By Chief Mass Communication Specialist Daniel Sanford (http://goo.gl/vjEjG), via Wikimedia Commons

Death toll as of 0300h EDT: 2,414

Respect, Order, Solidarity

You would think with the pictures of disaster, I’d be desensitized to the stories. This one still brings a tear to my eye. Such altruistic behaviour

Sigh, the most important thing in the face of disaster is still character…

~ chinasmack.com

I’m not the only person wondering why there is no looting in Japan.

Yukio Edano, Japan’s face of the crisis, gains twitter respect!

The image of his stocky figure, covered in the light blue one piece emergency suit, bent over the microphone, his two hands gripping the sides of the podium, has been burnt into the country’s psyche.

~ wsj.com

70-year old woman survivor pulled from wreckage after 4 days

The woman was conscious but suffering from hypothermia and is being treated at a hospital.

~ greenwichtime.com

Fukushima’s Reactor 2 explodes, contamination feared

The previous explosions had only blown the outer building. This latest explosion apparently damaged the containment system. Furthermore, a fire has broken out around Reactor 4.

Here is a little Q&A about what is happening with the Japanese reactors. I was wondering if the poster knew what he was talking about but he seems knowledgable in Thorium, so he would at least have some clue about reactors.

Radiation is feared to have leaked after part of a container vessel was apparently damaged by an explosion at the troubled No. 2 reactor of the quake-hit Fukushima nuclear plant Tuesday morning, its operator said, triggering fears that the problem could develop into a critical ”meltdown” situation.

~ kyodonews.jp

Earthquake magnitude upgraded to 9.0 from 8.9 by both USGS and Japan: 4th strongest recorded

We also lost 1.6 microseconds to our day, and Eastern Japan is now 13 feet closer to the USA. Cheaper flight to Japan?

This magnitude places the earthquake as the fourth largest in the world since 1900 and the largest in Japan since modern instrumental recordings began 130 years ago

~ nationalpost.com

Google’s Crisis Response

Google has come up with their own updates and a crisis response page. I love Google.

On this page we are providing the information regarding the disaster and damage with realtime updates.

~ google.com

Computer chip prices rise

While there are few reports of actual damage at electronic production facilities, impacts on the transportation and power infrastructure will result in disruptions of supply, resulting in the short supply and rising prices.

~ reuters.com

Bigots

While most of the world is sympathizing with Japan some bigots mentioned “Pearl Harbour” and that the Tsunami was payback. Those ignorant arrogant fools obviously didn’t also Google “Nagasaki” and “Hiroshima”. Ugh, can’t believe some people still think that way.

Oh by the way … read the first post here of exemplary Japanese solidarity and behavior compared to Katrina!