Survival Japan - Earthquakes

19,349. 

That is the amount of earthquakes in Japan in 2011 with a magnitude higher than 3. Below is a video compilation of all the quakes, visualizing their magnitude, depth, location and time. Notice the big 7.3 earthquake on March 9. Right after this a Dutch news show started to discuss how smaller earthquakes would lead to a big one, and then go down in size. 'How can we be sure that this was the biggest earthquake?', was asked. 'Well', the answer was, 'this was exceptionally big, so it was most likely the biggest'. We now know better. It is clear from the steepness of the  line of accumulating earthquakes over the year at the end of the movie, that March was hell.

(This movie is a 36 MB VLC media file, .flv, almost 10 minutes long. Turn the sound up for the full impact.) 

News from Japan - January

Japan

Water, blankets ready for Tokyo subway commuters

Tokyo faces 70% chance of severe quake in 4 years

In Case of Emergency: Japan Discusses Plans to Build 'Backup Tokyo'

Survival Japan - Blood donor

Unfortunately I cannot be a blood donor in Japan, for the same reason UK citizens can't be a blood donor in the Netherlands. While I have enjoyed donating up to nearly 20 times, the fear of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is very high in Japan and excludes most inhabitants from West European countries from donating.

The Japanese Red Cross Society declined very kindly and unnecessarily assured me it didn't imply I would get sick (ha):

Thank you very much for your e-mail.
Regarding your query, we have criteria for selecting blood donors for both safety of patients and blood donors.
In case of Netherlands, if you have stayed in Netherlands for more than 6 months from 1980 to 2004, you cannot donate blood in Japan because of vCJD (variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease) risk.
However please be assured that it does not mean that people from Netherlands will become vCJD.
This is a preventive measure in Japan.
Such being the case, we are really sorry that we have to decline your kind offer.
While our response may disappoint you, we look forward to your continuous support to the activity of Japanese Red Cross Society.

This blog has a more extensive list of exclusions that are not translated on the website of the JRCS itself. While explaining this situation to friends, the following remark was made: 'if you have enough supply, you can tighten your standards.' It made me consider the validity of accepting higher risks due to lack of resources.

I hope you can still donate blood if you want to. There is always the possibility of donating something else (it's back to donating time and knowledge for me).

Storm and imminent dyke breach in the Netherlands

A storm has slightly disrupted normal life in the Netherlands last weekend, with wind speeds over a hundred kilometer per hour and rainfall amounts of 70 to 90 mm, which normally falls in the entire month of January, according to the KNMI.

The following has occurred:
- firemen rescuing cows and horses from floodplains
- ferries and airplane trips cancelled or delayed
- sandbags made available for houses in Dordrecht
- major cities along the Rhine closing river fronts, cars being towed from adjacent parking lots
- 800 people evacuated over the weekend from an area in the northern province of Groningen where a dyke breach was imminent

In the end, the water boards were praised for their swift and precise actions. The current debate about the legitimacy of water boards was once again pulled in favor of their existence. Maybe this event can spur delayed spending for dyke maintenance.

Neighboring countries Germany and Belgium were less lucky than the Netherlands, as in each country one person died. More pictures and news in Dutch available, also on the website of the water board in Groningen.