Friday, March 11, 2011

Powerful Earthquake Sets off Tsunami in Japan

Three people are reported dead while the US issues warning for the Pacific. Follow the event live on BBC.

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

The PM in Japan heads the disaster operation as did the New Zealand PM. Can ours do so in similar circumstances?

Anonymous said...

The day we have a natural disaster in Mauritius(god forbid) all our systems will be tested- especially that of the public/civil sector.On that day, the 'Ptr what occurred in 1936 speech' will not work!

Vik said...

I think for a country like us the mainstay of rescue efforts from the PM will be about - I've sought help from X and Y countries - help is on its way. I say this because - the fire services is understaffed with poor resources, people at the top take dumb decisions(letting children after torrential rainfall), the hospitals are not that good either, we have a huge space problem with poor infrastructure - how many ambulances do we have?....the list goes on.

I certainly do not trust our national disaster management team - for why would they take bad decisions each and every time we have heavy rainfall - did we have a huge dinosaur chasing that school van which got stuck in dangerous waters? What was the rush about??

akagugo said...

This shows how precision and carefully planned/designed/supervised/constructed infrastructure (bref, contrary to Dodoland)can survive the most powerful earthquake in recorded history.

So, it's a question of building intelligently and preferably off the coast. Else, while your ships crash through town and sweep through airports and fields, those who elect to live pieds-dans-l'eau will have to get ready to run to the hills...

Sanjay Jagatsingh said...

@anonymous march 11 17h43: yeah, I don't think we're ready to handle this kind of disasters.

@Vik: the MBC cameraman seemed to be as equipped as those involved in the rescue.

@akagugo: build according to type of ground and typical natural disasters -- interesting.
And the Iron Maiden song beautifully caps this comment.

akagugo said...

How a tsunami is made: a lab test to show its innards.

@SJ: Running to the hills illustrated: pay attention to what is happening in the lower left corner as from 01:05.

Sanjay Jagatsingh said...

Wai, interesan sa. Ti bizin fer tu zenfan lekol get sa bann klip la ek pase sa lor MBC.

Monn share sa clip IM la dan FB avek mesaz suivan : "Ki bizin fer si enn Tsunami kraz lor Moris..."

akagugo said...

A little complication though: nuclear power plants have an Achille's tendon that's so hard to fight off: a plentiful supply of cooling water that must never be shut down, as this graphic explains.
Make sure to have a look at the "before-and-after" awe-inspiring aerial photographs showing the extent of devastation.

Joe said...

Nous ministre dilo pou preside un task force lor Tsunami prevention la, premier ministre fin done li ca responsabilite la.

Anonymous said...

Terrible ca pays la, aster la penan problem dilo la. Tout corect la. Ca kalite gouvernment la pou capave aider si enan Tsunami?

kan parlement rentrer hein? bisin demade zot ki zot fine faire pou dilo la? enan juste 6 months la, drought pou revinni encore, meme problem. trouver aster pas p connais ki ti copains pou met CWA. Ti bisin met Vice president of Mauritius responsable la bas - ca un travaile ca un vraie.


Ministre Dilo ti alle guete nouveau benz cotte so fami, ca cest un precaution pou li si enan Tsunami - li roule vite!!

akagugo said...

@ Vik:
Rappel ça ti-zistwar la?

@ Joe:
Dans nou pays, couma-dir PM-la tellement omniscient au point ki li bien bizin mett so néné dans tou ti detail of day-to-day running affairs pou ki bann zaffer debloké. Abé si li autant bon-dans-tout, ki-faire li bizin nomme autant miniss (miniss dilo, miniss patente taxi, miniss tempo, miniss sipaki enkor...) ki supposé occupe sakenn so portefeuille par li-mem couma enn adulte. Pas couma-dire bann ti-z'enfoute ki faire tam-tam quand parents pas la, mais ki tchoup-tchap kouma papa/mama rentré pou faire cwar zott pé faire zott devoir...
Et si finalement tou sa-bann miniss-la ti pé zouer role faire cwar zott pe travail pou lepep alors ki en realite zott pe tellement maja-karo ki samem nou bann system (infrastructures, lekol, lopital etc) ki sous zott responsabilité apé détériorer par abandon / sans maintenance...? Sinon kouma ou explik ki
(1) pe bizin re-surface l'autoroute completement (full-width) ar 100-150mm asphaltic concrete, alors ki bann etudiant génie civil pou dire ou ki enn z'afferr aussi épais supposé dure au moins 15 (quinze) années IF regularly maintained (c-à-d, couma ou trouve enn ti-trou, enn ti lézarde, n'importe ki deformation, ou repare li toutt-suite pou évite infiltration bann deleterious subsatances couma hydrocarbure and/or dilo)
(2) trois-quarts lé-temps ou tann bann outpatients oncologie bizin retourne lakaz parski "machine chauffer" pas pe travail - pena spare parts / consumables pou remette zafferr-la back into operating condition?
(3) couma enn ti-downpour arrivé, bizin faire z'enfant ki dans lekol retourne lakaz, simé/ponts bloké - alors ki c'est enn manque de vision à long-terme ki faire ki permis bétonner/coltarer donner brite-brite, faire drains under-sized (parski laisse bann compatable gère budget, force techniciens design pou 15-year floods alors ki nou topographie demann deisgn lors 50-yr/150-yr floods) ou pas adapté ou pas metter ditout mem, blier enforce la-loi ki dire ki empess connecter ou dalo ni ar drain piblik ni ar manhole sewerage mais dans enn soak-away (absorption pit), blier enforce la-loi ki empess empiéte lor reserve autour bann cours d'eau (Rivers and Canals Act 1863), passe-boule entre departement mem gouvernement, tousala faire ki delo gros lapli pas capave absorber par la-terre, refouler lor surface, créer dezord downstream...

Eh ou-la, si bann techniciens-la pas brief zott miniss lors tousala quand li prend fonction, ki pou faire ar zott?

Anonymous said...

Hier tout ca banne minsitre la fin alle ecoute comedien causer, ou croire zot enan tracas disaster management pou moris. fr moi croire aster membre du gouvernment p alle dans show biz. ou croire ca balle la enan tracas ki inflation p tap fort ici, non zot enan purachisng power zot.

Ti lesprit! bisin checker si sarkozy enan le temps pou ca.

Anonymous said...

Rivers and Canals Act 1863? Terrrible ca hein, faire mo croire ministre pas p trvaille ici......narien pas up to date apart ministre so la paye.

Anonymous said...

Sad news: the Fukushima heroes may be doomed.

@ Anonymous March 16, 2011 10:23 PM:
"Rivers and Canals Act 1863? Terrrible ca hein, (...) narien pas up to date"
Wai, mais l'apparence est trompeuse. Dépi 148 ans (!!!) l'existence ça la-loi la inn gagner enn 4-5 updates, mais c'est surtout - d'apré academia ek bann ki servi li depi longtemps - parski ena enn bon quantité common-sense ki in-built la-dans. Dans ça cas précis-la, mo ti pou dire plitot ki dans vié karay ki faire bon manzé.

Anonymous said...

rely to akash - that makes no difference my friend - we are not organized like Canada when it comes to looking after natural resources - there's a river 1500 meters from where I live, people have installed pipes draining waste water into it, they throw rubbish and so on...a textile factory has a dormitory for 400 people by its side and I cant tell you what sort of activity goes on there....sewerage flows in it in broad daylight....

so the vieux carraille as you call it is still very bad!

akagugo said...

@ Anonymous of March 25, 2011 6:42 AM

"so the vieux carraille (...) is still very bad!"

Still very good: if you have a good look at it, you'll be happy to find that it caters for many things that are still relevant to this day, for example:
- no mechanical abstraction allowed for care of the downstream users and maintaining a minimum flow for sustaining aquatic life;
- allowing reserves around water bodies to allow free/unhindered access to authorities for cleaning/maintaining/gauging the thing, and at the same time avert loss/damage to property and life during extreme weather causing high flows / flooding

There are many more things that this very old text covers. It shows that when technical people are allowed to work in cordination with al stakeholders, the results may have lasting effects.

This is sadly no longer the case: all departments dealing with works in the government sare strife with conflicts between O&M (operation and maintenance) dept, P&D (planning and design) dept and Works/Construction Supervision depts. Alors, certains reunions techniques kot contracterr bien bizin views of all before proceeding ahead, li couma dire enn kazott ena 3 poules, ek sak poule pe rode bek sa dé lezott poule-la.

Ek lor-la, ena enn department ki reste trankil mem: Enforcement division. Tellement ena lobbies ki bizin satisfaire, li paralyser, ek li contente li attane lorde depi la-haut, couma-dir enn tabagie ki pe attann client vini. Tank ki bann enforcing agencies (TOUT saki ena) pou garde "attitude tabagie", quand pou ena remise en question, quand pou ena progré?

PS: "Akash" and "akagugo" are one and same person - Apologies for the russian roulette that Google plays when allowing any one of them to go through.

akagugo said...

A reassuring clip to explain how Japanese authorities are dealing with the nuclear crisis.
In the meantime, some so-called businesspeople still want to pass risks to their Mauritian consumers and forget about product diversification or adaptation to the market...

akagugo said...

Let's hope this long story will end soon...

akagugo said...

No joke: Ganja for remediation of the site!

akagugo said...

Germany, Italy, and Switzerland have all understood that accidents and exponentially increasing amounts of radioactive wastes are a too cumbersome burden onto their people and budgets: This is why nuclear energy is a dead-end. France, just because "le risque zéro n'existe pas", firmly believes in its own exceptional management will protect them, maybe from past experience with Tchernobyl, when their "autorités compétentes" unilaterally proclaimed that the radioactive cloud had stopped at their common border with Germany. But the fact remains that the radiactive cloud hovering above the whole of Europe has contaminated almost all nearby countries and the consequences are still being felt, and massive amounts of money are still required to isolate that monster from the atmosphere.

Sanjay Jagatsingh said...

Bien instriktif sa video Greenpeace la: 2/3 bann franse viv dan enn rayon 75km depi enn sentral nikler.

E bann aleman kom dab pena kata kata r zot: avan 90 zur apre Fukushima Merkel inn fini anons ki nikler pu out... dan 10 banane.

akagugo said...

@ SJ:
Wi missié. Angela Merkel enn lott kalité leader ça: li'nn trouve accident Fukushima couma-dire enn opportunity pou faire enn veritable changement positif pou so pays. Ala couma linn prend so décision pou dire "nein, danke" (non, merci). Normal ki BBC pé trouve so décision couma enn "u-turn" ek "bowing to the popular view can (...) also look like weakness" lakoz kot zott mem ena 19 centrales, comparé ar l'Allemegne ki ena "zis" 17.

Dans moris, ena 2-3 dimounn enkor cwar ki ti capav beneficier ar nucléaire: enn ti reminder pou saki p'enkor comprend ki enn objet irradié (ki'nn vinn en contact direct/indirect ar enn source radioactif) li vinn dangereux li oussi. Asterr ou comprend ki-faire nou Radiation Protection Authority local p'enkor conné ki pou faire ar enn container ki plein ar loto radioactif dépi Avril 2011...

akagugo said...

Eh, look what the oceans coughed up in Canada recently...

akagugo said...

The manager bows out with cancer. Was it due to being subject to excessive radiation, we don't know, but for sure, these cleaners are the modern equivalent of hara-kiri.

Sanjay Jagatsingh said...

Yes or the nuclear samurai. You don't want to miss this huge eye-opener about "Fortunate Island" from the New Yorker.

akagugo said...

Building away from the coastline: that's what wisdom says. Are our authorities paying attention to our veterans? Probably too busy applauding the concreting of our shores.

akagugo said...

If you really have to build near the sea, you should protect yourselves well (or face prison, like in Japan), or extend the no-go zone (like in Indonesia - but too late).
Sooner or later, we will face a similar situation: so, choose now, and choose well Dodoland!