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[GamerKnight]

Wow... I heard about it, but I didn't think about it that much, just looked at the pics and... Just wow.

[MaximumZero]

It's truly horrifying. I wish there were more words to describe what I feel, other than horror and sorrow for the poor people who were lost in the disaster, but it's all I can come up with.

[Max White]

Any news reports on what Australia is going to do? I mean I hope were planning to help out on a national scale.

[GamerKnight]

It's not really like New Zealand where they're practically our sister country, a lot of the older Aussies dislike Japan. I know my grandparents do.

[Max White]

While I understand that as nations we have had our differences in the past, I think on a humanitarian level we should be doing our best to help the Japanese people, regardless of how any of us feel about the country.

[Chaoswizkid]

As for all of the questions on international response, last I heard (which was a heck of a while ago, just got back to campus) 40+ countries were offering aid to Japan. The usuals are offering their support, as well as small and/or nearly bankrupt countries such as Mongolia.

As for the United States, we are offering immediate assistance in the form of three or four Aircraft Carriers (one of which is already stationed in Japan) along with utility and support aircraft, such as helicopters, that can help with the rescue and clearing operations. America has also basically offered to provide whatever Japan needs. I'm not really sure anyone knows exactly what the country needs as of yet (besides the obvious), but when it's sorted out I'm sure we'll jump on it.

[alway]

According to Al Jaz, the US is sending 5 ships to help; in the short term, search & rescue will be priority, something the troops will aid with.

[Chaoswizkid]

According to Al Jaz, the US is sending 5 ships to help; in the short term, search & rescue will be priority, something the troops will aid with.

The other ships are Navy warships, aren't they?

[alway]

Ah, they just went over it again; a carrier task group, several battleship-things and whatever it was which was in port at the time. All told, tens of thousands of troops according to Al Jaz.

[PTTG??]

Good news, for those who care: my brother is alive and well.

That, at least, is some good news.

As for the reactors, I'm wondering if the strategy is to recover the reactors or just minimize harm. I understand that a harm-minimalization process should be pretty easy; just dump a few thousand tons of cement on it.

What's really confusing me is why they haven't airlifted backup generators in. I'm probably wrong here, but wasn't the big problem that the backup generators weren't working?

[alway]

Good news, for those who care: my brother is alive and well.

That, at least, is some good news.

As for the reactors, I'm wondering if the strategy is to recover the reactors or just minimize harm. I understand that a harm-minimalization process should be pretty easy; just dump a few thousand tons of cement on it.

What's really confusing me is why they haven't airlifted backup generators in. I'm probably wrong here, but wasn't the big problem that the backup generators weren't working?

I think there were probably multiple systems damaged in various ways. After all, they were close enough to the epicenter to break something as simple as backup diesel generators; who knows how many sub-systems would be damaged. From what Al Jaz is saying, things seem to be getting worse. Scientists now seem to be throwing around 'Chernobyl,' at an increasing frequency... seems the fan may be getting some poo on it if this keeps up. >_>

[freeformschooler]

I just read a great post somewhere else from a guy who said he was an actual nuclear engineer. He seemed legit enough. I lost the post but he made some really good points in that

1) The reactors in Japan simply will not blow up, no matter how much news hype wills them to. Reactor fuel is 4-5% pure typically, while a nuclear bomb is 90% pure.
2) The reactors in Japan simply cannot turn into another Chernobyl. Not only was Chernobyl a completely different type of reactor (thus preventing this in the first place) but they also had very awful containment policies in that accident, of which Japan has plenty of good ones, regardless of what disaster strikes. Chernobyl was handled by covering the reactor core (yes, the core itself) with massive amounts of lead and sand, which is ultimately one of the primary reasons it blew.
3) If the cooling systems just completely fail from here on out, while it is a "race against time" like the media says, it's not as bad as it sounds, because the reactors have already shut down, which means they're going to cool off later on regardless of speeding up the process with generators activating the main cooling system.
4) The worst possible scenario is that the containment vessel for the core pops like a balloon. If it does that, it will be a horribleterrible mess to clean up, and will take a very long time, but no thing such as the surrounding environment becoming uninhabited will happen. It will just be a large, internal, frustrating clusterfuck.
5) The radiation "leaks" are being done (only one is confirmed now, and the intentional/unintentional status of it is current up to debate) to prevent #4 from happening. And yet, at the same time, if #4 does happen, there are precautions in place to handle it. However, it would be several times worse than releasing a small amount of radiation to the surrounding areas.

It's not word for word (due to my more limited terminology) but that's basically what he said, i tried to get it as close as possible without making stuff up, which I didn't. Don't trust everything here, but I think this guy seems legit, again. At least more knowledgeable than most.

[Solifuge]

I was watching the footage on Aljazera this morning... the still images don't capture the feel of the water just wiping whole city blocks off the map, eroding at hills until roads and walls cracked in two, and carrying cars and planes around as they bobbed like toy boats. It was terrifying and horrible to see.

With that kind of damage to your infrastructure, and to the lives and businesses of so many people, how do you recover? I wish everyone affected by it as swift a recovery as possible.

[Knight of Fools]

The nuclear stuff doesn't surprise me much.  I immediately got suspicious once "Chernobyl" was through around.

Good news, for those who care: my brother is alive and well.

My dad's actually over on Korea, right now, and his brother was in Japan up to a few months or so ago (Supposedly).  They're both somewhat near Seoul, though, so I doubt anything bad's happened to them.

Still, lots of bad stuff going down.  I hope it's not as bad as the media's chirping.

[Nikov]

A carrier strike group (CSG) is an operational formation of the United States Navy. It is composed of roughly 7,500 personnel, an aircraft carrier, at least one cruiser, a destroyer squadron of at least two destroyers and/or frigates, and a carrier air wing of 65 to 70 aircraft.

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (NNS) -- U.S. Pacific Fleet ships in the Western Pacific were converging on Japan to be in the best position to help those in areas damaged by the massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami.

They include the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), which departed Southern California waters on March 5 for a regularly scheduled deployment to the Western Pacific and U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. Reagan is the flagship of the Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group, which includes USS Chancellorsville (CG 62) and USS Preble (DDG 88). All three ships were headed to Honshu's east coast. It is too early to say what they will be tasked with once they arrive.

USS Essex (LHD 2), also forward deployed to Sasebo, had just arrived in Malaysia, but is getting ready to return to Japan to rendezvous with USS Harpers Ferry (LSD 49) and USS Germantown (LSD 42) off Tokyo to prepare for any humanitarian assistance/disaster relief duties.

USS Tortuga (LSD 46), a dock landing ship that carries helicopters and landing craft to support amphibious operations, left its forward deployed port of Sasebo in Southern Japan last evening to embark MH-53 heavy lift helicopters.

USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19), the U.S. Seventh Fleet command ship, had arrived in Singapore yesterday for a port visit, but immediately changed its focus to loading humanitarian assistance/disaster relief equipment and preparing to return to Japan to provide support as directed.

"We obviously have huge sympathy for the people of Japan, and we are prepared to help them in any way we possibly can," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in a statement. "It's obviously a very sophisticated country, but this is a huge disaster and we will do all, anything we are asked to do to help out."

Additionally, double truth points to Freeformschooler. Everything there matches what I know about the technology.