Tuesday 19 April 2016

Kyushu, Japan.......................from Rico

Attached is a USGS map of earthquakes in the past week on Kyushu, the Southern island of Japan.
- More are expected.
 
The media is reporting 'landslides' but I'm told the ground is 'cracking' or opening-up in large gaps/chasms.
- The pattern suggests the island itself may be splitting in half. 
 
Financial media has correctly reported the cessation of some auto manufacturing in Japan as a result of supply disruptions (JIT -just in time- inventory isn't always your friend). 
- I haven't seen or heard of anyone considering the nuclear power plants in the region vis these earthquakes. Maybe they should make some advance preparations to mothball some of them or put them into a 'safe' mode in the event of a failure. Remember Fukushima?
 
 

1 comment:

Ken Mitchell said...

The nuclear power plant in Fukushima was perfectly safe even with a 9.3 magnitude earthquake. It was the 30-meter tsunami that did all the damage. And to be honest, it wasn't even the tsunami that did any damage; it was the failure of the diesel generators, installed at grade level, that did all the chaos. If the generators had been elevated, or even just enclosed and kept from flooding, the nuclear disaster would have been averted.

Of course, the 30K people washed away or killed by the tsunami itself would still be dead...

In Kyushu, there isn't much risk of a tsunami. And if the volcanoes there blow their tops, then all bets are off; would the reactors being entombed by lava cause any MORE damage than the volcano itself?