Top-down view of the tsunami engulfing a fishing port:
Scenes of post-apocalyptic devastation:
At lot of the videos I’ve put up are from Russia Today. Either they’re very good at getting high-quality source videos, or very good at ignoring copyrights…
I just sent out a new Lame Excuse Books catalog filled with interesting science fiction, fantasy, and horror first editions. Once again there’s lots of great stuff, including new books from Joe R. Lansdale, Jay Lake, Henry Kuttner, Charles Stross, Neal Stephenson, a Tim Powers Charnel House book, a signed Roger Zelazny limited edition, a desirable Jack Vance first, and numerous small press books from Subterranean, Haffner, PS Publishing, and Night Shade, among others. Let me know if you’d like me to email you a copy.
A better source for updates on japan’s nuclear reactors: the IAEA. As opposed to sensationalist MSM headlines like this one from CNN: “Japan’s ticking nuclear timebomb”.
Serious damage was sustained by the ports of Hachinohe, Hitachi, Hitachinaka, Ishinomaki, Kamaishi, Kashima, Ofunato, Onahama, Sendai-Shiogama and Soma.
I’m not seeing too many new videos worth putting up. You’ve probably seen a lot of this video before, but here’s one long, continuous aerial take of the tsunami coming in:
More volcano erruption footage:
To end on an encouraging note, here’s a video of two dogs who survived the earthquake and tsunami:
I can’t even pretend to keep up with all the contradictory twists and turns of the nuclear plant saga, but the latest news I saw was things were looking up. Slightly. Maybe.
Gilbert Gottfried fired from his gig as the voice of the AFLAC duck for telling jokes about Japan on Twitter. The jokes, while indeed in somewhat poor taste, are pretty mild for a comedian that appeared in The Aristocrats, and probably compared to the inevitable forthcoming South Park episode.
More dramatic footage of the tsunami coming in. There’s one building that the water goes up against, and then through, and then, in a matter of about 10 seconds since the wave hit, the building is gone.
Includes some of the above, and a lot more besides, off Japanese TV:
Before and After aerial footage:
Helicopter rescue footage:
The tsunami even caught the Japanese Air Force unaware, which a number of (I think) F-16s picked up and carried into buildings or soaked with mud:
Interesting video from 2010 explaining Japanese preparation for earthquakes and tsunamis:
Stratfor is reporting that the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant “appears” to have melted down. I have not seen confirmation of this elsewhere. Even if true, it does not mean there has been a core breach, much less a containment breach. And the Christian Science Monitor is saying otherwise.
Up-close footage of the tsunami coming into the city I haven’t seen before:
Close footage of the tsunami surge moving into a city:
More close tsunami footage:
More Sendai aftermath footage:
Some cognitive dissonance in this Russia Today video: The footage is mainly the burning natural gas plant, while the voiceover discusses the nuclear plant failsafe issues:
More burning natural gas footage, along with a discussion of other nation’s tsunami preparations:
For other videos I’ve put up from the earthquake/tsunami, start here or just go scrolling back through the videos I’ve put up the last couple of days.
Howard Waldrop and I have to review Battle: Los Angeles for Locus Online, so between that and my usual Saturday obligations, I’m not sure if I’ll have time to do too many more updates today.
Some more news tidbits on the Sendai earthquake/tsunami.
Evidently the possibility of a nuclear meltdown has been greatly reduced, with a backup cooling system now online. Early reports (from Hillary Clinton, no less) that U.S. armed forces flew emergency coolant to the plant appear to have been in error.
I’m still hearing casualty figures in the 1,000 range, but not significantly higher. Japan’s strict building code and high quality engineering probably saved, at a minimum, tens of thousands of lives.