Japan Earthquake & Tsunami News

Aerial footage of damaged reactors

Jiji News Agency has posted aerial footage of damaged reactors #3, #4, and #1 of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (a.k.a. Plant 1).  View below or directly on YouTube here.

 

Japan: latest casualty statistics (March 19)

As of March 19, Japan's National Police Agency, which provides official statistics on casualties, says nearly 7,000 are dead and over 10,000 missing following the earthquakes and tsunamis that occurred on March 11.

Video: amateur inside Sendai Airport Terminal captures tsunami wall of water

This video became available a couple of days ago, but I missed it. Someone inside the Sendai Airport caught mind-numbing footage of the wall of water that swept away everything in the parking lot in front of the terminal.

 

American data collection verifies accuracy of Japan's existing fallout danger zone

From the New York Times:

"The first readings from American data-collection flights over the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan show that the worst of the contamination has not spewed beyond the 18-mile range of highest concern established by Japanese authorities"

Japan's third largest bank suffers system failures again

Japan's third largest bank by market value, Mizuho, experienced breakdowns for the third day running leaving customers unable to complete the most basic financial transactions both at ATMs and teller windows. Following major issues yesterday, notices at branches stated that things would be back to normal at 9 a.m. this morning, but that proved wrong and bank employees found themselves apologizing repeatedly to annoyed account holders for the inconvenience and for being unable to say exactly when the systems would come back online, leaving many shaking their heads in disbelief and disgust. A company spokesman said the disruption was unrelated to the recent earthquake, but many also found this difficult to believe. According to news reports, Mizuho now says operations will be back to normal "early next week."