Japanese tsunami

First, I just want to say thankyou to everybody who took an interest in us and the words of encouragement from the swellnet surfing community, in particular benski, spongebob, pepe, rushy, et al. As things return to normal here and this thread draws to a close, I just returned from my daily surf check and just wanted to vent.

If there is ever an argument against nuclear power this is it. For weeks now, bar one time, I've gone without a surf and have just again returned home again from staring at good waves unridden with not a soul to be seen. The local Japanese crew (and us two token gaijins) are refraining from surfing in part out of respect. The ocean not too far from here (less than Byron to Brissie) has taken thousands of lives with hundreds if not thousands of bodies probably never to be recovered. It's very solemn here and very humbling at the same time. So, I kind of regret having that surf a week or so ago, it was disrespectful and selfish. We were fools.

We are babysitting a pet bulldog this weekend while a young couple we know are heading a couple of hours north to look for the husbands parents who are still listed as missing. Where do they start? They are soldiering on stoically and I don't have the courage to talk to them about it. Miracles happen but it doesn't look good. How do you put yourself in their shoes?

But, the selfish thing is that every day I check the weather and dread the northerly winds that seem to be a constant and blow what ever dust and crap that's in the air directly over us. As I mentioned, we are on the periphery of the 80km zone. They actually once showed a prefecture by prefecture reading on the news of millisevert levels and we (Ibaraki) were the highest, but still deemed to be within 'safe' levels. What the fuck does that mean? They now are getting so desperate that all options are on the table- the latest one is constructing a giant frame and wrapping the containment buildings in some sort of sheet to lesson the spread. That idea had come and gone as it would take months and not neccessarily work. Also, there's talk of injecting dye into the water that's sprayed on the reactors to try and trace the source of the leak that's pouring thousands of tons of radioactive water into the pacific. Beautiful.

The kicker is, there is just no information. I scour the news each and every day, watch tv, read all the news from around the world and the news that is translated into English here. They give you nothing but the same old fluff. Not going backwards but not going forwards either. NHK (like the ABC at home) instead of posting radiation information put up cutesy pictures of the Spring Shogun telling you to use a humidifier because of the dry air. Or a picture of mum and toddler wearing a mask because this is the time of the year when the Cherry Blossoms bloom and the Sugi pine (local species of cedar) give off pollen. So wear that mask! It's hayfever time! Unbelievable.

The point I'm trying to make is that no matter what safeguards are in place, super-dooper breakwalls, back-up systems, geologically stable tectonic plates, whatever. Nuclear power will never be 100% safe. I'm fine for now, fit as a Mallee bull, but if I get Thyroid cancer in 20 years time, will the Japanese government attribute causality to the reactor? Will they pay my medical bills?

Some of you might say why don't or didn't I get out? The life I have built myself here has made it very difficult to just cut and run. I have my wife, her elderly parents (one of whom is bedridden) a business etc. But the point is, I shouldn't have to. We have been through a pretty monumental event here and have emerged relatively unscathed, we have power, water, gas, fuel, food. I think a basic human entitlement no matter where you live, is safe air.

From a person who surfed on average 4-5 times a week, not knowing when my next surf will be is very frustrating.

Dear Zen,
Got no words of encouragement that could possibly make any difference, other than to say that I feel for your pain, loss, frustration etc.
Stay safe.
Rushy

Heavy.

ABC News 24 seems to have updates on the Fukushima plant.

You can get it online....might have to sit through alot of guff.

All the best for you and your fam.

Hey Zenagain (Big Brother),

There is only one thing I can say in this situation and I know that you know it too, and that is that you are still one of the lucky ones. You still have family here in Australia thinking about you, and that you, the wife and kiddies, can fall back on us at any time. You have friends from all around the world that I believe would say the same. You still surf better than your younger brother (dammit) but still look forward to our next surf together no matter where it is (psyched for Indo later in the year if you can pull it off), and that your most recent surf was still more recent than the surf at Narrowneck when "my arse was handed to me on a small back-hand drainer" as you so aptly put it in an earlier post on this forum subject. Still, I would rather you go six months (or however long it takes) without surf to ensure that the water over there is safe, so I can spend our later years surfing with you in good health as opposed spending crisp off-shore 4ft+ days in an oncology ward with you going through chemo or some other shitty scenario. I know how much you love to surf (as do all of us on this forum I suspect) however sometimes short term pain leads to long term gain.

So chin-up little buckaroo. Although things might look dark and gloomy now, you still have a lot to be thankful for.

Also, since you appear to be getting a few of the basic necessities back, looking forward to another drunken talk until 1.00am (aussie time).

Hashley

Thanks also to all those wishing their best for my brother and family.

Hash,

Shouldn't you be working?

We're cool man, just frustrating to be staring at the local reefie, offshore, head high and empty.

Don't worry about us, be back home in a few months for a visit and we'll nip over the border for a few waves. Is Cudgen still a secret spot? (joking!)

And as much as it pains me to say, you're not a bad surfer. Should see some of the flappers here.

So yep, 6'6'' in the hallway waiting to be waxed and keen to head off to the tropics.

I'm good now, just having a little hissy.

Dan.

ps just caught you there benski- cheers mate, you're a solid bloke. thankyou.

Hey Zen (Dan),

Working??? For the missus during the day and for pay during the night (no not a street-walker, you know what I mean).

Will be good to catch up with you when you get back. Yep, Cudgen is still secret if going by scales (Snapper 300+ not secret, Duranbah 150+ not secret, Cudgen 30+ I guess you could say semi-secret).

Benski, agree whole heartedly. I too remember when it was all bushland and uncrowded. Still pissed off that a developer got their hands on a prime piece of crown land. On the positive side, at least some of us still got to surf those area's pre-crowd, and if you are lucky still get the odd day where you remember how it used to be.

Zen, another one close by, hope you're OK?

Readings regarding a Tsunami don't look too bad, about 40cm?

Wow, this old thread, cheers Craig.

All good here, was a pretty big shake but we've had worse- ha ha!

The cameras are showing the coast on the news and the biggest tsunami appeared to be about a 2ft windswell.

Someone the other day mentioned the sensitivity of animals in regards to these things- our number two cat who is normally very mellow let out a loud hiss (or fart, I dunno I was half asleep) which is unusual for her and about a second later the quake came and about 2 seconds later the quake alarm went off on our phones. I reckon they should get a team of cats to warn of earthquakes.

As I write, Tsunami warning coming over the town loudspeakers has been cancelled.

So, all good, thanks for thinking of us.

Ah that's good to hear!

I was talking to some friends this morning and they were in New Zealand around Nelson during their earthquake.

And it took half an hour for the tsunami warning to be sent out because they had to have some council meeting to initiate it.

Not the best system and by then the tsunami probably would of hit.

Nope, our Tsunami warning is still in place- no surfing today.

Love the news back home, 'residents being urged to flee'. Not quite, but attention grabbing anyway.

Been lots of little aftershocks this morning. Hope I'm not pre-empting anything. The 2011 one started that way. We got a big quake in the morning then in the arvo the really big one came. Hope that's not the case today. Gosh, I never want to go through that again.

If it is, you read it here, first:)

As pointed out by a Kiwi girl in the office space I share, the 2011 Christchurch earthquake occured on 22 Feb, just before the devastating Japanese quake on the 11th of March.

Similar circumstances this time around, but slightly closer..

Stresses being released around the "Ring of Fire".

There's no question they're related. It's just a question of how much stress needs to be released to find that equilibrium.

Damn pain in the butt that cant post links now, but i just read a news story on SBS that says there is no link between the two quakes.

Here is the headline

"A 6.9 earthquake and the following tsunamis did not trigger a 5.6 earthquake near New Zealand's north island, an earthquake expert says."

You can still post links Indo.

Sometimes i can sometimes not, sometimes i just get the fill the number/letter thing, other times i get the full page with prove I'm not a robot and normally i have to do it twice and fill out the letter/number thing twice, sometimes that's enough sometimes not.

Then other times it doesn't even bother it just doesn't let me post and doesn't even ask for a code or the robot thing.

For anybody that's interested (I'm hopeless at taking screen shots) this is todays quake compared to the 2011 one. The dots represent seismic sensors that are scattered around Japan in their hundreds. The white dots mean a shake is undectable and then they go up in order of intensity. Blue dots are gentle shakes, dark blue a little more intense, yellow, starting to get pretty severe, orange, things start falling off shelves and buildings sway, roads crack etc, red is off tap, major damage and purple is apocolyptic. Today wasn't so bad, bit overblown really but the 2011 one was crazy. It was an increadible experience to go through.

I reckon the next big one will be in Alaska or Northern California. Just a hunch.

PS I live right at the point of the bottom left axis of the cross in the top pic, kinda where the coast curves out to the sea. I'm about 30km from the border of Fukushima.

glad to hear there wasn't too much damage from this one Zen.

Ive got a feeling the mid to North Mentawai's area is going to get a big one in the next year, and HT's and a few other waves are going to be seriously changed or destroyed.

Hey Brother Zen, mum and dad told me they got an email from you saying all was sweet. Not worried about you anyway (not even for 2011 quake). The worst you ever had in your life by that time was a paper-cut. Shoulder/Ribs however is more recent so maybe not riding your luck as much anymore. Checked the surf report for your region this morning and showed about 2 ft and light north/north-west winds (cross-shore lumpy I was guessing) so didn't think you would bother going for a wave anyway.

You're not wrong about the coverage over here. Just over the top. Flicking through the channels this morning, they were really trying to make a story of it on Channel 9 Today show (extended coverage). They were phone interviewing some lady over your way and she was busy still getting her kids ready for school (and said so multiple times during phone interview). So much for heading for the hills.....

Sky News wasn't much better with Helen Daly. Japan Met downgraded to 6.9 pretty early on (of which channel 7 thankfully did honestly report)but Helen Daly upped the ante over an hour later by saying the quake was upgraded from 7.3 to 7.4.

I could never be a journalist/news presenter. I have too much integrity.

There were a few waves around bro, couple out at lunchtime when I did the drive-by.

Yeah bit of a beat up, but between, Trump and schoolies, wasn't much happening on the news front.

Nice move Indo, get that rumour going, create a bit of fear and book that ticket.

How's this tidal bore created by the small tsunami wave.. http://www.news8000.com/news/japan-tsunami-triggers-rare-tidal-bore/42582358