"Japan marks 10th anniversary of Fukushima nuclear disaster" PBS NewsHour 3/11/2021
Excerpt
SUMMARY: Japan on Thursday marked another grim anniversary: 10 years since a magnitude 9.0 earthquake off the nation's coast triggered a 130-foot-high tsunami that crashed ashore at more than 500 miles per hour. It killed thousands and triggered a nuclear disaster at a plant in Fukushima. Nick Schifrin looks at that nuclear explosion in detail, and Grace Lee reports from Tokyo on the quake's aftermath.
SUMMARY: Puerto Rico is under a state of emergency after experiencing a magnitude 6.4 earthquake Tuesday morning. The tremor, part of a series that has shaken the U.S. territory since Christmas, caused substantial damage along the southern coast. One man died when a wall caved in on his house, and many residents were left without power or water. John Yang reports on the island's worst earthquake in years.
SUMMARY: A strong earthquake shook Alaska's largest city, Anchorage, startling residents, damaging buildings and uprooting roads. The governor has declared a disaster, and schools are closed for several days until buildings can be assessed. Judy Woodruff speaks by phone to Lori Townsend of Alaska Public Media about "the most violent shaking" she has experienced in 20 years in the state.
SUMMARY: West Coast residents go about life knowing seismic threats are lurking, but there's a lot that people can do before an earthquake hits if they have even a few seconds of warning. A system called "ShakeAlert" picks up seismic information streaming in from sensors, and there's a big push this year to distribute the alerts more widely. Special correspondent Cat Wise reports from Seattle.
SUMMARY: Tuesday’s earthquake was Mexico’s second in less than two weeks, bringing back memories of the country’s catastrophic 1985 earthquake that killed thousands. What makes the region prone to earthquake damage? Judy Woodruff asks seismologist Lucy Jones to explain the science.
SUMMARY: It's been just over a month since a deadly earthquake devastated Ecuador's Pacific coast, destroying thousands of buildings and impacting at least a quarter-million people. As the government struggles with recovery costs and moves to rebuild, the disaster has also highlighted the need for tougher buildings codes — and enforcement. Special correspondents Bruno Frederico and Nadja Drost report.
HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour): It's been just over a month since a major earthquake devastated swathes of countryside and towns on Ecuador's Pacific coast; 663 people are officially confirmed dead.
And, as thousands more face the loss of their homes or workplace, videographer Bruno Federico and special correspondent Nadja Drost bring us this report from Manabi province on Ecuador's coast, where people are trying to rebuild their towns and lives.
ALFREDO JAMA, Fisherman (through interpreter): That night was unforgettable. I was bringing up the net, when, suddenly, I felt the boat vibrating too much. It was like the floor burst open.
NADJA DROST (NewsHour): It's the first time that fisherman Alfredo Jama has dared to return out to sea since an earthquake caught him by surprise on April 16th when he was fishing.
ALFREDO JAMA (through interpreter): When I looked around, I saw an explosion that left us without light. Everything was dark. The sea bellowed from beneath. It was like there was a beast coming up from under. When I returned to the house, everything was a disaster.
NADJA DROST: Jama's wife, Paola Farias, walked us through what used to be the two-story home of their extended family, which she also used for her nail salon.
PAOLA FARIAS, Salon Owner (through interpreter): When I said, don't worry, it's over, was when the movement started more strongly. The walls started falling. We managed to leave the house. It was terrible, because imagine how one works so hard for one's things, and from one moment to another, nothing.
NADJA DROST: Farias is one of at least 250,000 Ecuadorians directly affected by an earthquake that knocked down thousands of buildings. It also set off an outpouring of support from fellow Ecuadorians, like Karla Morales, the director of local human rights group Kahre.
She was at home in the city of Guayaquil, over 150 miles south of the epicenter, the night the quake hit.
KARLA MORALES, Kahre.org: And in that moment, I just sent a tweet.
NADJA DROST: “Bring supplies to my house tomorrow,” Karla wrote, and she'd drive them north to the earthquake-affected region the next afternoon.
KARLA MORALES: And I didn't expect that people were so interested in helping and with so much compassion and solidarity. There were like 600 or maybe 1,000 people in my house, bringing help and helping with all that donations that we were receiving in that moment.
NADJA DROST: Karla ended up sending 23 large truckloads of materials that day. Since then, her team continues to distribute donations, from water filters to mattresses, to rural areas, where help has been slower to reach.
Ecuador hadn't expected an earthquake, but preparing for a different emergency, a volcanic eruption and flooding, helped it respond quickly, says Tim Callaghan of USAID.
SUMMARY: One year ago, the first of two massive earthquakes ripped through Nepal, killing more than 8,000 people. Some $4 billion of assistance was pledged to the rebuilding effort, but political gridlock and corruption have left the displaced survivors to largely fend for themselves. Special correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro reports in partnership with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO (NewsHour): Kathmandu still bears scars from the quakes, but many people in Nepal's bustling capital have pushed the rubble aside and started rebuilding their homes and lives.
That's not possible in the quake's worst-hit regions, villages high up in the rugged Himalayan landscape, places that were hard to reach even before the disasters struck. Most people here were displaced into makeshift camps miles away in valleys miles away.
On April 25, 2015, the village of Mailung literally slid out of existence; 38 people died instantly as boulders rained down from the mountainside. Five bodies have never been recovered from under them.
Parma Singh Tamang ran a grocery store and tailoring business in this abandoned community once home to 400 people. The remnants from his shops peek out from under tons of granite. Two daughters-in-law and two grandchildren perished here. Others in the large extended family that lived here barely escaped.
PARMA SINGH TAMANG, Displaced Resident (through interpreter): When they heard the loud rumbling, they were very confused and ran down by the river.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Down the street is the spot where Selnam Tamang lived. She wasn't home on that fateful day. She was visiting her mother, leaving her four children with her in-laws and eldest child, Asmita.
SELNAM TAMANG, Displace Resident (through interpreter): Her grandfather was cooking fish, and all the family was gathered in the main floor area, but Asmita didn't like fish, so she climbed to the second floor of the house.
Then, suddenly, the earthquake came, and the whole house fell, and she was thrown some distance away. But the whole family, they were crushed.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Including two younger daughters and infant son. She did manage to rescue their pictures.
I'm really sorry.
Their current situation stokes the despair. Most people in the camp say they have no money and have received little assistance to rebuild. Selnam Tamang scrapes by on about $3 a day as a daily laborer, working about 10 days each month. And conditions in the metal-roofed shacks are not healthy, says 12-year-old Asmita, who is learning English.
The more than 600 earthquakes that have struck the Mammoth Lakes region over the last 24 hours are an indication of tectonic, not volcanic, stress, an expert said Friday.
At least 109 of the earthquakes were magnitude 2.0 or greater, with smaller quakes making up the bulk of the activity, said David Shelly, a seismologist at the U.S. Geological Survey's Volcano Science Center. At least six, however, were greater than magnitude 3.0.
The largest, a 3.8 temblor six miles from Mammoth Lakes, occurred at 9:21 PM Thursday.
The swarm of quakes, which began Thursday in the 20-by-10-mile Long Valley caldera east of the central Sierra Nevada Range, isn't uncommon for the region. About 200 small quakes -- the largest a magnitude 2.7 -- shook in Long Valley Caldera in July.
Still, Shelly said, “this one is a bit more energetic than what we have seen in a while."
The earthquakes may have been triggered by water pressure from area hot springs shifting through the ground surface, stressing tectonic plates. Scientists, Shelly said, are closely watching the earthquake swarm, but don’t believe it's connected to any magmatic activity.
Shelly said seismic analysts plan to review the swarm and update locations and magnitudes of the quakes, but the activity is not nearly on the size and scale of what was measured in the 1980s and 1990s.
In the 1980s, the area was hit with a swarm of multiple 6.0-magnitude temblors, but they were overshadowed by the Mount St. Helens eruption in Washington, Shelly said.
A decade later, in 1997, the area was rocked with another series of mostly 4.9-magnitude quakes over the course of several months.
The Long Valley caldera is one of the most seismically active regions in the state, and is part of a quiet network of 17 volcanoes throughout California. Many of the older volcanoes haven't been active for thousands of years.
The last time the Long Valley caldera erupted was 50,000 years ago.
Some volcanoes, like the Clear Lake Volcanic Field just 90 miles north of San Francisco, and Salton Buttes, which lies within the Salton Sea Geothermal Field 90 miles east of Palm Springs, experience some seismic activity, but nothing near the shaking in the Long Valley caldera.
"We are not having any eruptions in California ... in the near future," Shelly said.
Scientists rate a volcano's potential threat by assigning one of three different categories -- high to very high, moderate, or low to very low.
The USGS created the measurement to ensure hazardous volcanoes are monitored so scientists can better develop forecasts and warnings for residents.
The Long Valley caldera carries high to very high threat potential, likely because it rests near the community of Mammoth Lake.
JUDY WOODRUFF (Newshour): Next, how scientists are preparing for the dangers of an earthquake in Oregon.
Yesterday, a quake with a 5.9-magnitude struck about 160 miles offshore, with no real impact. But, increasingly, researchers are worried about specific and lesser-known risks of a major tremor there.
NewsHour correspondent Tom Bearden reports.
GWEN IFILL (Newshour): A desperate search was under way in Turkey today, one day after a powerful earthquake killed at least 279 people. The quake devastated the cities of Ercis and Van in eastern Turkey. Some 1,300 people were injured, and dozens more were trapped in the wreckage.
We have a report from John Ray of Independent Television News.
JOHN RAY: There are lives to be saved and no time to waste, a young boy terrified, buried under a mountain of masonry. "Be patient," his rescuers plead. He has no choice but to wait. Close by, there are bodies. His parents' fate is unknown.
As daylight dawned, rescuers redoubled their efforts, pulling the lucky to be living from the ruins of homes and offices. Hundreds are still trapped. As the hours pass, hopes fade.
They have been digging here now for more than 24 hours through the chill of the nights and through the dust of the day. So far, they have pulled two survivors from this rubble.
But as evening falls a second time, increasingly, this is becoming a search for bodies. This woman's daughter and grandchild are somewhere underneath the concrete. There are many others here, praying for the best, preparing for the worst.
Close by, another body, the ruins too precarious to disturb it -- the fear, they will collapse utterly. The work of rescue teams can seem agonizingly slow. To rush is to risk further disaster. This was a huge quake, even by the standards of a nation where they are all too common.
At first, it was survivors left to fend for themselves, using bare hands and brute strength to tackle the rubble. But the Turkish prime minister, touring an overcrowded hospital, says the worst of the disaster has yet to unfold, as rescuers reach remote villages.
There have been scores of aftershocks. Tonight, tens of thousands are huddled around fires, sleeping outdoors despite the cold -- the fear, another strong quake will bring further tragedy to a region and to lives already in ruins.
JEFFREY BROWN (Newshour): Next, preparing for and predicting earthquakes.
California and other Western states conducted major earthquake drills today, just hours before a 3.9 tremor hit the San Francisco area. The quake was centered on the University of California, Berkeley, campus. There were no initial signs of major damage or injuries.
It was the fourth year California held the drill exercise and the largest yet, with more than eight million people participating.
To dramatize what could happen, authorities brought earthquake simulators to cities including Hayward, which sits on a fault expected to rupture again within the next few decades. The simulator was designed to mimic some of the effects of a 7.5 quake. Emergency officials demonstrated recommended responses, such as the drop-and-cover technique.
Preparing is one thing. Having the time and ability to warn people in advance is another.
NewsHour science correspondent Miles O'Brien reports on efforts to make those predictions after the Tohuku earthquake hit Japan earlier this year.
MILES O'BRIEN: It is a trial that has scientists all over the world in an uproar: six seismologists and one government official charged with manslaughter because they didn't predict this, the 2009 earthquake in L'Aquila, Italy, which killed more than 300.
Many here are comparing it to the trial of Galileo in 1633. He was found guilty of heresy for suggesting the Earth wasn't the center of the universe.
"It's not a Galileo trial," says a victim's lawyer. "But it is definitely a trial to find out if there were some responsibilities, some omissions, behaviors, or wrongdoings on the part of the scientists."
If found guilty, the accused could face 15 years in prison.
Should scientists be held criminally accountable for these kinds of things?
JIM MORI, Kyoto University: I don't think they should be if they are - if they are doing their job.
MILES O'BRIEN: Jim Mori is a professor of seismology at Kyoto University.
JIM MORI: We don't know enough to make a good prediction, and I don't think you can be held responsible for something that you really are not aware of.
MILES O'BRIEN: If any nation could predict an earthquake, it would likely be Japan. Scientists here have been hard at work on this elusive goal since the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, which killed 145,000 and prompted the founding of the Earthquake Research Institute at Tokyo University.
Relentlessly upbeat ads from wireless operators may have led U.S. consumers to believe the country’s cellphone networks can handle anything. But Tuesday’s East Coast earthquake, which originated in Virginia in the early afternoon and was felt along the Eastern seaboard, revealed the truth: cell networks still get congested when millions of people try to make calls at the same time.
In the hours following the quake, which rated a 5.8 on the Richter Scale, many people in crowded areas like New York City encountered busy signals when they dialed numbers.
The problem appeared to afflict all the major U.S. wireless networks: AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless. None of the companies reported infrastructure problems, as the quake inflicted little physical damage.
With nothing to fix, the carriers urged customers to be patient and communicate via text message or even email. Even text messages were balky on Tuesday afternoon, though, leaving some people frustrated with their cell service in general.
The experience pointed up the fact that large, sudden bursts of traffic will clog up networks despite the rollout of advanced cellular technology. One reason is that many of the carriers’ recent upgrades focused on the data side of their networks. These “4G” upgrades were largely implemented to better support mobile web browsing and relatively new services like streaming high-definition video to phones.
The magnitude 5.8 earthquake that struck Virginia on Tuesday gives new meaning to the word "aftershock." Residents up and down the East Coast had trouble believing what they were feeling -- that the earth was literally trembling beneath their feet.
In sending texts and emails to subscribers, New York's emergency alert system tried to make quite sure that residents knew this wasn't a joke: An alert went out at 2:12 p.m. Eastern with the heading: "This is an ACTUAL EARTHQUAKE ALERT."
After all, an earthquake is the kind of thing that's supposed to happen in Los Angeles. But not New York City. Or Boston. Or Washington, D.C. Or North Carolina. (There were a smattering of reports that the quake was felt in Ohio and even Ontario.) Yet, up and down the East Coast on Tuesday people reacted with outright shock and disbelief as the news was confirmed by the U.S. Geological Service.
PHOTOS: Earthquake hits the East Coast
The 5.8 earthquake was centered near Mineral, Va., about 80 miles from Washington, D.C., and more than 300 miles away from New York City. That area often has smaller earthquakes, usually no stronger than magnitude 3.0 and rarely felt by people who live there, said Don Blakeman, a geophysicist with the USGS in Colorado, in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.
Tuesday's earthquake occurred at a relatively shallow depth in the crust, which indicates a strong likelihood of sizable aftershocks, possibly upward of magnitude 5.0 and almost certainly in the range of 2.0 to 4.0, Blakeman said. There were no immediate reports of injuries, and initial reports of damages appeared nominal considering the magnitude.
The United States Geological Survey says a 5.9 magnitude earthquake shook Fredericksburg, Va., along with the better portion of the East Coast around 1:50 p.m. on the East Coast. The quake rattled pictures and valuables off of walls. In and around Fredericksburg, residents are reporting trouble with cellphone networks.
"I thought Jesus was coming back," said Carla Roop, in an interview. She had never experienced an earthquake before, but was dining with a former California resident, as well as her husband and son, in Stafford County when the quake struck.
Her young son said the tremors caused his orange juice to splash on him as they ran outside.
According to data from the USGS, the quake was centered in Louisa County, near the town of Mineral. The epicenter of the quake was about 34 miles southwest of Fredericksburg, 27 miles east of Charlottesville and 39 miles north of Richmond.
The quake was less than a mile underground, with the USGS describing it as a poorly constrained quake 0.6 of a mile underground.
According to Twitter reports, the shaking was felt as far away as Cleveland and New York City.
Seattle-area sports columnist Greg Johns, a writer for the shuttered Eastside daily paper King County Journal and who now works for MLB.com, tweeted: "Still a little wobbling in the press box at Progressive Field in Cleveland. Hearing quake was centered outside D.C., must have been big one." Johns, who was at the Mariners-Indians game, later tweeted that it was not felt on the field, though others in the stands reported feeling shaking.
Bellevue-native and AOL employee Scott Iwata, who works in New York City, tweeted to Bellevue Patch: "Yeah we're good out here just noticed my monitors were wiggling and felt my leg shake without me shaking it."
News reports say that the Pentagon was being evacuated after the quake.
The tremors sent people scurrying into the streets here near the home offices of Fredericksburg Patch on Forbes Street.
Hector Correra, a painter working at 1314 Caroline Street was on top of a ladder scraping paint when the quake struck.
"It was weird." said the shaken Correra. He said he's never felt an earthquake in Virginia before.
Dina Young, owner of Moms of Fredericksburg, was on the phone and her children were playing when the quake happened.
"I grabbed my three children and took cover in the basement," said Young on Facebook. "No way to get through to 911 so we waited a little while and then turned on channel 4 to see the report."
Lorisa Robinson told Patch that she is having cellphone trouble at the moment.
"I have no outgoing cell service but I am getting alerts," said Robinson. "I can't call or send texts but Internet is working."
"It felt like a train was going through, shaking everything, didn't quite know what to do," said Robinson.
HARI SREENIVASAN (Newshour): And, finally, help put this in perspective for folks in just a few seconds that we have remaining here. For people who might not have been there to feel a Japan or a Haiti, how much more powerful were those?
DR. DAVID APPLEGATE, U.S. Geological Survey: The Haiti earthquake was a magnitude 7, so it's roughly sort of 10 to 15 times larger in terms of the magnitude.
But what's really key here is the amount of energy released. So, for each order of magnitude, you're looking at 33 times greater energy. The Japan earthquake was 1,000 times more energy than that Haiti earthquake, but it's about 33,000 to 50,000 times more energy released than this one.
And so that's what makes it truly amazing to have it felt over such a broad area, and a reminder that there is a potential for large earthquakes. We have had them in the Eastern U.S. We certainly have had them in the Central U.S. And they can have a big impact.
