>U.S. Sounds Alarm on Radiation(Video)

>

TOKYO—Fear about radiation dangers posed by Japan’s nuclear crisis spiked as the U.S. instructed its troops and citizens to stay at least 50 miles away from the crippled reactors—establishing a “no-go” zone far wider than the buffer recommended by the Japanese government itself. And in a vivid sign that Japan’s leadership is trying to move decisively to take control of the deepening crisis, the nation’s military force dispatched two helicopters Thursday morning local time to dump water over the crippled Fukushima Daiichi power complex in hopes of taming its dangerously overheating nuclear facilities. The effort targeted a pool of spent nuclear fuel at reactor No. 3. Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa said the water would help cool the spent fuel, lessening the risk of a catastrophic fire, if the water hit its target.

Mr. Kitazawa also said 11 water-cannon trucks were to be deployed at the plant Thursday afternoon in a further effort to cool the overheating waste.

Japan’s nuclear regulator also announced that it was working to connect outside power cables to two of the units at the stricken plant, in hopes of restarting their cooling pumps. They hoped to have the cables available by Thursday afternoon.

Restarting the pumps would mark a major advance in the effort to prevent the nuclear disaster from worsening.

Japan’s widening government involvement came as international skepticism built up. Late Wednesday, the U.S. State Department authorized the voluntary evacuation of dependents of U.S.-government personnel based in northeast Japan. The State Department also added that U.S. citizens in Japan consider departing, and reiterated its caution that citizens defer travel to the country at this time.

Earlier in the day, the top U.S. nuclear regulator, Gregory Jaczko, called radiation levels at one of the plant’s units “extremely high,” adding that, “for a comparable situation in the United States we would recommend an evacuation for a much larger radius than is currently being provided in Japan.”

Previously the U.S. had agreed with Japanese officials that a 12-mile evacuation zone was adequate. The change came after the NRC ran computer-modeling exercises using “the best available information we have” about the damaged reactors along with accumulated knowledge about how systems inside nuclear plants perform under “severe accident conditions,” a spokesman with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said.

Asked why the U.S. set a broader “no-go” zone than did Japan, government spokesmen Yukio Edano said in a press conference that it was understandable to make a more “conservative decision” when trying to ensure the safety of citizens abroad, in a country where it doesn’t exert direct control. He reiterated that Japan’s government feels it is taking appropriate measures.

Also on Wednesday, the U.K. government advised its citizens in the city of Tokyo, a full 150 miles from the nuclear site, to “consider leaving the area” due to increasing infrastructure problems. The European Union’s energy chief, Guenther Oettinger, also declared the Fukushima Daiichi site “effectively out of control.” A spokeswoman for Mr. Oettinger later said the commissioner’s remarks reflected his own personal views, and weren’t based on privileged information.

Stock markets staged large swings, reflecting the depth of anxiety world-wide. “Every investment decision is made through the prism of what is going on in Japan,” said Phil Orlando, chief equity strategist at Federated Investors. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 2% lower at 11613. Thursday morning, Tokyo shares slid 2.1%.

Late Wednesday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it was deploying additional radiation monitors out of “an abundance of caution.” The EPA already monitors the air for radiation via a national network of approximately 140 stationary and mobile devices. The agency said it sent additional monitors to Alaska and plans to send some to Hawaii.

Officials with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Energy Department say they don’t expect harmful radiation levels to reach the U.S.

As part of the government effort to take on a larger role in the crisis management, on Wednesday plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co., or Tepco, said 20 government officials had moved into the company’s offices as part of a joint crisis headquarters.

The government’s use of helicopters to dump water on the site was ordered by Economics Minister Banri Kaieda. “The minister considered the situation to be dangerous and judged there was an imminent necessity to issue the order,” said a spokesman for the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, which is part of Mr. Kaieda’s purview. “After learning that Tepco was not injecting cooling water, he judged it to be very dangerous.”

Two helicopters made two trips each, scooping up tons of seawater in a massive bucket and then trying to dump it into a pool used to store waste-fuel at reactor No. 3. An earlier explosion had blown the roof off of the building, exposing the storage pool and making the helicopter mission possible.

Because of radiation risk, the helicopters had to maintain considerable altitude. A government official said it wasn’t yet clear whether the water hit its target.

The race to build an emergency power supply for the crippled plant, combined with details from the early moments of the crisis, highlight new questions about the design and safety record of the facility, which is Japan’s oldest.

Common to all nuclear plants is this fundamental design problem: Engineers try to make the equipment impervious to one threat, but that may make it vulnerable to another.

In this case, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex’s back-up diesel-powered generators were built below ground level. This bunker-like positioning would protect the generators from an air strike, cyclone or typhoon—but made them more vulnerable to an earthquake-driven tsunami.

When last week’s giant waves struck, they immobilized the generators despite being designed to protect against water. The tsunami also apparently washed away the generators’ fuel tanks, which were above ground.

“The earthquake and tsunami we had last week both exceeded our engineering assumptions by a long shot,” said Tetsuo Ito, head of Kinki University’s Atomic Energy Research Institute, near Osaka. “The nuclear industry around the world probably will have to review how we set those assumptions in designing a nuclear power plant.”

Another area of scrutiny is the proximity of the plant’s six reactors to one another. Damage to one reactor contributed to damage to another, and their proximity hindered a recovery.

This arrangement can be found at other plants, because it can make it easier to move equipment around and helps to keep a smaller work force, said Mr. Ito. But now it looks like a “bad idea,” he said. “We need to strike a better balance of operational efficiency and safety.”

Terry Pickens, director of nuclear regulatory policy at Xcel Energy Inc. of the U.S., said there is no cookie-cutter reactor of the vintage of the Fukushima units because utilities in those days hired their own engineering firms and architects, and customized the plants’ designs. At Xcel’s Monticello plant in Minnesota, diesel generators are kept as far apart as possible so that “a natural phenomenon isn’t likely to take both of them out,” Mr. Pickens said.

The Japanese plant lost power during Friday’s earthquake. The three active reactors shut off automatically as designed, but a lack of electricity left workers unable to operate their cooling systems, leading to overheating. Tepco says the tsunami paralyzed all but one backup generator.

In a weekend briefing, Tepco Managing Director Akio Komori cited the elevation of the backup generators as one potential issue. A Tepco spokesman confirmed the remarks, adding that a full probe will have to wait while workers try to bring the reactors under control.

A spokesman for Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, the nation’s nuclear-power regulator, said Fukushima Daiichi’s emergency-generator design is “fairly prevalent” at other Japanese plants. The spokesman, Shigekatsu Ohmukai, disputed that the elevation of the generators was a problem. The agency, he said, had concluded that the plant could withstand a certain size of tsunami but “obviously the tsunami caused by Friday’s earthquake exceeded our assumptions. That’s the problem.”

Tepco tested the Fukushima Daiichi plant to withstand an earthquake magnitude of 7.9—a level of seismic activity the power company thought wouldn’t be surpassed in the area, according to company documents on its website from 2010. The quake that struck Friday, however, was about 10 times as big as that theoretical maximum.

In the U.S., where there are 23 similar reactors operated by 11 different companies, backup generators typically are housed in bunker-like buildings at ground level. They are designed with watertight fittings that are intended to keep out water from floods or hurricanes.

General Electric Co. designed three of the six reactors for Tepco at the Daiichi complex but it didn’t determine the layout of every piece of equipment, a company spokesman said. Some of that was done by architects and engineers hired by Tepco. He added that the main problem was the larger-then-expected tsunami, not the generator placement.

The Daiichi plant was central to a falsified-records scandal a decade ago that led Tepco to briefly shut down all its plants and led to the departure of a number of senior executives. Nuclear experts say that led to a number of disclosures of previously unreported problems at the plant.

>Japan Confronts Multiple Crises as Death Toll Climbs

>

MINAMISANRIKU, Japan — Japanese authorities struggled to contain new nuclear emergencies on Tuesday and the death toll continued to climb as search teams began reaching towns and seaports that were flattened by last week’s earthquake and tsunami.
The National Police Agency said Tuesday afternoon that 2,478 people have died, and many thousands were still missing. Some 400,000 people were living in makeshift shelters or evacuation centers, officials said. Bitterly cold and windy weather that was pushing into northern Japan was compounding the misery as the region struggled with shortages of food, fuel and water.
An explosion Tuesday morning at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Station — the third reactor blast in four days — damaged the vessel containing the nuclear core at reactor No. 2 , government officials said, and there was a growing fear of a catastrophic meltdown. The operator of the plants, Tokyo Electric Power Company, confirmed there had been radiation leaks, that water was being pumped into three overheated reactors and a fire had broken out at a fourth.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan made a nationally televised address on Tuesday morning, imploring people not to panic.
People living within about 12 miles of the reactor complexes at Fukushima were ordered to evacuate, and those within about 20 miles were told to stay indoors and close all windows, doors and vents. If people had laundry hanging outside, the government advised, they should not bring it inside or touch it.
Fears of a deepening nuclear crisis led to panic selling on Tuesday that drove down the Nikkei stock index by 10.6 percent.
The United States Geological Survey revised the magnitude of the earthquake to 9.0, from 8.9, but it was the subsequent tsunami that did the most damage. The initial wave scoured away entire communities, and desperate survivors searched Tuesday for signs of friends and relatives who remained missing.
There was plenty that was missing here in the fishing village of Minamisanriku: the city hall, the hospital, the shipyard, police stations — and 8,000 people.
The tsunami might have crashed most heavily into this town that once was home to more than 17,000. Situated at the back of a mountainous V-shaped cove, the town was swamped by the first surge of muck and seawater that was 30 feet high as it roared between the valley walls.
As the deluge pressed in on them, Sanae Sato, 71, said 400 townspeople rushed to the community center where she worked. They thought the five-story building would be high enough to protect them. But when the water reached the fourth floor, they all sought shelter in the attic, jammed in beside the elevator machinery.
From the attic window, Ms. Sato said, she saw the floodwaters hurling cars along, with drivers and passengers still inside. Houses broke from their foundations and were carried along, their owners perched on the ridges of the roofs.
“I saw people trying to balance on the rooftops like surfers,” she said. “It didn’t work. It was like hell.”
The Miyagi prefectural government said Tuesday that search teams had located 2,000 people in Minamisanriku who had been missing and presumed dead. They had fled to surrounding towns as the tsunami bashed the coastal areas of the town.
Troopers from Japan’s Self-Defense Forces cleared roadways into the village on Tuesday as a long line of fire trucks waited to enter. Closer to shore, teams of searchers rummaged through the crushed houses and collapsed shops. They peered into cars that had been swallowed by the mud, hoping to find survivors. Searched cars were marked with yellow tape.
One gruesome discovery was a mud-caked woman hanging by her head from the roof of a gas station. She was brought down, covered in a blue plastic tarp, and her body was laid by the station to await collection by another disaster team.
Rescue teams from 13 countries pressed on with the searches in other towns, some assisted by dogs. In the air, helicopters shuttled back and forth, part of a mobilization of some 100,000 troops, the largest since World War II.
Because Fukushima have been lost to the national power grid, Tokyo Electric announced plans for rolling blackouts across the region to conserve electricity — the first controlled power cutbacks in Japan in 60 years.
The first set of blackouts Tuesday morning began in four prefectures outside Tokyo. The utility, which provides service to 45 million people in the region, said the cuts could continue for six weeks.
Public conservation of electricity was significant enough, the company said, that the more drastic blackout scenarios were being scaled back. Still, anticipating deep and lengthy power cuts, many people were stocking up on candles, water, instant noodles and batteries for radios.

>Japan earthquake: YouTube news videos show damage, massive tsunami [Updated]

>

An 8.9 earthquake has struck Japan, taking the lives of hundreds of people and being followed by a tsunami with frighteningly high tidal waves.
Here’s a bit of video posted by news organizations on YouTube, owned by Google, displaying some of the natural disaster.

Tsunami slams Japanese coast after quake

Giant tsunami eats boat as earthquake hits Japan

Scientist Describes Tsunami Danger

Raw Video: Tsunami reaches Hawaii

RussiaToday is a English-language news channel funded by the Russian government.
On YouTube, the organization describes itself as being “set to show you how any story can be another story altogether. Broadcasting over six continents and 100 countries, our coverage focuses on international headlines, giving an innovative angle set to challenge viewers worldwide.The channel is government-funded but shapes its editorial policy free from political and commercial influence. Our dedicated team of news professionals unites young talent and household names in the world of broadcast journalism.”]
Eyewitnesses of Japan quake talk to RT from Tokyo

Scary footage: Tsunami waves raging, buildings burn after 8.9 Japan earthquake

Japan earthquake: CCTV video of tsunami wave hitting airport

>Travel disrupted by disaster in Japan

>

Hundreds of Japan-bound flights are canceled, visitors to Japanese theme parks are stranded, and Hawaii hotels and California campgrounds are evacuated.
Travelers around the Pacific were stopped in their tracks by Friday’s earthquake and subsequent tsunami. Hundreds of Japan-bound flights were canceled over the course of the day, thousands of people were stranded at Japanese theme parks; hotels in Hawaii evacuated guests in the middle of the night to avoid surging water; and campers were evacuated from costal state parks in Northern California.
The U.S. State Department posted a travel alert, strongly urging “U.S. citizens to avoid tourism and non-essential travel to Japan at this time.” Officials at Los Angeles International Airport reported Friday that Tokyo’s Narita International Airport and Haneda Airport reopened about 12 hours after the disaster, but all passengers to Japan were advised to check with their airlines on the status of their flights. Airports closer to the epicenter in northeastern Japan remain closed.
Air travelers around the world were stymied by flight cancellations over the course of the day.
“Hole up where you are and ride it out for the next 24 to 48 hours,” advised Bruce McIndoe, president of iJet, a travel risk-management company. “And don’t try to insert yourself into the mess.”
Many airlines were waiving change and cancellation fees. A spokesman for Singapore Airlines said the airline would waive fees for refunding, rebooking or rerouting customers with airline tickets or air-and-land packages that were issued on or before March 11 and involve travel up to March 20.
Meanwhile, the massive earthquake also stranded thousands of people at Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea by damaged roads and transportation interruptions that forced visitors to stay overnight in 30-degree weather. Though the theme parks experienced some quake damage, there were no reports of injuries.
Perhaps the most vulnerable travelers of all, those aboard cruise ships, apparently suffered no casualties, but at least one ship was forced to change course. The 2,620-passenger Queen Mary 2 was to visit Nagasaki, nearly 800 miles southwest of the epicenter, on Saturday but the ship will instead divert to its next port of call, Beijing, according to Cunard cruise line’s website.
The Azamara Quest of Azamara Club Cruises was docked at Nagasaki when the quake hit. “Guests on board found out through news reports,” said spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez. “None of them experienced the quake or the tsunami.” Martinez said the ship is still scheduled to stop at Osaka on Sunday. Thousands of miles across the Pacific, the city of Kailua-Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii was hit by a wave in the middle of the night. Other islands were relatively unscathed.
A website for the King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel reported that guests were evacuated at 3:30 a.m. and that the lobby and restaurant sustained water damage. The website reported that guests would be moved to other hotels for the next three days. The Four Seasons Resort Hualalai and the Kona Village Resort, neither of which could be reached by phone Friday, have posted notices on Facebook saying they had relocated guests to other hotels while they assess the damage to their properties.
In California, the northern part of the state took the brunt of the ocean surge with coastal damage at Fort Bragg and Crescent City. Campers were evacuated from state parks from Sinkyone Wilderness and others on the Mendocino coast down to McGrath State Beach in Ventura. A parks spokesman said campgrounds that had been evacuated were expected to reopen by the end of Friday.

>Tsunami waves hit Hawaii and California, but damage is limited (FOTO GALLERY)

>

San Francisco: A tsunami emanating from the massive earthquake that hit Japan on Friday sent seven-foot waves into the Hawaiian islands, but appeared to have caused no major damage in Hawaii or along the West Coast.
Peter Carlisle, the mayor of Honolulu, said Friday that the threat had subsided substantially and that coastal highways had reopened on the island of Oahu. He said residents who had evacuated were now free to return home, though they should remain off beaches for now.
But by midmorning on a beautiful, sunny day, sunbathers and walkers had returned to Waikiki Beach, though in smaller numbers than usual. Here and there children ventured into the water, despite official warnings to stay out of the ocean.
“You kind of observe things out there,” said Dominik Ladner of Toronto, who stood on the beach while his two children ran in and out of the water. “But I’m not worried too much.”
Kyle and Connie Gilmer of Anniston, Ala., stood on a breakwater that had been shown on television being swamped by waves six hours earlier. “It crossed my mind,” Mr. Gilmer said, speaking about the tsunami.
By midday, a tsunami warning — which directs residents of low-lying regions to move inland and to higher ground — had been lifted for most of Hawaii, and people around the state were returning to homes, hotels and beaches. For the most part, damage was minor — docks and boats were damaged in several marinas. However, the Kona district of the Hawaii island sustained more serious damage, with waves submerging the pier and topping a sea wall, flooding several hotels and businesses.
A tsunami warning remained in effect along the West Coast of the United States, from central California to Alaska.
The Coast Guard reported that one person was swept to sea near McKinleyville, Calif., while trying to take pictures of the approaching waves. A search had begun.
Four people were also swept to sea in Curry County, Ore., in the southwestern corner of the state. According to Deputy Brandi Carballo, all four were overtaken by the water as they sought to observe the waves.
“They didn’t think the tsunami was that strong,” she said.
Two managed to escape under their own power, while two others were rescued by firefighters and members of law enforcement. One victim, a woman, was taken to the hospital after nearly drowning, said Deputy Carballo.
The first waves arrived along that stretch of the Oregon coastline around 7:30 a.m., but intensified between 11 a.m. and noon. Damage was not insignificant, with boats sunk in the harbor of Brookings, Ore., and others swept out to sea.
The National Weather Service was also reporting wide array of property damage along California’s most northern coast. About three dozen boats were destroyed in Crescent City, Calif., where a 1964 tsunami — considered one of the most destructive ever to strike the continental United States _ killed nearly a dozen people. On Friday, all of the city’s docks were destroyed, according to the weather service, though no homes were damaged.
Evacuations had been ordered in some spots, and officials were blunt in advising residents to stay clear.
“Don’t be fooled,” read a special weather statement. “Tsunami waves can seem to stop for long periods and then begin again.”
Powerful waves also sunk several boats in Santa Cruz harbor, about 60 miles southeast of San Francisco on Monterey Bay. A series of waves ripped docks up and sent debris speeding toward shore. Sailboats broke free of their moorings and slammed against docks, bridges and other boats. Surfboards, kayaks and other smaller watercraft were tossed airborne in the tumult.
As owners scrambled over docks to try to save their boats, bystanders serving as lookouts yelled, “Wave! Wave!” as surges ebbed and flowed in about 20 minute intervals.
“It was like a whitewater rafting trip in the middle of the harbor,” said Marc Kraft, president of Pacific Yachting and Sailing, a sailing school that had several boats damaged. Mr. Kraft said his brother, who lives in Tokyo, had called him before dawn to say that he was safe, but that a wave was headed his way.
“It’s hard to see this,” Mr. Kraft said. “But the bottom line is that no one was hurt.”
By midmorning, waves hitting local beaches near San Francisco were of a modest size and posed no flooding danger. Instead of causing people to flee, however, the potential for powerful surges attracted large crowds of spectators to the shore.
In Hawaii, far larger waves started hitting the islands early Friday and caused damage to piers and marinas and some flooding, officials said. There have been no reports of deaths or injuries. Officials in California and elsewhere along the West Coast closed beaches as a precaution, prohibiting swimming, surfing and fishing.
There were no calls for widespread, mandatory evacuations. But weather experts warned that there could be large waves and unusual changes in the currents for several hours. Schools in some California beach communities closed Friday.
Along the Oregon coast, Marvin VandeStreek, who operates the Edwin KBed and Breakfast in Florence, Ore., said tsunami warnings had been broadcast in the area throughout the night.
“They were sounding the sirens for people to evacuate and police and fire were coming through the streets with loudspeakers and the lights going,” Mr. VandeStreek said.
He said he woke the guests at his inn and moved into an evacuation center, where other residents — some with their pets — surrounded a television broadcasting CNN.
At a news conference Friday morning at City Hall, Mayor Edwin M. Lee of San Francisco said he did not expect the crest — expected to be one to two feet — to cause damage. He said no evacuations would be ordered.
Still, the Great Highway — which runs along Ocean Beach, the city’s premier stretch of sand and a popular surf spot — was closed, and officials were warning residents and visitors to stay clear of the area. But the surf seemed normal Friday morning, though hundreds of sightseers had come to watch the waves, which arrived just past 8 a.m. Onlookers lined the cliffs above the beach and clogged some suburban highways angling for a view.
Chakot Rabhakrishnan, a laid-off Sprint customer service representative who lives near San Francisco’s Ocean Beach, said he had come to “have a watch.”
He said he been a little worried about the surge but could “tell by the rocks,” he said — pointing to an outcropping poking out of the surf — that no big wave was headed to the beach.
“I thought we might get some effect,” Mr. Rabhakrishnan said. “But not so much.”
In Pacifica, Calif., a small coastal city about 15 miles south of San Francisco, school officials canceled classes for the day and law enforcement officials on loudspeakers cleared people off beaches and strung yellow caution tape to close off beach parking lots.
On Friday morning at about 8 a.m. — when the first surge had been predicted to arrive — hundreds of residents and curious onlookers sought higher ground and premium views along a road above the city.
People parked their cars, set up lawn chairs and looked seaward through binoculars and cameras, waiting.
Among those who evacuated were Andy Wood, 43, his wife Erin, 35, and their three sons, ages 16, 3 and 10 months.
The Woods, who live a few blocks from the beach, received a call from the sheriff’s office at about 4:30 a.m., so they packed the boys, a change of clothes, their dog, Daisy, and cat, Bella, into the family minivan and headed for safety.
“We’ve been worried about tsunamis since we moved here,” said Mr. Wood, a computer programmer. “As soon as we got that call I was like, ‘Let’s pack up and get out.’ I’d rather be overcautious and look like a fool than end up on the news for not evacuating when we should have.”
After watching the ocean for about an hour, Mr. Wood said the family planned to head home. “It looks like another normal day at the beach,” he said.
In the hours before the waves were predicted to hit Hawaii, Honolulu Police drove down Kalakaua Avenue telling straggling tourists to return to their hotels and advising street musicians and vendors about what streets to avoid on their way home. In one sign that something unusual was afoot, a two-block pleasure zone along Kapiolani Street was nearly devoid of prostitutes well before midnight.
In the Waikiki district, lines formed at gas stations and some high-end boutiques closed early.
At the 1,600-room Sheraton Waikiki Hotel, a whiteboard announcing the tsunami warning drew worried guests as well as those who posed before the board for vacation snapshots. Later in the evening, guests from lower floors were relocated to rooms higher in the hotel.
In the expansive lobby of the Sheraton Wakiki, a cluster of Japanese guests remained, using a bank of Internet-connected computers.
The tsunami did have one temporary, picturesque effect on Waikiki Beach: a circle of lights, like a new skyline, a mile offshore, where boats from local marinas had gone to ride out the storm.
On the island of Lanai, civil defense sirens sounded piercing alarms at regular intervals into the night and thousands of people in low-lying coastal areas deemed “inundation zones” were ordered to evacuate. But by morning, a school of spinner dolphins could be seen swimming peacefully in Manele Bay, apparently sensing no further danger.

>Tsunami warning: Coast residents evacuate; damage at Santa Cruz harbor

>

One of the docks at the Santa Cruz harbor was destroyed today as tsunami waves generated from a powerful earthquake in Japan hit Northern California and prompted the evacuation of hundreds of people from the coast.
There were also reports of significant damage in the harbor in Crescent City, located near the California-Oregon border, where 35 boats were crushed.
The damage was less severe at the Santa Cruz harbor, but one of the docks — known as the U dock– was destroyed in spectacular fashion.
“The dock, it looked like an explosion,” said Michael Sack, co-owner of Sanctuary Cruises. “The dock just blew up. It buckled and it splintered.”
Sack said a 30-foot boat sank and at least four other boats broke loose.
“They were just floating back and forth in the harbor, slammed into other boats,” Sack said, adding his 48-foot whale watching boat was not damaged.
Toby Goddard, a member of the city’s port commission, said the water like a river surging rather than a big wave. Sack described it in similar fashion.
“It was like a 10 to 15 mile an hour current,” Sack said. “It started slow and came up about five feet.”
There were at least eight to 10 big surges into the harbor, coming about every 10 minutes.
Some boats broke loose, others tipped over, their masts smashing into other boats. Throughout the harbor there was debris floating everywhere, tires, coolers, chunks of wood.
In Capitola, water surges approached the top of the sea wall but did not breach it, according to a city official.
The National Weather Service issued a tsunami warning for much of California’s coast following the massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake that struck off Japan’s northeastern coast earlier today.
Not long after the first waves began to hit the Santa Cruz coast about 8 a.m., boats were seen floating out of the harbor. Crescent City Councilman Rich Enea told the Times-Standard 35 boats were crushed and the harbor suffered major damage. At 10 a.m., the coastal community was waiting for larger surges to hit.
Early this morning, the weather service issued a tsunami warning telling people who live along the coastlines to move inland to higher ground. As hundreds of people drove away from the coast near Half Moon Bay and parked along Highway 92 and Skyline Boulevard in San Mateo County, one fisherman was heading for the waves.
Duncan Maclean got into his boat, the Barbara Faye, and headed out to sea this morning when he heard a tsunami was coming.
“It’s the safest place to be in a tsunami,” Maclean said. “I have a substantial investment here I have to protect.”
A few other fishermen out at Pillar Point Harbor were following his lead this morning.
“There’s a big swell that seems to building, but I don’t think it’s coming from a tsunami. I think its coming from a storm,” said Maclean, who was about six miles off the Half Moon Bay shore as of 9:05 a.m. “I think it’s not going to hit as severely as they predicted.”
It was a similar scene along Highway 17 at Summit Road.
The first waves hit the Monterey Harbor at about 7:50 a.m. and were about 2.4 feet higher than what is normally seen, according to Diana Henderson of the weather service. Waves first hit San Francisco at about 8:20 p.m.
Once the first waves arrive, the warning may remain in effect for hours. The waves could peak two to three hours after their initial arrival.
“It’s not just one big wave,” said Diana Henderson, a forecaster with the weather service. “It’s a series of waves which could be dangerous for as much as 10 to 10 hours after the initial wave arrival.”
The tsunami warning didn’t prevent the usual crop of surfers from taking to the water off Pleasure Point in Santa Cruz. A crowd of six at sunrise at the spot known as The Hook at the base of 41st Avenue had swelled to 20 by 7 a.m.
While a few were playing it safe — “I’m getting out by 7:30; can’t justify it to the wife and kids,” said one — others seemed to be passing it off as a typically overhyped natural event that may or may not even be noticed.
By 7:30 a.m., minutes from the tsunami’s expected arrival, the water was still littered with surfers and a half dozen more were perched atop the cliff above, deciding whether to put on their own wetsuits and paddle out. Though an electronic sign next to O’Neill Surf Shop on 41st Avenue flashed “TSUNAMI WARNING,” more cars were pressing onward than turning back — a number of them with surfboards strapped to the roof.
In San Mateo County at the intersection of Highway 92 and Skyline Boulevard, about 1,000 cars were parked along both roadways as residents of Half Moon Bay looked to find higher ground. At 8:30 a.m., the roadway resembled a strip mall parking lot as vehicles jammed into medians, breakdown areas and along the shoulder.
While some people remained in their cars, there were some children playing on a grassy area near the median.
Martin Quijano, 25, of Half Moon Bay, received a phone call from a friend at about 4 a.m. and immediately got into his car and drove toward Skyline Boulevard. At first he was scared but is now anxious to get home.
CHP officer Art Montiel is urging motorists to try and park on Skyline Boulevard.
San Mateo County school districts in Half Moon Bay, Pacifica and the Pescadero area were all closed Friday as officials waited for the tsunami.
Officials in Pacifica set up shelters at Terra Nova and Oceana high schools, but the only people who showed up were looking to get a better view of the waves. Oceana High sits on a hill and overlooks the ocean.
“There’s nobody in the shelter except the people running it,” Oceana Principal April Holland said. “We had almost nobody show up.”
At San Francisco International Airport, all inbound flights from Tokyo are canceled, but all Hawaiian flights are operating normally, airport spokesman Mike McCarron said.
In Northern California, waves could reach as high as 5.3 feet, according to the weather service.
The tide began rising shortly after 7:30 a.m. along beaches in Crescent City, where the tsunami was expected to hit the hardest in California. Officials predicted that waves could reach as high as 7 feet.
In Santa Cruz, access to the beach flats including the Boardwalk and municipal wharf will be closed for the duration of the tsunami warning, according to police. The road closings include: Beach Street at Municipal Wharf, Riverside Avenue at Third Street, Laurel Street Extension at Third Street and Pacific Avenue at Center Street.
Santa Cruz city officials advised about 6,600 people in the city’s tsunami inundation zone to evacuate, according to Deputy Police Chief Steve Clark. The order is an advisory, not mandatory. That includes the Beach Flats area, along West Cliff Drive, the harbor area and along the San Lorenzo River.
Officials in San Francisco closed Great Highway, Ocean Beach and other city beaches.
Although emergency officials are reminding residents to avoid the coastlines today, there are plenty of onlookers trying to catch a glimpse of the waves.
As spectators gathered near the Pacifica boardwalk, a couple walking their dog along the sea wall said they weren’t frightened by the reports and had no intention of evacuating. They were dubious of news and weather reports.
“They also told us it was going to snow a few weeks ago,” said Matt Jetty, 31, of Pacifica.
Mark Johnsson, a geologist from the California Coastal Commission, said onlookers were probably expecting movie-style waves.
“Hollywood made it seem like big, huge crashing waves,” Johnsson said. “But it’s more just a big, gradual inundation.”
Johnsson was out from 8 to 9 a.m. In that hour, he said he had seen two tsunami waves.
One man hopped over the sea wall and onto the beach.
“I wouldn’t be walking on that beach right now. No way.” Johnsson said.

>Japanese nuclear reactor in peril

>

Japanese authorities and the U.S. military on Saturday were racing to find ways to deliver new backup generators or batteries to a nuclear power reactor whose cooling facilities have been crippled by a loss of power as a result of the earthquake.
The reactor, owned by Tokyo Electric Power Co., is currently drawing on battery power that may last only a few hours. Without electricity, the reactor will be unable to pump water to cool its hot reactor core, possibly leading to a meltdown or some other release of radioactive material.
Japanese authorities informed the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Incident and Emergency Center that they have ordered the evacuation of about 3,000 residents within a 1.9-mile radius of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, and told people within a 16.2-mile radius to remain indoors, according to the IAEA Web site.
The cooling problem is with the second of six reactors at the plant, located on the east coast of Japan about 200 miles north of Tokyo and south of the heavily damaged town of Sendai. Separately there were reports of elevated radiation levels inside the control room of one of the other reactor units, which was built 40 years ago. Sources said that the authorities were contemplating venting from that unit.
Altogether, 11 Japanese nuclear reactors shut down automatically as they are designed to do in case of an earthquake.
“The multi-reactor Fukushima atomic power plant is now relying on battery power, which will only last around eight hours,” said Kevin Kamps, a specialist in nuclear waste at Beyond Nuclear, a group devoted to highlighting the perils of nuclear power. “The danger is the very thermally hot reactor cores at the plant must be continuously cooled for 24 to 48 hours. Without any electricity, the pumps won’t be able to pump water through the hot reactor cores to cool them.”
“There’s a basic cooling system that requires power, which they don’t have,” said Glenn McCullough, former chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority who has been keeping track of the situation in Japan. He said that as a result of the tsunami, water had gotten into the diesel generators that would otherwise have provided backup power.
In a statement that confused nuclear experts, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday morning that U.S. Air Force planes in Japan had delivered “coolant” to a nuclear power plant affected by the quake. Nuclear reactors do not use special coolants, only large amounts of pumped water.
“They have very high engineering standards, but one of their plants came under a lot of stress with the earthquake and didn’t have enough coolant,” she said, “and so Air Force planes were able to deliver that.” It remained unclear what the Air Force had delivered.
Just hours after the quake, Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) declared a heightened state of alert at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, according to the IAEA. NISA said that no release of radiation has been detected.
The evacuation comes after NISA said Friday that a fire broke out at the Onagawa nuclear power plant but was later extinguished.
The plant is about 45 miles north of the city of Sendai, which was badly damaged by the deadly earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan Friday afternoon. Sendai is the population center nearest the epicenter of the quake, and Japan’s Kyodo News agency said that more than 200 bodies had been found so far near the city.
The key buildings in the Onagawa plant are about 15 meters above sea level, according to the Web site of Tohoku Electric Power, owner of the plant. The company said that was about twice the height of the previous highest tsunami.
Japanese authorities told the IAEA that that the Onagawa, Fukushima-Daini and Tokai nuclear power plants shut down automatically, and no radiation release has been detected. The plants have multiple nuclear reactors.
The IAEA said it is seeking details on Fukushima Daiichi and other nuclear power plants and research reactors, including information on off-site and on-site electrical power supplies, cooling systems and the condition of the reactor buildings. Nuclear fuel requires continued cooling even after a plant is shut down, the IAEA noted. “This is the most challenging seismic event on record, so it is a severe test,” said McCullough. “Clearly the Japanese government is taking this very seriously.”

>Earthquake and Tsunami (Video Gallery)

>

Hawaii ordered evacuations from coastal areas due to the threat of a tidal wave set off by Friday’s earthquake in Japan as a tsunami warning was extended to the whole of the Pacific basin, except mainland United States and Canada.
Authorities also ordered evacuation from low-lying areas on the U.S. island territory of Guam in the western Pacific, where residents there were urged to move at least 50 feet (15 meters) above sea level and 100 feet (30 meters) inland.
The U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the warning extended from Mexico down the Pacific coast of South America.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies warned that the tsunami is currently higher than some Pacific islands which it could wash over.
The quake off Japan’s northeast coast was the biggest in 140 years and triggered tsunami waves of up to 10 meters (30 feet) that swept across farmland, sweeping away homes, crops, vehicles and triggering fires. [ID:nL3E7EB0MF]
The tsunami warning issued late on Thursday for Hawaii prompted civil defense officials to order all Hawaiian coastal areas evacuated. The warning said that all islands in the Hawaiian chain were in the path of potential damage from a tsunami generated by the quake.
The government advisory put the estimated arrival time in Hawaii of a first tsunami wave 3 a.m. local time, the advisory said.
Civil defense sirens blared statewide shortly before 10 p.m. local time to alert residents.
“Each individual wave crest can last five to 15 minutes or more and extensively flood coastal areas,” the advisory statement warned. “The danger can continue for many hours after the initial wave as subsequent waves arrive.”
The statement also said that debris carried by a tsunami could amplify its destructive force, said it warned that “urgent action should be taken to protect lives and property.”
The state civil defense agency ordered all coastal areas for the entire state evacuated no later than 2 a.m. local time. The evacuation zone includes the famous Waikiki Beach, the main hotel and tourist hub in Honolulu on the island of Oahu, and traffic in the area soon grew heavy.
Lines of cars began to form at gasoline service stations on Oahu as motorists gassed up their vehicles.
In the town of Kailua, police with bullhorns were urging people to higher ground.
Ocean waves up to 6 feet (2 meters) above normal sea level were detected by deep-ocean gauges near Wake island, Midway and Guam in the North Pacific, said Chip McCreary, a spokesman for the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

>Japan tsunami damage follows 8.9 earthquake (Foto Gallery)

>

Japanese television has shown major tsunami damage in northern Japan, following a strong 8.9-magnitude earthquake.Public broadcaster NHK showed cars, trucks, houses and buildings being swept away by the tsunami in Onahama city in Fukushima prefecture.

Japanese television has shown major tsunami damage in northern Japan, following a strong 8.9-magnitude earthquake.Public broadcaster NHK showed cars, trucks, houses and buildings being swept away by the tsunami in Onahama city in Fukushima prefecture.
Scores of cars were seen floating in Iwate prefecture harbour, local TV said, while the Tokyo Fire department says many people were injured after a roof caved in during a school graduation ceremony at a hall in east Tokyo.Japan earlier issued its top tsunami warning in response to the major offshore earthquake, which strongly swayed buildings 400 kilometres away in Tokyo and sent people fleeing onto the streets. The quake struck at 2.46pm local time, 130 kilometers off the coast of Sendai and about 382 kilometres northeast of Tokyo, hitting at a depth of 24 kilometers. The meteorological agency issued its top-level evacuation alerts for the entire Japanese coast, Russia and the Mariana Islands, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said.The quake was initially measured as a magnitude 7.9 but was upgraded. Andrew Stevens, an Australian expat working in central Tokyo, told Fairfax Media the earthquake started small but got “bigger and bigger”. “(It) shook maybe 2-3 minutes,” he said, via email, adding that his mobile phone network was out.National broadcaster NHK Television showed images of people getting medical treatment and footage of a tsunami engulfing a warehouse in Kamaishi in Iwate prefecture, with cars and trucks submerged. Ships were shown smashing into harbor walls. Tokyo’s Narita airport shut down, Kyodo News reported. Haneda, the capital’s other main airport, was also closed, NHK said. The government has set up an earthquake response team and Minister Naoto Kan returned to his office from parliament to convene his team. Smoke could be seen rising from a building in Tokyo port. Shinkansen bullet trains stopped when the quake struck, while Tokyo port has shut all 19 of its water gates as it prepares for the tsunami. Japan’s Coast Guard is halting ships on their way to entering Tokyo’s port,said Takashi Mifune, spokesman for the Bureau of Port and Harbor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. Japan’s meteorological agency said the quake struck at 2.46pm (4.46pm AEDST) local time at a depth of 10km, 125km off the eastern coast. Footage on national broadcaster NHK from their Sendai office showed employees stumbling around and books and papers crashing from desks. Police and coast guard officials said they were assessing possible damage from the quake. The yen tumbled against the dollar after the quake, falling to 83.30 against the dollar from 82.81 before the quake struck. Several quakes had hit the same region in recent days, including a 7.3 magnitude one on Wednesday. The Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre said there was no tsunami threat to Australia.

>Tsunami hits north-eastern Japan after massive quake

>

A massive earthquake has hit the northeast of Japan triggering a tsunami that has caused extensive damage. Japan’s TV showed cars, ships and even buildings being swept away the Fukushima prefecture, after the 8.8 magnitude earthquake. Officials said a wave as high as 6m (20ft) could strike the coast. The quake struck about 250 miles (400km) from Tokyo at a depth of 20 miles, shaking building in the capital for several minutes.The tremor at 1446 local time (0546 GMT) was followed by a series of powerful aftershocks.