the east coast of
Honshu, Japan
on March 11th, 2011
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