AFTER a sleepness night of rolling aftershocks that rumbled across Japan after the deadly quake, Tokyo is calm and tranquil today.But while the capital has quickly recovered its equilibrium, the people in the north awoke today to the reality of devastation.Sendai, my destination today, was especially hard hit by Japan's largest quake and the wall of water it unleashed.And now the area is in the grip of a nuclear emergency with reactors overheating at several power plants.With highways still blocked it looks like our party will have to weave a path on back roads to reach the affected regions, but we are determined to see for ourselves what the tsunami has done to Japan's north-eastern coastal communities.The television pictures, shot mostly from helicopter, are simply astonishing, with cars, houses and ships tossed about like children's toys by the freak waves.Large tracts of at least one town were alight last night with flames licking through wrecked buildings. The casualty toll has been rising steadily this morning and is expected to top 1000 before long.Life in Tokyo, at least, has returned swiftly to normal with metro trains starting again and people strolling the streets as usual.But frequent tremors are still shaking buildings in the capital, a reminder of what a close call this was for the capital of this earthquake-prone land. They are also a reminder of the devastation that lies further north.I was in an interview with two managers from Japan's Nippon Steel Engineering on the 10th floor of the company's Tokyo building when the quake struck yesterday afternoon.After I exchanged worried glances with my translator the two executives told us not to worry too much as the building was new and had state of the art quake protection.Seconds later, all four of us leapt under the table in the centre of the room as the skycraper pitched and tossed as the quake's movements strengthened alarmingly. It felt like standing on the deck of a ship in a storm.I sat there huddled under the table wondering how a building could possibly withstand such strong sideways movement as warning sirens blared.In Tokyo, the quake was mercifully brief, a matter of minutes at most. We filed down the stairs on to the street, just as millions of workers in the capital were doing the same.As we scanned the forecourt looking for a cab to take us back to the office, the first of a series of major aftershocks battered the city. This time we got a different perspective, seeing buildings swaying from outside.Powerlines swayed and crashed against buildings and I looked skyward to see whether there was anything above our heads that could fall.Again, this tremor was short and we were able to gauge our surroundings.Smoke was pouring from several buildings but we could see no structural damage around us. Japan's much vaunted anti-earthquake building design seemed to have won the battle against the quake in Tokyo.But the city's metro system shut down and the streets filled with people pouring out of the skyscrapers in the centre of the capital.Commuters resigned themselves to walking home or spending the night in their offices.Despite the shock, an eerie sense of calm descended on Tokyo. The Japanese are used to quakes and tremors. There was no pushing, no yelling, no outward signs of fear even. The renowned restraint of the people here was on display even under the most dire of circumstances.Television reported that workers were still waiting patiently for the green light to cross roads that were initially empty of cars.Salary men pressed their phones up to their ears as they tried in vain to get a signal and ring home. But on the whole, a kind of normality returned to the capital.Building wardens in hard hats oversaw a mostly orderly evacaution from the buildings around us and some of the office workers were lighting up smokes and even exchanging smiles.Within an hour or so I was able to reach my wife and son by phone and verify that they were OK as we began the walk back to The Australian's bureau in the Ginza district of the capital.Workers trapped in the capital by the train cancellations poured into noodle shops to grab something to eat.As we passed an electronics store the first signs of the damage in the country's north began to play out on the screens of the televisions in the shop window.Great waves of water were swamping whole towns and destroying everything in their path as the ticker at the bottom of the screen began to tell the story of the devastation.Later, back at the office, alarming scenes of the town of Kesennuma ablaze in flames came across the television screen.Our fellow tenants at the Yomiuri Shinbun building, where our office is based, said the quake created terrifying jolts on the 10th floor where foreign bureaux are based. It's an older building and one of the Yomiuri's staff had told me earlier in the week that it would be better not to be in it if a quake struck.There were some signs of damage with cracks in some of the walls in the stairwells and calendars and pictures and books had fallen onto the floor in some offices.Staff handed out bowls of noodles and reheatable rice to workers trapped in the city for the night. Some grabbed blankets and found a place to lie down.By the time we had filed our stories, the metro was running again and we go home.The death toll is poised to top 1000 and Japan is grappling with both the devastation and the nuclear emergency as two plants at Fukushima in the north began overheating.This is clearly a devastating blow for Japan, but the early signs are that the country is showing resilience in the face of the best nature could throw at it.
SHIPPING NEWS
12 March 2011 - 08:23
Japan after the deadly quake
AFTER a sleepness night of rolling aftershocks that rumbled across Japan after the deadly quake, Tokyo is calm and tranquil today.
SHIPPING NEWS
12 March 2011 - 08:23
AFTER a sleepness night of rolling aftershocks that rumbled across Japan after the deadly quake, Tokyo is calm and tranquil today.But while the capital has quickly recovered its equilibrium, the people in the north awoke today to the reality of devastation.Sendai, my destination today, was especially hard hit by Japan's largest quake and the wall of water it unleashed.And now the area is in the grip of a nuclear emergency with reactors overheating at several power plants.With highways still blocked it looks like our party will have to weave a path on back roads to reach the affected regions, but we are determined to see for ourselves what the tsunami has done to Japan's north-eastern coastal communities.The television pictures, shot mostly from helicopter, are simply astonishing, with cars, houses and ships tossed about like children's toys by the freak waves.Large tracts of at least one town were alight last night with flames licking through wrecked buildings. The casualty toll has been rising steadily this morning and is expected to top 1000 before long.Life in Tokyo, at least, has returned swiftly to normal with metro trains starting again and people strolling the streets as usual.But frequent tremors are still shaking buildings in the capital, a reminder of what a close call this was for the capital of this earthquake-prone land. They are also a reminder of the devastation that lies further north.I was in an interview with two managers from Japan's Nippon Steel Engineering on the 10th floor of the company's Tokyo building when the quake struck yesterday afternoon.After I exchanged worried glances with my translator the two executives told us not to worry too much as the building was new and had state of the art quake protection.Seconds later, all four of us leapt under the table in the centre of the room as the skycraper pitched and tossed as the quake's movements strengthened alarmingly. It felt like standing on the deck of a ship in a storm.I sat there huddled under the table wondering how a building could possibly withstand such strong sideways movement as warning sirens blared.In Tokyo, the quake was mercifully brief, a matter of minutes at most. We filed down the stairs on to the street, just as millions of workers in the capital were doing the same.As we scanned the forecourt looking for a cab to take us back to the office, the first of a series of major aftershocks battered the city. This time we got a different perspective, seeing buildings swaying from outside.Powerlines swayed and crashed against buildings and I looked skyward to see whether there was anything above our heads that could fall.Again, this tremor was short and we were able to gauge our surroundings.Smoke was pouring from several buildings but we could see no structural damage around us. Japan's much vaunted anti-earthquake building design seemed to have won the battle against the quake in Tokyo.But the city's metro system shut down and the streets filled with people pouring out of the skyscrapers in the centre of the capital.Commuters resigned themselves to walking home or spending the night in their offices.Despite the shock, an eerie sense of calm descended on Tokyo. The Japanese are used to quakes and tremors. There was no pushing, no yelling, no outward signs of fear even. The renowned restraint of the people here was on display even under the most dire of circumstances.Television reported that workers were still waiting patiently for the green light to cross roads that were initially empty of cars.Salary men pressed their phones up to their ears as they tried in vain to get a signal and ring home. But on the whole, a kind of normality returned to the capital.Building wardens in hard hats oversaw a mostly orderly evacaution from the buildings around us and some of the office workers were lighting up smokes and even exchanging smiles.Within an hour or so I was able to reach my wife and son by phone and verify that they were OK as we began the walk back to The Australian's bureau in the Ginza district of the capital.Workers trapped in the capital by the train cancellations poured into noodle shops to grab something to eat.As we passed an electronics store the first signs of the damage in the country's north began to play out on the screens of the televisions in the shop window.Great waves of water were swamping whole towns and destroying everything in their path as the ticker at the bottom of the screen began to tell the story of the devastation.Later, back at the office, alarming scenes of the town of Kesennuma ablaze in flames came across the television screen.Our fellow tenants at the Yomiuri Shinbun building, where our office is based, said the quake created terrifying jolts on the 10th floor where foreign bureaux are based. It's an older building and one of the Yomiuri's staff had told me earlier in the week that it would be better not to be in it if a quake struck.There were some signs of damage with cracks in some of the walls in the stairwells and calendars and pictures and books had fallen onto the floor in some offices.Staff handed out bowls of noodles and reheatable rice to workers trapped in the city for the night. Some grabbed blankets and found a place to lie down.By the time we had filed our stories, the metro was running again and we go home.The death toll is poised to top 1000 and Japan is grappling with both the devastation and the nuclear emergency as two plants at Fukushima in the north began overheating.This is clearly a devastating blow for Japan, but the early signs are that the country is showing resilience in the face of the best nature could throw at it.
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