Sunday, 13 March 2011

March 13 Update

All still fine in Kobe.

Russell played a concert today, so we had a big outing to a place on the East side of Osaka. We had really good yakiniku for dinner.

We are still watching the nuclear situation unfold. I am less worried now that I have been learning more about what is going on. No thanks to the news, of course, but there are a lot of good resources on the Internet and I know much more about nuclear fusion than I did last week.

Here's an article Russell recommends:

http://morgsatlarge.wordpress.com/2011/03/13/why-i-am-not-worried-about-japans-nuclear-reactors/

Yes, its's a blog, but it was set up just to share this letter from an MIT guy.

If you (like me) feel nervous about any sort of nuclear abnormality, I recommend this article.

Going to bed now... its way too late.

Do keep the people in North Japan in your thoughts. The the news coming out of the region hit by the tsunami is devastating and truly worthy of the highest level of concern. One of my students from Toyo (several years ago) still hasn't been able to contact his family in one of the hardest hit prefectures. I don't know if they lived near the coast or not, but I'm very worried for him. Its so hard to reconcile my happy daily routine in Kobe with the destruction just 400 miles away.

4 comments:

Kiya said...

glad to hear that you're ok, Jaci. The news we're getting here paints a picture of destruction all along the eastern seaboard of Japan. It's a relief to know that Kobe was spared.

Kiya said...

These comments that you are getting from "Kiya" are actually from her mom, Sandy (Riverman)!

Jaci said...

The northeastern coast - above Tokyo - was hit very hard by the tsunami. That part of the coast is mostly small fishing towns and that's where most of the destruction happened. Once you get a few miles inland, things seem to be better, though some areas are still without power and are experiencing food and gas shortages. The shortages are also fairly isolated, though. The far majority of Japan seems to be on edge but safe. I am still amazed that things weren't worse in Tokyo. From Osaka south there was the slightest earthquake and that was it. There were warnings for tsunami along the eastern seaboard, but I don't think there was serious damage and I haven't heard of any casualties. It was just focused in the north. I can't even begin to comprehend the horrors some of those villages have been through, but I have found the news outside of Japan to be majorly exaggerating the extent of the area affected.

Nicole said...

I'm so relieved you two are alright. You, and the rest of Japan, are in my thoughts.

Love