2011-03-14

A couple of comments about Japan quake and tsunami

As everyone surely knows a very large earthquake hit Japan. Latest magnitude I have seen sets it at 9.0 which is very huge. Remember that the common quake scale is on a log scale. The difference between a 6.0 or 7.0 and 9.0 is huge. If you do not believe me do the math.

The destruction from the tsunami is just terrible. Many dead and many more homeless. Images from NY Times Slide the middle bar left and right to see before and after images. I am not sure how long NY Times will have the images up.

There are problems with nuclear power reactors in Japan. Unfortunately much of the media coverage is very simplistic. Bottom line is that the lose of electricity will probably be a bigger health impact than any radiation leak. If you want info about what is happening the NISA of Japan has details about the reactors.