Land of the Rising Water: 2012

Monday, December 31, 2012

Earthquakes Japan 2012

This is an overview of all the earthquakes in Japan in 2012, sorted per magnitude and shindo (震度, shaking intensity). This data was generated by using the Japan Meteorological Agency database.

The most earthquakes in a single category were shindo 1 and magnitude 3-3.9, the total amount was one third from last year.
Shindo 1 earthquakes ranged from magnitude 0 to 6.9.
Shindo 2 earthquakes ranged from magnitude 1 to 6.9.
Shindo 3 earthquakes ranged from magnitude 2 to 6.9.
Shindo 4 earthquakes ranged from magnitude 3 to 7.9.
Shindo 5- earthquakes ranged from magnitude 5 to 7.9.
Shindo 5+ earthquakes ranged from magnitude 5 to 6.9.

Below the frequency distribution of earthquakes during the year is shown:

Comparing the JMA statistics with the data from their database, five earthquakes were missing from the data in the database (four of shindo 1 and one of shindo 3).

JMA:

Intensity	震度７	震度６強	震度６弱	震度５強	震度５弱	震度４	震度３	震度２	震度１	Total
2012	0	0	0	4	12	65	232	816	2010	3139

Database:

Intensity	震度７	震度６強	震度６弱	震度５強	震度５弱	震度４	震度３	震度２	震度１	Total
2012	0	0	0	4	12	65	231	816	2006	3134

Saturday, December 29, 2012

News in Japan - December

Japan
LDP: Gays don't need special rights

Sony Loses Science Talent as Student Resumes Go to Dairies: Tech

Quarter of workers in Japan experience 'power harassment'

51% think wives should stay home

Probability of strong quakes revised upward for eastern Japan

Getting old after getting rich: comparing China with Japan

Switching to mama mode is not easy for today's gals.

Radiation fears linked to obesity in Japan

Beyond Invisibility Great East Japan Disaster and LGBT in Northeast Japan

Other

'Atheïsts are persecuted and disadvantaged'(Dutch)

A report from the International Humanist and Ethical Union reports that atheists are at the risk being executed in 7 countries. Not only Islamic countries, but even the USA and some European countries are biased towards religious organizations. As example, there is a constitutional article in 7 states of the USA preventing atheists from holding a public office function.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Population Statistics

Netherlands						Difference	Percentage
Age		2010	2010 (%)	2025	2025 (%)		%
0-14 yo		2,913,000	17.58	2,784,000	15.92	-1.66	95.57
15-24 yo		2,028,000	12.24	2,023,000	11.57	-0.67	99.75
25-44 yo		4,477,000	27.01	4,295,000	24.56	-2.45	95.93
45-64 yo		4,618,000	27.86	4,587,000	26.23	-1.63	99.33
³ 65 yo		2,538,000	15.31	3,798,000	21.72	6.41	149.65
USA
Age		2000	2000 (%)	2030	2030 (%)
0-17 yo		72,293,812	25.69	85,707,297	23.57	-2.12	118.55
18-24 yo		27,143,454	9.65	32,532,779	8.95	-0.70	119.85
25-44 yo		85,040,251	30.22	91,610,717	25.20	-5.02	107.73
45-64 yo		61,952,636	22.01	82,280,171	22.63	0.62	132.81
³ 65 yo		34,991,753	12.43	71,453,471	19.65	7.22	204.20
Japan
Age	2010		2010 (%)	2030	2030 (%)
0-14 yo	17,074,000		13.40	13,233,000	11.30	-2.10	77.50
15-64 yo	81,665,000		64.10	69,576,000	59.20	-4.90	85.20
³ 65 yo	28,735,000		22.50	34,770,000	29.60	7.10	121.00

Figures from the central bureaus of statistics from three nations, showing the different expected effects of aging.
Whereas the Netherlands will have an almost unchanged absolute amount of people in the ages 0-65, with the biggest decrease of -4.07% per category in the main workforce of 25-44 years old, the amount of elderly will increase with nearly 50%.
The United States will see an absolute increase in population overall, but lowest in the category 25-44 years, which will increase by 7.73%, in sharp contrast to the amount of elderly, which will increase by 104.2%. Instead of 35 million elderly, there are over 70 million elderly expected by 2030.
As for Japan, the increase of elderly is not so high compared to the other countries, with only 21%, however, the other age categories are declining, most notably children by 22.5%.
Main questions to be asked as a government include where will these people live and who will take care of them as their health declines?

Friday, December 7, 2012

Earthquake

It's been a while. As all of such earthquakes are described, before this one some smaller ones occurred, leading up to the bigger one. No problems whatsoever, except the elevator stopping. Currently anticipating aftershocks.

I was just cycling home, later than usual, in the dark, with a new 100 yen shop light. Pheasants were crying out in the agricultural field next to me, which was extremely uncommon. All of them at once, as if they were in a great panic. However, a truck wanted to pass me in the dark, so I paid it no mind, and turned a corner. They had stopped crying. The houses next to me however, started to rattle. Extremely loud. Only then did I notice the earthquake. It was so intense I decided it was better to stop cycling. Past the houses, on the opposite side of the road where the power lines weren't swinging and dancing.

It was only shindou 4 in Tsukuba. Shindou 4 is described as "People outside can notice the tremor" Today I learned it means "Nearly fall off bicycle even after stopping". After a minute of moving up and down from primary waves, the secondary waves came. Distant city lights remained on, so I figured it was best to continue homewards and see what was up. Only 3 things had toppled over from a shelf. 10 out of 12 free access tv channels are showing tsunami warnings.

JMA posted a tsunami warning:

***********About Tsunami Forecast************

Tsunami height is expected to be up to 2 meters. Caution advised.

Tsunami height is expected to be about 0.5 meters. Attention advised.

***** Earthquake Information ******
Occurred at	17:18 JST 07 Dec 2012
Region name	SANRIKU OKI
Latitude	37.8N
Longitude	144.2E
Depth	about 10 km
Magnitude	7.3

NHK TV channel says 'people must evacuate' in those areas, in different languages, repeating every 3 minutes. I'm guessing all tsunami by now have already reached the shore. Several towns are reporting observed tsunami heights. Some flights are delayed due to inspection of the runway. There are no real issues. All that is left is to hope this isn't followed by a magnitude 9 earthquake in three days...

Monday, December 3, 2012

Japanese disaster book

Here are some images from an interesting Japanese disaster book, showing historic drawings of a catfish, often believed to live underground causing earthquakes, as well as the 1923 great Tokyo fire (following an earthquake); and the geophysical condition of the Kanto area. This is a great publication especially if you can understand Japanese, and even if not, most images speak for themselves. Local disaster history can play an important role in maintaining awareness of possible disasters.

The book was part of an exhibition on 80 years of disaster history at the Katsushika City Museum last month:

区制施行80周年記念特別展「東京低地災害史」

2011年3月11日に発生した東日本大震災は、自然と人間の関わり方を根底からくつがえす出来事でした。
1年半余を経過した今も、被災地の復興は進まず、多くの方々が自宅に帰れない、以前の仕事に就くことができない等、苦しい状態が続いています。
特に、福島第一原発は、廃炉まで何十年もの時間が必要とされ、周辺の帰宅困難及び居住制限区域の方々が、以前の生活を取り戻すには、多くの困難が予想されます。

この展示では17世紀以降、東京低地が立地する関東平野における歴史災害の検証を試みました。多くの災害は避けては通れないものですが、先人は、自然と共生しながらも、発生した諸災害と立ち向かい、復興をとげてきました。
残された史料から、災害の教訓を少しでも未来に継承し、改めて自然と向かい合う契機になれば幸いです。

Autotranslate:
Great East Japan Earthquake that occurred on March 11, 2011, was an event that radically subvert natural and human involvement.
Even now more than one and a half years have passed, not proceed reconstruction of the affected areas, and you can not take many people are not able to return home, on earlier work, the state continues to be painful.
In particular, the time required for decades until decommissioning, people of restricted areas and residential difficulty returning home surrounding, to regain previous life, nuclear power plant Fukushima Daiichi, many difficulties are to be expected. Since the 17th century, this exhibition we have tried to verify the historical disaster in Tokyo Kanto Plain lowland are located. Although most disaster that can not pass is avoided, but in harmony with nature, and confront various disasters that have occurred, predecessors, has undergone a revival. From historical records that are left to inherit the future of disaster a little lesson, I hope it will be an opportunity to once again face to face with nature.

Friday, November 30, 2012

News in Japan - November

Hurricane Sandy in USA:

Coast Guard official: Hurricane Sandy 'could be bad, or it could be devastation'

Mass transit grinding to a halt as Sandy nears the East Coast

Sandy's trail of devastation: 30 dead, millions without power -- and it's not over

New York faces 'massive housing problem' after Sandy, governor says

Hurricane Sandy Photos and Recovery Stories

Learning From the Superstorm

Why New York City Is the Worst Place for a Hurricane

Storm Surge Barriers for Manhattan Could Worsen Effects On Nearby Areas: Other Options Proposed

GEJET

Decision on Japan Nuke Plant Fault Line Postponed
New camera shows radiation levels

Voters in tsunami-hit zone feel let down as Japan election nears "I wish all the politicians were washed away by the tsunami."

Japan

NIED: 30% of Japanese live on land vulnerable to shaking

Wakayama tornado caught on film

Discrimination of working mothers persists in Japan

Netherlands

Foreign interest for sand motor off the coast (Dutch)

Other

How science is replacing pigs: Flood forecasting in the Philippines

Explosion at Electricity Plant Nijmegen (Dutch)

Published: 8 november 2012 07:40

Explosion at Electrabel Nijmegen

NIJMEGEN – At the energy supplier Electrabel in Nijmegen on Thursday an explosion occurred, the police reported.

Shortly after seven a.m. residents heard a bang from the plant at the Weurtseweg, followed by a continuous loud noise. The police reports that there is no one wounded. There are no missing persons. The explosion occurred in a boiler, said a spokesman from Electrabel. Thus a hole was created, from which steam escaped. During this process, pure water was released.

Cooling

It will take a long time before the resulting steam is evaporated and the boiler has cooled. After the explosion, the seven present employees went to the control room to turn off the plant, according to the protocol. This was reported by the police.

In a steam power plant normally a turbine is driven by hot steam, which in turn rotates a generator. Possibly too much steam was built up in the boiler. The emission of steam is slowly but surely decreasing, and along with it, so will the noise.

There is no danger of collapse, although a facade has been badly damaged. Due to the explosion much insulation material has fallen onto the surrounding streets. Other plants have taken over the electricity production.

The fire department is still investigating whether asbestos was released. The safety region indicates that glass wool particles could have been released into the environment. The advice is not to touch these and leave them where they are.

Locked

The district where the plant is located, still remains a closed off area. It will take a long time before the plant becomes operational again, said a police spokeswoman.

The police have been flooded with calls from all around, especially from the Betuwe area.

The navigation on the river Waal was not halted. However, the lock on the Maas-Waal canal was closed for some time.

Businesses in the area were evacuated for some time and for residents the advice was to keep windows and doors shut. This advice was withdrawn by the municipality shortly after nine o'clock. '' There is still a lot of glass in the area,'' said a spokeswoman.

Broadcasting Agency Gelderland

After being unreachable for a half hour, the site of Broadcasting Agency Gelderland is functioning again on Thursday morning. A spokesman for the regional broadcasting explains the crashing of the site was due to the large number of people that wanted to see images of the explosion at Electrabel.

''The first hour after the explosion the site was easily accessible. It went wrong when the national news reported that Broadcasting Agency Gelderland had live images. Then the whole of the Netherlands wanted to see that.'' The site of Broadcasting Agency Gelderland can hold up to 10,000 visitors simultaneously.

It has long been a given that regional broadcasters, who also function as an emergency transmitter, do not have enough internet capacity during a disaster.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Map of Japan

A better map of Japan than previously posted can be accessed here.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Ninomiya House Drill

Ninomiya House organized its own fire safety drill, which was very exciting. It was combined with tips on earthquake safety, as earthquakes are also a likely cause of fire. The whole two hours were packed with activities.

First all people had to evacuate the building using stairs and safety exits, wearing protective helmets. We had to gather at a rendezvous park close-by, at which point everyone was accounted for per floor. Next was a fire fighting drill with lo and behold actual fires. The extinguishers contained water though, but the spray cans for kitchen fires seemed the real deal. The fire department showed how everything should be worked, and volunteers were actively sought to replicate each of the demonstrated actions.

"Fire!" This is the most important thing to do before actual fire fighting. Call out to your neighbors and make sure they hear you, then head in with the right equipment. Useful information was also given. As I expected, if the ceiling is on fire, run. Smoke kills 90% of people in fires, so always cover your mouth and stay low.
We were also taught how to activate emergency power generators, in case the power would fail on the weekend, and few staff would be available to help. Firetruck ladders can reach up to 40 meters, so escaping to a balcony would not be a problem. The water from the hoses however, came only about 3 stories.

Afterwards at the lecture we unexpectedly got to taste some emergency supplies. Ninomiya House has food and water available for all residents for 5 days! Now we can start to eat our own supply.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Changes in governance in the Netherlands

It's highly challenging to study the governance and law of a country that radically alters its form of administration and law system halfway through the study. When we go back in two years, it won't be the same country as provinces will merge to new areas (with new names?), as well as municipalities.

Governance:

For the long term, we have the perspective of a country made up of five parts with a closed economy and municipalities of at least one hundred thousand inhabitants. (Voor de lange termijn hebben wij het perspectief van vijf landsdelen met een gesloten huishouding en gemeenten van tenminste honderdduizend inwoners voor ogen.)
The provinces of North Holland, Utrecht and Flevoland are combined, and the position of the Northeast will be judged later. (De provincies Noord-Holland, Utrecht en Flevoland worden samengevoegd, waarbij over de positie van de Noordoostpolder later een beslissing valt.) [Which will be called what exactly? Who gets to decide the new names?]
Decentralization will basically focus on 100,000 + municipalities. (Decentralisaties zullen in principe gericht worden op 100.000+ gemeenten.)
The water boards will be merged with the five parts of the country. (De waterschappen worden samengevoegd met de landsdelen.)
Water Board elections take place on the day of the elections for provincial councils. We promote scaling up to ten or twelve boards [there are 25 at the moment]. Water boards disappear from the Constitution. (Waterschapsverkiezingen gaan plaatsvinden op de dag van de verkiezingen voor provinciale staten. We bevorderen opschaling tot tien à twaalf waterschappen. Waterschappen verdwijnen uit de Grondwet.) [Response from the Union of Water Boards in Dutch]

Nature and water management:

The ecological main structure plans are implemented, including the corridors, but it will take more time. For this reason we will make agreements with provinces and conservation organizations on priorities, timing and use of resources. During an assessment in 2016, we will include the effects of spatial claims.(De ecologische hoofdstructuur wordt uitgevoerd, inclusief de verbindingszones, maar we nemen er meer tijd voor. Daarom maken we afspraken met provincies en natuurbeheerorganisaties over prioriteiten, tijdpad en de inzet van middelen. Bij een evaluatie in 2016 betrekken we de effecten van planologische claims.)
The maintenance of the existing infrastructure for water safety gets priority in water policy. In a water safety program, the various tasks will be combined in an optimized and innovative manner. Expenditure on water safety and freshwater supply will be financed from the Delta Fund. This fund will be split off of the Infrastructure Fund in 2014. The remaining room for investment in the Infrastructure Fund and the Delta Fund until 2028 may be spent for 80% in the next cabinet period for new projects. (Het in stand houden van de bestaande infrastructuur voor waterveiligheid krijgt bij het waterbeleid prioriteit. In een programma waterveiligheid zullen de verschillende opgaven optimaal en innovatief worden gecombineerd. Uitgaven voor waterveiligheid en de zoetwatervoorziening worden gefinancierd uit het Deltafonds. Dit fonds wordt met ingang van 2014 afgesplitst van het Infrastructuurfonds. De resterende investeringsruimte in Infrastructuurfonds en Deltafonds tot 2028 kan in de komende kabinetsperiode voor 80 procent worden bestemd voor nieuwe projecten.)
Decisions on planning projects should be simpler and faster, so we will streamline the spatial legislation even more. In 2013, we will come up with a bill to replace among others the Law on Spatial Planning and the Water Act. (De besluitvorming over ruimtelijke projecten moet eenvoudiger en sneller, daarom stroomlijnen we de ruimtelijke wet- en regelgeving verder. In 2013 komen we met een wetsvoorstel omgevingswet ter vervanging van onder meer de wet op de ruimtelijke ordening en de waterwet.)

Something I tend to forget:

The Netherlands is the second largest exporter of agricultural products in the world. (Nederland is de tweede exporteur van agrarische producten ter wereld.) [The irony being this "The Netherlands exports a quarter of the worlds tomatoes and a third of its chili peppers." More information here.]

Something not really necessary:

Voting from abroad will be made easier. (Stemmen vanuit het buitenland wordt makkelijker gemaakt.) [I registered by email. I got some papers to vote on. I marked my vote and sent it back. Costs: 1 stamp. Given all the other bureaucratic paperwork involved with living in another country, this was remarkably easy.]

Copied from the new governance agreement, 29 October 2012.