Posted on 03/17/2011 3:56:29 PM PDT by La Enchiladita
The number of dead and missing after Japan's twin earthquake and tsunami stood late Wednesday, officially, at 12,920.
In reality, Japanese widely agree, the toll of last week's disaster is likely much higher. In Miyagi, a coastal prefecture that bore some of the tsunami's worst destruction, officials estimate the toll there alone will be in the tens of thousands.
Accounting for the gap between the official and true count are places like Otsuchi, until March 11 a town of about 15,000 people on Japan's northeastern coast.
Japan won't declare someone missing unless they have been reported missing. In Otsuchi, where Friday's tsunami is believed to have swept away entire neighborhoods and families, no one is left in many cases to report names. About 5,000 people were evacuated. Otuchi's dead number 221, officially. Seven are declared missing. That leaves more than 9,000 uncounted.
The effect is repeated in towns up and down the coast in the prefectures including Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima. Survivors in Minamisanriku, a town in Miyagi washed nearly clean of its houses, believe about half of its 17,000 residents are gone.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Japanese officials say they have always handled disaster tolls this way, with painstakingly precise tallies rather than grand estimates that are honed later.
"We value each and every life," said Noriyuki Shikata, deputy Cabinet secretary for public relations. "Estimates are so rough. We don't take that approach."
I’m still waiting for the long, painful reckoning here at home.
TRENT PEARSALL wrote:
I truly do not know why I even read the comment threads on most article any more. The horrific accounts of the mounting loss of life, the torturous process of sifting through these villages to search for the lost and those that will never be found, and the suffering of those left behind not knowing the ultimate fate of their loved ones. AND what do I continually read...nuclear power plant this, future of nuclear power that, and shots at USA-Japanese historical relations... I utterly weep for humanity, not those suffering in Japan, as much as my heart hurts, but for the rest of us that cannot embrace our fellow beings and direct our concerns\energy toward charity.
I have always thought we have had decent relations with Japan since WWII. They have been a dependable ally. But I agree that there is more energy being directed towards the situation with the nuclear reactors than helping the people directly affected by the earthquake and tsunami. I think it is simply because it is terra incognita, the scope of the nuclear issue.
There is a lot of hysteria with that, but even so it is a very serious situation. I suppose it is because it is still something that can be mitigated or diminished, where the poor people who were killed can have nothing done for them.
My wife did make an interesting observation-there have been no celebrities (Sandra Bullock excepted, and there may be more) who have been trying to get together support concerts, fundraisers or anything like that.
Think of what we saw for Haiti...and what we see now. Granted, the death toll will not likely get as high as Haiti, but it is going to be very high for a modern, industrialized country.
I pray for those people every day. What a trial they must be experiencing.
I’ve been waiting to hear about one of those concerts.
It is a stark contrast to see how a disaster is handled (and responded to) in a thriving first world nation vs. an always-stumbling helpless 3rd world country.
Speaking of allies, Korea is showing a heart for Japan:
“International fuel assistance began taking shape Thursday, when South Korea said it would redirect some of its liquefied natural gas products to its neighbor....S Oil Corp. of South Korea said it would also boost its deliveries of oil products by more than 29 million gallons.”
Rescue efforts are being severely challenged by four major obstacles, including the harsh winter weather and fuel shortages as well as the unimagineable dimensions of devastation. The 4th obstacle is the diversion of attention to the nuclear radiation fears.
Thus far, there are ZERO deaths due to radiation sickness. Compare that to the EQ+tsunami mounting death toll.
This is going to spark a long and painful reckoning around the globe as the true magnitude of whats happened sinks in. Japan has an incredibly long road ahead of them even without the loss of most of their nuclear power generating capability. Just replacing their labor force is going to be a monumental task.
We donated to Haiti, and just made a donation to Japan.
I admit it, I think the donation we made to Japan will be used more effectively than the donation to Haiti. That has no direct implication to the Haitian people, but more to the leftists who handle the money.
I heard someone ask Rush yesterday, why aren’t the Chinese/Russians/Indians helping?
Hell. Why aren’t WE helping beyond the military? We probably have more nuclear (we do) experience than any other country on earth. When this situation happened, there should have been long teleconferences between the Japanese Prime Minister and the President of the USA, with representatives from the industry taking marching orders and offering suggestions.
We should have had lots of talent flown in there on military aircraft and ferried to the site stat.
None of that happened to my knowledge. It is a failure of leadership. More likely, it is because nobody in the administration has any contacts (useful, friendly or otherwise) in nuclear industry in this country. Matter of fact, those in the administration were probably mortal enemies of the industry.
Very interesting. And heartbreaking.
My mother has a friend who is an 84 year old Japanese lady (but I swear she looks like she’s maybe 50...and she just hiked Moab). She was supposed to fly to Osaka this weekend to visit her family. Her niece just called her yesterday and told her to change her trip. She said, “We are fine here, but you would not have a good time. There is just so much sadness here.”
I know. There will be so many long term effects. Already, trade is shut off, little or nothing being shipped out of Japan.
I think you nailed it, and that is an understatement. Very, very sad.
I can't imagine that the US military we already have there isn't being utilized, but I haven't heard anything about that. I am also assuming that the USS Ronald Reagan, which apparently has the capability to turn 400,000 gallons of seawater into potable water per day, isn't being used for that purpose in addition to providing help with the Fukushima plant. But again, I haven't heard anything about it. All I hear or see on the news is "The reactor is going to blow! We're all going to diiiieeeee!!!!!"
yah...it’s my understanding that most everything that was in transit when the quake hit will be arriving at their destinations this week, and what happens after that is anyone’s guess. It’s almost impossible to know who lost what supplier in all of this and I believe it will take months to straighten this all out with spot shortages of different items for a long, long time.
Agreed. I know the Japanese are kind of unique in such things, but we should have been pushing our assistance, knowing their cultural reticence in such matters.
Yes, I have guessed perhaps the Japanese have a problem ASKING for help...???
Applause. In the heat of values and principles, we can forget the real people who suffer, through no fault of their own. No true Conservative worthy of respect would make light of their suffering.
TRENT PEARSALL wrote:
I truly do not know why I even read the comment threads on most article any more. The horrific accounts of the mounting loss of life, the torturous process of sifting through these villages to search for the lost and those that will never be found, and the suffering of those left behind not knowing the ultimate fate of their loved ones. AND what do I continually read...nuclear power plant this, future of nuclear power that, and shots at USA-Japanese historical relations... I utterly weep for humanity, not those suffering in Japan, as much as my heart hurts, but for the rest of us that cannot embrace our fellow beings and direct our concerns\energy toward charity.
The Salvation Army is the only organization I’ll donate to these days.
And yes, there’s a serious lack of leadership in this country. It is hard to fathom why large military generators weren’t brought in by any means necessary immediately after the reports of the disabled generators on site.
This is how I have felt about this. We’re not doing near what we could be doing. In times past, we’d be offering enormous aid.
I blame it on the Disco King in chief. Entirely HIS to blame ...hell, they blamed everything that went wrong w/ Katrina on Bush. They’ll likely blame THIS on Bush as well.
If America was still the America i grew up in, our leaders would be sending every available jetliner, troop transport, helicopter, ship and emergency response person to Japan to rescue these folks and take them to a place of safety, even if it were back to the mainland US. Our leaders would be leading by example and encouraging other nations throughout the world to do the same. It would be a massive humanitarian effort the likes of which the world has never seen before. Unfortunately America no longer has leaders.
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I found this posted on the Daily UK Mail. It echoes my thoughts and feelings exactly.
or money, for that matter.
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