When it comes to the Japanese nuclear workers sacrificing themselves to try to save everyone else, that's what they are doing. Think Mr. Spock in Star Trek 2. The needs of the many out-way the needs of the one, or in this case, the needs of the few. Very brave souls indeed.
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I am copying y'all on an email I got from a friend (Rose, and her husband Bill) here in Smithfield that offers some first hand eye witness accounts of the earthquake and damages in Japan. Fascinating reading, and scary as shit, to say the very least.
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This is from Bill's sister. Rose
Good friend of ours is a flight attendant for Delta International. Here is
a pilot's report from Tokyo she just sent us.
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All,
While things in Tokyo itself are ok, I felt I needed to post on what
we who are in country are seeing compared to what the international
news and state-side news are reporting.
1) The devastation, if you can believe it, is actually worse than you
are seeing. On-ground local Japanese reporters are showing incredible
detail to illustrate just how hard the cities of Sendai , Fukushima and
essentially the entire Miyagi Prefecture have been decimated. In some
towns, the damage is complete, total and you have to believe, final.
They talk of estimates of numbers of dead and missing but, it is clear
looking at the news and the pictures, they have absolutely no idea.
To give you an example of just how overwhelming the situation is, they
barely even mention the four missing trains and the passengers...that
is how inundated the news is with devastation. The human tragedy is
particularly alarming when you realize that the Japanese, in a first-
world country, were as prepared as any civilization on earth for such
an event.
2) The tragedy, of course, is still ongoing. It is still below
freezing in many areas of the north hit, with fires still burning in
some areas. There is no aid able to reach many and resources are
impossible to generate to get to everyone. We won't even talk about
disease...that is yet to come. Right now, they cannot even put their
arms around the extent of what happened in the earthquake and tsunami.
3) In Tokyo today, it was a brilliant spring day with a stiff
breeze. I took a walk through a deserted Chinatown ; the malls were
open for a few hours, at least half the stores closed. At 3 pm,
everything closed except the grocery and pharmacies. There is a sense
of tension, every television running rescue effort footage or nuclear
powerplant analysis 24/7. And we hear that breeze is due to shift
from west-east to east-west soon...
4) Which makes the situation with the nuclear powerplants,
particularly the one in Fukushima , even more of a concern. Already
two of four reactor housing buildings have exploded due to hydrogen
build-up. No amount of "down-play" can erase the images of nuclear
reactor buildings exploding. Anyone with a brain knows that the
stuff about "not really as bad as it seems" that some talking-heads
spout just doesn't play...it is bad, and getting worse. Exploding
buildings and using seawater to cool nuke fuel are signs of a clearly
uncontrolled situation.
5) Just today, there were four "aftershocks" which, anywhere else
(6.5, 6.2, etc) would be major earthquakes. There was another tsunami
warning for Fukushima . One shook the hotel, although I did not feel
it in Chinatown . The danger still persists of another earthquake
event, another tsunami.
We head back tomorrow early...we are just observers in one of
the most epic disasters ever to hit the planet. It is my view that,
of course, the Japanese will handle this all with their usual stoic
competence. But it will be a very long haul for them.
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----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2011 5:17 PM
Subject: Captain tells of Quake Damage
Sent: Friday, March 11, 2011 11:10 PM
We were at the gate onboard ship (aircraft) with passenger boarding in
progress when the earthquake began. My F/O, JH, had taken his seat and I
was standing behind the center radio console when the airplane began
shaking. Initially thought it was wind gusts but ruled that out since it
had been calm when we left the hotel. Jet blast from a taxiing aircraft?
Nope, look, the terminal windows are flexing and the building is...moving!
It's an earthquake...immediately, in a brilliant display of airmanship, Joe
reached over and set the parking brake. It seemed quite possible that we
could jump our wheel chocks and roll into something hard. After a minute of
this, the shaking got much worse and lasted about 2 1/2 minutes total. Our
passengers intuitively decided that the safest place in all of this was on
the aircrart and not in the terminal or the jetway. Never seen 261 people
board a (aircraft) so quickly! Two long and impressive aftershocks followed
during the next hour. Narita closed it's runways and our inbound flights
began diverting. (a flight) from Atlanta was about 10 minutes from landing
and diverted to Nagoya. Hanada and Narita were both closed. They evacuated
everyone from the Narita terminals deeming the structures unsafe for
occupancy. The Narita tower was evacuated, Narita Approach Control was
evacuated. At about 4pm, the airport was notam'd closed "until 0600
tomorrow morning". So, (airline) cancelled us and all of the other flights
out of Narita.
Well.........there was only one "safe area" established at the airport
(outside in a cold rain) where passengers could be taken if they deplaned.
It became full. There was no chance of deplaning into the terminal. No
chance of deplaning at all. No ground transportation as all busses and
trains were shut down and the highways had been closed. So, (airline) calls
the Narita Airport Authority and suggests that since the runway had been
inspected, it might be a real good idea to allow 6 (airline) departures and
get maybe 1,400 customers out of this mess. They agreed and after a four
hour wait at the gate, we got out of there. On departure we could see four
distinct, large fires in downtown Tokyo, 50 miles to the south. A refinery
was on fire at the coastline to our east. We had no real idea of the size
of the disaster until we had a datalink discussion with our dispatcher who
filled us in. Now, watching the news at home, I am stunned at the
devastation. All (airline) crews and employees are safe and uninjured in
Japan. I am not sure if the layover hotel has power. I'm glad I'm not in
room 932 anymore with the aftershocks that they are getting.
Happy to be home and thanks for your concern.