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Revealed: new evidence links Brazil meat giant JBS to Amazon deforestation
New evidence appears to connect JBS, the world's biggest meat company, to cattle supplied from a farm in the Brazilian Amazon which is under sanction for illegal deforestation.
This is the fifth time in a year that allegations have surfaced connecting the company to Amazon farmers linked with illegal deforestation.
Brazilian beef companies have repeatedly claimed that the biggest challenge to keeping deforestation out of their supply chains is the "indirect suppliers" – farms where cattle are birthed, or which sell to farms where cattle are fattened, which then sell on to other farms or to slaughterhouses. JBS and other major beef firms Minerva and Marfrig all say that although they closely monitor their direct suppliers – the farms that supply slaughterhouses directly – they cannot be sure that there is no deforestation further up the supply chain because they cannot monitor indirect suppliers.
But a joint investigation by Reporter Brasil, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the Guardian has uncovered photographs taken by a JBS truck driver last summer which appear to show him transporting cattle from a farm with land under embargo after a deforestation fine, to a "clean" farm which then sold cattle on to JBS. These appear to indicate that JBS is in contact with at least one indirect supplier who has been sanctioned for deforestation.
Whilst JBS has disputed the allegations, the evidence raises serious questions about JBS's review of its own complex supply chain, at a time when the Brazilian government is being taken to task by international investors over rising deforestation and fires.
The company has already been alleged to have been buying cattle from indirect suppliers linked to environmental offences, deforestation and other crimes in the Amazon four times in just over a year in investigations by the Guardian, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and Reporter Brasil, and Greenpeace and Amnesty International.
This time, the apparent link between an indirect supplier and JBS was inadvertently revealed by one of its own employees. In July last year, a truck driver took photographs of himself in his JBS uniform, and of his JBS truck, by a sign marked "Fazenda Estrela do Aripuana – 15km" at the southern end of the Amazon rainforest. Fazenda Estrela do Aripuana is a farm near the town of Aripuana, in the north-west of Mato Grosso state, operated by Ronaldo Venceslau Rodrigues da Cunha. His company, according to its website, currently breeds and fattens 102,000 cattle across 16 sites spanning some 72,000 hectares of pasture.
Da Cunha was fined R2.2m (GBP340,000) in 2012 for deforestation of rainforest on land at Aripuana. Records published by Brazil's environment agency Ibama show 1,455 hectares of land placed under an official embargo – which prohibits cattle grazing – as a result of the deforestation. Embargoes are imposed for environmental violations and serve both as a punishment and protective measure to allow land to recover.
The investigation also found that the Aripuana farm was ravaged by multiple forest fires between 2018 and 2019 by cross-referencing datasets with maps showing the farm's boundaries. Da Cunha was asked to comment but did not respond.
According to the truck driver's Facebook posts at the time, he and other drivers were collecting cattle for JBS from the Aripuana farm and trucking them to a second farm run by Da Cunha, Fazenda Estrela do Sangue, just 300km south.
The Sangue farm has not been subject to embargoes so on paper would be seen as a "clean" supplier under JBS's sourcing protocols.
Although the driver's Facebook posts detail just one journey between the two farms, cattle are regularly transported from the Aripuana farm to Sangue.
Cattle movement records show that from June 2018 to August 2019, at least 7,000 animals were dispatched from the first farm to the second. Separate records reveal Sangue farm sent some 7,000 cattle to JBS abattoirs in Juina and Juara in Mato Grosso between November 2018 and November 2019.
Further posts by the driver appear to show him trucking cattle between different farms, rather than from farms to an abattoir. These routes between multiple farms as well as abattoirs have been described as "three-legged journeys" by JBS executives in interviews, and appear to be standard operating procedure for the company.
Although government data appears to show the farm identified in the travel documents and by the driver is under embargo, JBS disputes this. When the Guardian asked for clarification of the complex land registrations for Estrela do Aripuana, and the specifics of the cattle collections, JBS stated: "Our system cross references the best available information based on the CAR [rural land registration] map of the property, along with its geographic coordinates, against Ibama [national environmental agency] data. In this particular instance, the collection farm was not shown to be within any embargoed area. We constantly review how our system protocols interact with most up-to-date data available and are determined to enforce our strict company policies as have been identified to you."
They added: "JBS is working closely with national and local government departments to develop solutions and system improvements around supply chain traceability and best agricultural practice to eradicate deforestation. The interests of all stakeholders are aligned on this topic."
The company has been working for some time on improving its monitoring systems, and has just brought a new system into use.
"As you know the 'theoretical index' of livestock productivity was implemented on 1 July 2020 and is expected to make a significant impact in the reduction of cattle laundering. With new tools such as this, and the active development of other initiatives we are collaborating on with our stakeholders, we are working towards a completely transparent supply chain."
JBS said its "theoretical index" has "already identified cases which are under investigation". It is also working on a "green" version of cattle movement records with Brazil's agriculture ministry that would show the environmental status of supplying farms. These would be automatically cross-referenced with lists of embargoed farms. Last year the company said it had been discussing this plan with the ministry since 2014.
"JBS's direct suppliers would be able to verify in a very simple and cost-free way the environmental status of the company's indirect suppliers," it said. "Tracing of the whole meat supply chain, although a complex task, could be achieved in the medium term."
Exports of Brazilian beef by the country's three meat giants – JBS, Minerva and Marfrig – have risen significantly over the last three years, and are found in British and European supermarkets.
"All over Europe there is a cattle tracing system so that people know where calves are born and they can be traced through their lives," said British MP Angus MacNeil. "Brazil needs to clean up its act with regards to cattle traceability or surely nations will have to act in the face of such potential flagrant violations."
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Are you waking up each day looking for that perfect thing, activity, or job that will make your life work? Or, maybe you are looking for that perfect relationship. Once you "get" this new thing, you are sure that you will be happy forever. In reality, life doesn't work like that. In fact, we would get bored if it did! There is likely no one thing, experience, or activity that will keep you feeling passionate and engaged all the time. What's important is staying connected to what you love and continuing to grow in the process.
So many people walk around in life "looking for" their passion. They look for it as if passion is some mysterious thing that is difficult to find and runs away once you find it. Yet, the problem is rarely lack of passion. Most of us already know what we love to do. We know what excites us, even if we haven't done it for years. Instead, we focus on what we think we "must" do. For example, maybe you love building model cars or painting pet portraits. Yet, each day you work a completely unrelated job and make no time for the activity you already know you love. The truth is you probably don't need to find your passion, you just need to start doing what you already know you love.
Even people who are living their dream lifestyle or working their dream job don't usually love it all the time. Every job or lifestyle has parts of it that we won't like. Let's say your dream is to become an actress, and you succeed. You may not enjoy the process of auditioning and facing rejection. You may experience moments of boredom when you practice your lines over and over again. But the overall experience is totally worth it. Most of life is like that. Don't set yourself up for disappointment by demanding that life be perfect all the time.
Living a life you love is unlikely to be easy. If it was, you would not grow very much as a person. And, if you think about a great book or movie or story, the growth of the main character is what matters most. What if the challenges you meet along your path to living a life you love were designed to make you grow as a person? You may actually start looking forward to challenges instead of dreading them. An easy life is hardly ever a compelling story.
Many people claim they want to do something, yet they don't do it. The truth is they might not really want to do it in the first place. We all end up following through on what matters most to us. We make decisions moment by moment about what we need to focus on. What we choose to do is what we deem most important in our lives. If there is something you claim you want to do but you don't do it, try asking yourself how much you want it. Are there other things you want more? Be honest with yourself: what you currently do each day is a reflection of your priorities. Recognize that you can change your priorities at any time.
If you love what you do, each day becomes a joyful adventure. If you don't love what you do, life feels like a chore. The best way to achieve success is to design a life you love and live it every day.


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Wasurenai - Never Forget - Japan Earthquake, Tsunami and Fukushima disaster March 11, 2011
3.11 Disaster
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The 2011 earthquake off the Pacific coast of Tōhoku (Tōhoku-chihō Taiheiyō Oki Jishin), often referred to in Japan as Higashi nihon daishin-sai and also known as the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, the Great East Japan Earthquake, and the 3.11 Earthquake, was a magnitude 9.03 (Mw) undersea megathrust earthquake off the coast of Japan that occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on 11 March 2011, with the epicentre approximately 70 kilometres (43 mi) east of the Oshika Peninsula of Tōhoku and the hypocenter at an underwater depth of approximately 32 km (20 mi). It was the most powerful known earthquake ever to have hit Japan, and one of the five most powerful earthquakes in the world since modern record-keeping began in 1900. The earthquake triggered powerful tsunami waves that reached heights of up to 40.5 metres (133 ft) in Miyako in Tōhoku's Iwate Prefecture, and which, in the Sendai area, travelled up to 10 km (6 mi) inland. The earthquake moved Honshu (the main island of Japan) 2.4 m (8 ft) east and shifted the Earth on its axis by estimates of between 10 cm (4 in) and 25 cm (10 in).
On 12 September 2012, a Japanese National Police Agency report confirmed 15,870 deaths, 6,114 injured, and 2,814 people missing across twenty prefectures, as well as 129,225 buildings totally collapsed, with a further 254,204 buildings 'half collapsed', and another 691,766 buildings partially damaged. The earthquake and tsunami also caused extensive and severe structural damage in north-eastern Japan, including heavy damage to roads and railways as well as fires in many areas, and a dam collapse. Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said, "In the 65 years after the end of World War II, this is the toughest and the most difficult crisis for Japan." Around 4.4 million households in northeastern Japan were left without electricity and 1.5 million without water.
The tsunami caused nuclear accidents, primarily the level 7 meltdowns at three reactors in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant complex, and the associated evacuation zones affecting hundreds of thousands of residents. Many electrical generators were taken down, and at least three nuclear reactors suffered explosions due to hydrogen gas that had built up within their outer containment buildings after cooling system failure. Residents within a 20 km (12 mi) radius of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant and a 10 km (6.2 mi) radius of the Fukushima Daini Nuclear Power Plant were evacuated. In addition, the U.S. recommended that its citizens evacuate up to 80 km (50 mi) of the plant.
Early estimates placed insured losses from the earthquake alone at US$14.5 to $34.6 billion. The Bank of Japan offered ¥15 trillion (US$183 billion) to the banking system on 14 March in an effort to normalize market conditions. The World Bank's estimated economic cost was US$235 billion, making it the most expensive natural disaster in world history.
The 9.0 magnitude (MW) undersea megathrust earthquake occurred on 11 March 2011 at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) in the north-western Pacific Ocean at a relatively shallow depth of 32 km (19.9 mi), with its epicenter approximately 72 km (45 mi) east of the Oshika Peninsula of Tōhoku, Japan, lasting approximately six minutes. The earthquake was initially reported as 7.9 MW by the USGS before it was quickly upgraded to 8.8 MW, then to 8.9 MW, and then finally to 9.0 MW. Sendai was the nearest major city to the earthquake, 130 km (81 mi) from the epicenter; the earthquake occurred 373 km (232 mi) from Tokyo.
The main earthquake was preceded by a number of large foreshocks, with hundreds of aftershocks reported. The first major foreshock was a 7.2 MW event on 9 March, approximately 40 km (25 mi) from the epicenter of the 11 March earthquake, with another three on the same day in excess of 6.0 MW. Following the main earthquake on 11 March, a 7.0 MW aftershock was reported at 15:06 JST (6:06 UTC), succeeded by a 7.4 MW at 15:15 JST (6:16 UTC) and a 7.2 MW at 15:26 JST (6:26 UTC). Over eight hundred aftershocks of magnitude 4.5 MW or greater have occurred since the initial quake. Aftershocks follow Omori's Law, which states that the rate of aftershocks declines with the reciprocal of the time since the main quake. The aftershocks will thus taper off in time, but could continue for years.
One minute before the earthquake was felt in Tokyo, the Earthquake Early Warning system, which includes more than 1,000 seismometers in Japan, sent out warnings of impending strong shaking to millions. It is believed that the early warning by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) saved many lives. The warning for the general public was delivered about 8 seconds after the first P wave was detected, or about 31 seconds after the earthquake occurred. However, the estimated intensities were smaller than the actual ones in some places in Kanto and Tohoku regions. This was thought to be because of smaller estimated earthquake magnitude, smaller estimated fault plane, shorter estimated fault length, not having considered the shape of the fault, etc. There were also cases where large differences between estimated intensities by the Earthquake Early Warning system and the actual intensities occurred in the aftershocks and triggered earthquakes.
This earthquake occurred where the Pacific Plate is subducting under the plate beneath northern Honshu; which plate is a matter of debate amongst scientists. The Pacific plate, which moves at a rate of 8 to 9 cm (3.1 to 3.5 in) per year, dips under Honshu's underlying plate releasing large amounts of energy. This motion pulls the upper plate down until the stress builds up enough to cause a seismic event. The break caused the sea floor to rise by several meters. A quake of this magnitude usually has a rupture length of at least 480 km (300 mi) and generally requires a long, relatively straight fault surface. Because the plate boundary and subduction zone in the area of the rupture is not very straight, it is unusual for the magnitude of an earthquake to exceed 8.5; the magnitude of this earthquake was a surprise to some seismologists.The hypocentral region of this earthquake extended from offshore Iwate Prefecture to offshore Ibaraki Prefecture. The Japanese Meteorological Agency said that the earthquake may have ruptured the fault zone from Iwate to Ibaraki with a length of 500 km (310 mi) and a width of 200 km (120 mi). Analysis showed that this earthquake consisted of a set of three events. The earthquake may have had a mechanism similar to that of another large earthquake in 869 with an estimated surface wave magnitude (Ms) of 8.6, which also created a large tsunami. Other major earthquakes with tsunamis struck the Sanriku Coast region in 1896 and in 1933.
In a study of N. Uchida and T. Matsuzawa, it was pointed out that the source area of this earthquake has a relatively high coupling coefficient surrounded by areas of relatively low coupling coefficients in the west, north, and south. From the averaged coupling coefficient of 0.5~0.8 in the source area and the seismic moment, it was estimated that the slip deficit of this earthquake was accumulated over a period of 260~880 years, which is consistent with the recurrence interval of such great earthquakes estimated from the tsunami deposit data. The seismic moment of this earthquake accounts for about 93% of the estimated cumulative moment from 1926 to March 2011. Hence, earthquakes with magnitudes about 7 since 1926 in this area only had released part of the accumulated energy. In the area near the trench, the coupling coefficient is high, which could act as the source of the large tsunami.
Most of the foreshocks are interplate earthquakes with thrust-type focal mechanisms. Both interplate and intraplate earthquakes appeared in the aftershocks offshore Sanriku coast with considerable proportions.
The strong ground motion registered at the maximum of 7 on the Japan Meteorological Agency seismic intensity scale in Kurihara, Miyagi Prefecture. Three other prefectures - Fukushima, Ibaraki and Tochigi—recorded an upper 6 on the JMA scale. Seismic stations in Iwate, Gunma, Saitama and Chiba Prefecture measured a lower 6, recording an upper 5 in Tokyo.
In Russia, the main shock could be felt in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (MSK 4) and Kurilsk (MSK 4). The aftershock at 06:25 UTC could be felt in Yuzhno-Kurilsk (MSK 5) and Kurilsk (MSK 4).
This earthquake released a surface energy (Me) of 1.9 ± 0.5×1017 joules, dissipated as shaking and tsunamic energy, which is nearly double that of the 9.1-magnitude 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami that killed 230,000 people. If harnessed, the surface energy from this earthquake would power a city the size of Los Angeles for an entire year. The total energy released, also known as the seismic moment (M0), was more than 200,000 times the surface energy and was calculated by the USGS at 3.9×1022 joules, slightly less than the 2004 Indian Ocean quake. This is equivalent to 9,320 gigatons of TNT, or approximately 600 million times the energy of the Little Boy bomb.
Japan's National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED) calculated a peak ground acceleration of 2.99 g (29.33 m/s²). The largest individual recording in Japan was 2.7g, in the Miyagi Prefecture, 75 km from the epicentre; the highest reading in the Tokyo metropolitan area was 0.16g.
Geophysical effects
The quake moved portions of northeastern Japan by as much as 2.4 m (7.9 ft) closer to North America, making portions of Japan's landmass wider than before. Portions of Japan closest to the epicenter experienced the largest shifts. A 400 km (250 mi) stretch of coastline dropped vertically by 0.6 m (2.0 ft), allowing the tsunami to travel farther and faster onto land. One early estimate suggested that the Pacific plate may have moved westward by up to 20 m (66 ft), and another early estimate put the amount of slippage at as much as 40 m (130 ft). On 6 April the Japanese coast guard said that the quake shifted the seabed near the epicenter 24 meters (79 ft) and elevated the seabed off the coast of Miyagi prefecture by 3 meters. A report by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, published in Science on 2 December 2011, concluded that the seabed in the area between the epicenter and the Japan Trench moved 50 meters east-southeast and rose about 7 meters as a result of the quake. The report also stated that the quake had caused several major landslides on the seabed in the affected area.
The earthquake shifted the Earth's axis by estimates of between 10 cm (4 in) and 25 cm (10 in). This deviation led to a number of small planetary changes, including the length of a day, the tilt of the Earth, and the Chandler wobble. The speed of the Earth's rotation increased, shortening the day by 1.8 microseconds due to the redistribution of Earth's mass. The axial shift was caused by the redistribution of mass on the Earth's surface, which changed the planet's moment of inertia. Because of conservation of angular momentum, such changes of inertia result in small changes to the Earth's rate of rotation. These are expected changes for an earthquake of this magnitude.
Soil liquefaction was evident in areas of reclaimed land around Tokyo, particularly in Urayasu, Chiba City, Funabashi, Narashino (all in Chiba Prefecture) and in the Koto, Edogawa, Minato, Chūō, and Ōta Wards of Tokyo. Approximately 30 homes or buildings were destroyed and 1,046 other buildings were damaged to varying degrees. Nearby Haneda Airport, built mostly on reclaimed land, was not damaged. Odaiba also experienced liquefaction, but damage was minimal.
Shinmoedake, a volcano in Kyushu, erupted two days after the earthquake. The volcano had previously erupted in January 2011; it is not known if the later eruption was linked to the earthquake. In Antarctica, the seismic waves from the earthquake were reported to have caused the Whillans Ice Stream to slip by about 0.5 m (1.6 ft).
The first sign international researchers had that the earthquake caused such a dramatic change in the Earth's rotation came from the United States Geographical Survey which monitors Global Positioning Satellite stations across the world. The Survey team had several GPS monitors located near the scene of the earthquake. The GPS station located nearest the epicenter moved almost 13 feet (4.0 m). This motivated government researchers to look into other ways the earthquake may have had large scale effects on the planet. Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory did some calculations and determined that the Earth's rotation was changed by the earthquake to the point where the days are now one point eight (1.8) microseconds shorter.
Dr. Richard Gross, one of the head researchers working for NASA, explained that even a difference of 1.8 microseconds is important to his team because it affects the way that spacecraft being sent to Mars are navigated. Not taking the changes into account could increase the chances of failure of the mission. Gross noted that the way the Earth rotates is not very smooth, like an old car wobbling on its axle. The earthquake's effect was as if a person took a hammer and whacked the car's axle, causing it to shift and the car to drive differently. The powerful earthquake hit the Earth's axle, causing it to spin in a slightly different way.
Aftershocks
Japan experienced over 1000 aftershocks since the earthquake, with 80 registering over magnitude 6.0 Mw and three of which were over magnitude 7.0 Mw. A magnitude 7.7 Mw and a 7.9 Mw quake occurred on 11 March and the third one struck offshore on 7 April with a disputed magnitude. Its epicenter was underwater, 66 km (41 mi) off the coast of Sendai. The Japan Meteorological Agency assigned a magnitude of 7.4 MJMA, while the U.S. Geological Survey lowered it to 7.1 Mw. At least four people were killed, and electricity was cut off across much of northern Japan including the loss of external power to Higashidori Nuclear Power Plant and Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant. Four days later on 11 April, another strong magnitude 6.6 Mw aftershock struck Fukushima, causing additional damage and killing a total of three people.
As of 16 Mar 2012 aftershocks continued, totaling 1887 events over magnitude 4.0; a regularly updated map showing all shocks of magnitude 4.5 and above near or off the east coast of Honshu in the last seven days showed over 20 events.
Further information: List of foreshocks and aftershocks of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake
The earthquake, caused by 5 to 8 meters upthrust on a 180-km wide seabed at 60 km offshore from the east coast of Tōhoku, resulted in a major tsunami that brought destruction along the Pacific coastline of Japan's northern islands. Thousands of lives were lost when entire towns were devastated. The tsunami propagated throughout the Pacific Ocean region reaching the entire Pacific coast of North and South America from Alaska to Chile. Warnings were issued and evacuations carried out in many countries bordering the Pacific. However, while the tsunami affected many of these places, the extent was minor. Chile's Pacific coast, one of the furthest from Japan at about 17,000 km (11,000 mi) distant, was struck by waves 2 m (6.6 ft) high, compared with an estimated wave height of 38.9 meters (128 ft) at Omoe peninsula, Miyako city, Japan.
The tsunami warning issued by the Japan Meteorological Agency was the most serious on its warning scale; it rated as a "major tsunami", being at least 3 m (9.8 ft) high. The actual height prediction varied, the greatest being for Miyagi at 6 m (20 ft) high. The tsunami inundated a total area of approximately 561 km2 (217 sq mi) in Japan.
The earthquake took place at 14:46 JST around 67 km (42 mi) from the nearest point on Japan's coastline, and initial estimates indicated the tsunami would have taken 10 to 30 minutes to reach the areas first affected, and then areas farther north and south based on the geography of the coastline. Just over an hour after the earthquake at 15:55 JST, a tsunami was observed flooding Sendai Airport, which is located near the coast of Miyagi Prefecture, with waves sweeping away cars and planes and flooding various buildings as they traveled inland. The image of the tsunami sweeping cars on the street in Sendai was caught by an in-car camera. The impact of the tsunami in and around Sendai Airport was filmed by an NHK News helicopter, showing a number of vehicles on local roads trying to escape the approaching wave and being engulfed by it. A 4 m high tsunami hit Iwate Prefecture. Wakabayashi Ward in Sendai was also particularly hard hit. At least 101 designated tsunami evacuation sites were hit by the wave.
Like the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, the damage by surging water, though much more localized, was far more deadly and destructive than the actual quake. There were reports of entire towns destroyed from tsunami-hit areas in Japan, including 9,500 missing in Minamisanriku; one thousand bodies had been recovered in the town by 14 March 2011.
Among several factors causing the high death toll from the tsunami, one was the unexpectedly large size of the water surge. The tsunami walls at several of the affected cities were based on much smaller tsunami heights. Also, many people caught in the tsunami thought that they were located on high enough ground to be safe.
Large parts of Kuji and the southern section of Ōfunato including the port area were almost entirely destroyed. Also largely destroyed was Rikuzentakata, where the tsunami was reportedly three stories high. Other cities reportedly destroyed or heavily damaged by the tsunami include Kamaishi, Miyako, Ōtsuchi, and Yamada (in Iwate Prefecture), Namie, Sōma and Minamisōma (in Fukushima Prefecture) and Shichigahama, Higashimatsushima, Onagawa, Natori, Ishinomaki, and Kesennuma (in Miyagi Prefecture).
The most severe effects of the tsunami were felt along a 670-km (420 mi)-long stretch of coastline from Erimo, Hokkaido, in the north to Ōarai, Ibaraki, in the south, with most of the destruction in that area occurring in the hour following the earthquake. Near Ōarai, people captured images of a huge whirlpool that had been generated by the tsunami. The tsunami washed away the sole bridge to Miyatojima, Miyagi, isolating the island's 900 residents. A two meter high tsunami hit Chiba Prefecture about 2 1/2 hours after the quake, causing heavy damage to cities such as Asahi.
On 13 March 2011, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) published details of tsunami observations recorded around the coastline of Japan following the earthquake. These observations included tsunami maximum readings of over 3 m (9.8 ft) at the following locations and times on 11 March 2011, following the earthquake at 14:46 JST.
Many areas were also affected by waves of 1 to 3 meters (3.3 to 9.8 ft) in height, and the JMA bulletin also included the caveat that "At some parts of the coasts, tsunamis may be higher than those observed at the observation sites." The timing of the earliest recorded tsunami maximum readings ranged from 15:12 to 15:21, between 26 and 35 minutes after the earthquake had struck. The bulletin also included initial tsunami observation details, as well as more detailed maps for the coastlines affected by the tsunami waves.
A joint research team from Yokohama National University and the University of Tokyo also reported that the tsunami at Ryōri Bay (綾里白浜), Ōfunato was about 30 m high. They found fishing equipment scattered on the high cliff above the bay. At Tarō, Iwate, a University of Tokyo researcher reported an estimated tsunami height of 37.9 m (124 ft) reached the slope of a mountain some 200 m (656 ft) away from the coastline. Also, at slope of nearby mountain from 400 m (1,312 ft) Aneyoshi fishery port (姉吉漁港) of Omoe peninsula (重茂半島) in Miyako, Iwate, Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology found estimated tsunami run up height of 38.9 m (127 ft). This height is deemed the record in Japan historically, as of reporting date, that exceeds 38.2 m (125 ft) from the 1896 Meiji-Sanriku earthquake. It was also estimated that the tsunami reached heights of up to 40.5 metres (133 ft) in Miyako in Tōhoku's Iwate Prefecture. The inundated areas closely matched those of the 869 Sanriku tsunami.
A Japanese government study found that only 58% of people in coastal areas in Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures heeded tsunami warnings immediately after the quake and headed for higher ground. Of those who attempted to evacuate after hearing the warning, only five percent were caught in the tsunami. Of those who didn't heed the warning, 49% were hit by the water.
Elsewhere across the Pacific
Shortly after the earthquake, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) in Hawaii issued tsunami watches and announcements for locations in the Pacific. At 07:30 UTC, PTWC issued a widespread tsunami warning covering the entire Pacific Ocean. Russia evacuated 11,000 residents from coastal areas of the Kuril Islands.[136] The United States West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning for the coastal areas in most of California, all of Oregon, and the western part of Alaska, and a tsunami advisory covering the Pacific coastlines of most of Alaska, and all of Washington and British Columbia, Canada. In California and Oregon, up to 2.4 m (8 ft) high tsunami surges hit some areas, damaging docks and harbors and causing over US$10 million in damage. In Curry County, Oregon $7 million in damages occurred including the destruction of 3,600 feet (1,100 m) of dockspace at the Brookings harbor; the county has received over $1 million in FEMA emergency grants. Surges of up to 1 m (3.3 ft) hit Vancouver Island in Canada prompting some evacuations, and causing boats to be banned from the waters surrounding the island for 12 hours following the wave strike, leaving many island residents in the area without means of getting to work.
In the Philippines, waves up to 0.5 m (1.6 ft) high hit the eastern seaboard of the country. Some houses along the coast in Jayapura, Indonesia were destroyed. Authorities in Wewak, East Sepik, Papua New Guinea evacuated 100 patients from the city's Boram Hospital before it was hit by the waves, causing an estimated US$4 million in damages. Hawaii estimated damage to public infrastructure alone at US$3 million, with damage to private properties, including resort hotels such as Four Seasons Resort Hualalai, estimated at tens of millions of dollars. It was reported that a 1.5 m (5 ft) high wave completely submerged Midway Atoll's reef inlets and Spit Island, killing more than 110,000 nesting seabirds at the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. Some other South Pacific countries, including Tonga and New Zealand, and U.S. territories American Samoa and Guam, experienced larger-than-normal waves, but did not report any major damage. However in Guam some roads were closed off and people were evacuated from low-lying areas.
Along the Pacific Coast of Mexico and South America, tsunami surges were reported, but in most places caused little or no damage. Peru reported a wave of 1.5 m (5 ft) and more than 300 homes damaged. The surge in Chile was large enough to damage more than 200 houses, with waves of up to 3 m (9.8 ft). In the Galapagos Islands, 260 families received assistance following a 3 m (9.8 ft) surge which arrived 20 hours after the earthquake, after the tsunami warning had been lifted. There was a great deal of damage to buildings on the islands and one man was injured but there were no reported fatalities.
The tsunami broke icebergs off the Sulzberger Ice Shelf in Antarctica, 13,000 kilometres (8,100 mi) away. The main iceberg measured 9.5 by 6.5 kilometres (5.9 mi × 4.0 mi) (approximately the area of Manhattan Island) and about 80 metres (260 ft) thick. A total of 125 square kilometres (48 sq mi; 31,000 acres) of ice broke away.
The National Police Agency has confirmed 15,870 deaths, 6,114 injured, and 2,814 people missing across twenty prefectures.
Of the 13,135 fatalities recovered by 11 April 2011, 12,143 or 92.5% died by drowning. Victims aged 60 or older accounted for 65.2% of the deaths, with 24% of total victims being in their 70s.[163] As of March 2012, Japanese police data showed that 70% of the 3,279 still missing were aged 60 or over, including 893 in their 70s and 577 in their 80s. Of the total confirmed victims, 14,308 drowned, 667 were crushed to death or died from internal injuries, and 145 perished from burns.
Save the Children reports that as many as 100,000 children were uprooted from their homes, some of whom were separated from their families because the earthquake occurred during the school day. 236 children were orphaned in the prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima by the disaster; 1,580 children lost either one or both parents, 846 in Miyagi, 572 in Iwate, and 162 in Fukushima. The quake and tsunami killed 378 elementary, middle-school, and high school students and left 158 others missing. One elementary school in Ishinomaki, Miyagi, Okawa Elementary, lost 74 of 108 students and 10 of 13 teachers and staff.
The Japanese Foreign Ministry has confirmed the deaths of nineteen foreigners. Among them are two English teachers from the United States affiliated with the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program; a Canadian missionary in Shiogama;and citizens of China, North and South Korea, Taiwan, Pakistan and the Philippines.
By 9:30 UTC on 11 March, Google Person Finder, which was previously used in the Haitian, Chilean, and Christchurch, New Zealand earthquakes, was collecting information about survivors and their locations. The Next of Kin Registry (NOKR) is assisting the Japanese government in locating next of kin for those missing or deceased.
Japanese funerals are normally elaborate Buddhist ceremonies which entail cremation. The thousands of bodies, however, exceeded the capacity of available crematoriums and morgues, many of them damaged, and there were shortages of both kerosene - each cremation requires 50 liters - and dry ice for preservation. The single crematorium in Higashimatsushima, for example, could only handle four bodies a day, although hundreds were found there. Governments and the military were forced to bury many bodies in hastily dug mass graves with rudimentary or no rites, although relatives of the deceased were promised that they would be cremated later.
The tsunami is reported to have caused several deaths outside of Japan. One man was killed in Jayapura, Papua, Indonesia after being swept out to sea. A man who is said to have been attempting to photograph the oncoming tsunami at the mouth of the Klamath River, south of Crescent City, California, was swept out to sea. His body was found on 2 April along Ocean Beach in Fort Stevens State Park, Oregon, some 330 miles (530 km) to the north.
Noted individual fatalities within Japan included 104-year old Takashi Shimokawara, holder of the world athletics records in the men's shot put, discus throw and javelin throw for the over-100s age category. He was killed by the earthquake and tsunami at Kamaishi, Iwate.
As of 27 May 2011, three Japan Ground Self-Defense Force members had died while conducting relief operations in Tōhoku. As of March 2012, the Japanese government had recognized 1,331 deaths as indirectly related to the earthquake, such as caused by harsh living conditions after the disaster. As of 30 April 2012, 18 people had died and 420 had been injured while participating in disaster recovery or clean-up efforts.
Damage and effects
The degree and extent of damage caused by the earthquake and resulting tsunami were enormous, with most of the damage being caused by the tsunami. Video footage of the towns that were worst affected shows little more than piles of rubble, with almost no parts of any structures left standing. Estimates of the cost of the damage range well into the tens of billions of US dollars; before-and-after satellite photographs of devastated regions show immense damage to many regions. Although Japan has invested the equivalent of billions of dollars on anti-tsunami seawalls which line at least 40% of its 34,751 km (21,593 mi) coastline and stand up to 12 m (39 ft) high, the tsunami simply washed over the top of some seawalls, collapsing some in the process.
Japan's National Police Agency said on 3 April 2011, that 45,700 buildings were destroyed and 144,300 were damaged by the quake and tsunami. The damaged buildings included 29,500 structures in Miyagi Prefecture, 12,500 in Iwate Prefecture and 2,400 in Fukushima Prefecture. Three hundred hospitals with 20 beds or more in Tōhoku were damaged by the disaster, with 11 being completely destroyed. The earthquake and tsunami created an estimated 24–25 million tons of rubble and debris in Japan.
An estimated 230,000 automobiles and trucks were damaged or destroyed in the disaster. As of the end of May 2011, residents of Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures had requested deregistration of 15,000 vehicles, meaning that the owners of those vehicles were writing them off as unrepairable or unsalvageable.
All of Japan's ports were briefly closed after the earthquake, though the ones in Tokyo and southwards soon re-opened. Fifteen ports were located in the disaster zone. The north-eastern ports of Hachinohe, Sendai, Ishinomaki and Onahama were destroyed, while the Port of Chiba (which serves the hydrocarbon industry) and Japan's ninth-largest container port at Kashima were also affected though less severely. The ports at Hitachinaka, Hitachi, Soma, Shiogama, Kesennuma, Ofunato, Kamashi and Miyako were also damaged and closed to ships. All 15 ports reopened to limited ship traffic by 29 March 2011. A total of 319 fishing ports, about 10% of Japan's fishing ports, were damaged in the disaster. Most were restored to operating condition by 18 April 2012.
The Port of Tokyo suffered slight damage; the effects of the quake included visible smoke rising from a building in the port with parts of the port areas being flooded, including soil liquefaction in Tokyo Disneyland's parking lot.
Dams and water
The Fujinuma irrigation dam in Sukagawa ruptured, causing flooding and washing away five homes. Eight people were missing and four bodies were discovered by the morning. Reportedly, some locals had attempted to repair leaks in the dam before it completely failed. On 12 March, 252 dams were inspected and it was discovered that six embankment dams had shallow cracks on their crests. The reservoir at one concrete gravity dam suffered a small non-serious slope failure. All damaged dams are functioning with no problems. Four dams within the quake area were unreachable. When the roads clear, experts will be dispatched to conduct further investigations.
In the immediate aftermath of the calamity, at least 1.5 million households were reported to have lost access to water supplies. By 21 March 2011, this number fell to 1.04 million.
According to the Japanese trade ministry, around 4.4 million households served by Tōhoku Electric Power (TEP) in northeastern Japan were left without electricity. Several nuclear and conventional power plants went offline after the earthquake, reducing TEPCO's total capacity by 21 GW. Rolling blackouts began on 14 March due to power shortages caused by the earthquake. The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), which normally provides approximately 40 GW of electricity, announced that it can currently provide only about 30 GW. This is because 40% of the electricity used in the greater Tokyo area is now supplied by reactors in the Niigata and Fukushima prefectures. The reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi and Fukushima Dai-ni plants were automatically taken offline when the first earthquake occurred and have sustained major damage related to the earthquake and subsequent tsunami. Rolling blackouts of approximately three hours were experienced throughout April and May while TEPCO scrambled to find a temporary power solution. The blackouts affected Tokyo, Kanagawa, Eastern Shizuoka, Yamanashi, Chiba, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tochigi, and Gunma prefectures. Voluntary reduced electricity use by consumers in the Kanto area helped reduce the predicted frequency and duration of the blackouts. By 21 March 2011, the number of households in the north without electricity fell to 242,927.
Tōhoku Electric Power was not able to provide the Kanto region with additional power, because TEP's power plants were also damaged in the earthquake. Kansai Electric Power Company (Kepco) cannot share electricity, because its system operates at 60 hertz, whereas TEPCO and TEP operate their systems at 50 hertz; this is due to early industrial and infrastructure development in the 1880s that left Japan without a unified national power grid. Two substations, one in Shizuoka Prefecture and one in Nagano Prefecture, were able to convert between frequencies and transfer electricity from Kansai to Kanto and Tōhoku, but their capacity to do so is limited to 1 GW. With the damage to so many power plants, it may be years before a long-term solution can be found.
In effort to help alleviate the shortage, three steel manufacturers in the Kanto region are contributing electricity produced by their in-house conventional power stations to TEPCO for distribution to the general public. Sumitomo Metal Industries can produce up to 500 MW, JFE Steel 400 MW, and Nippon Steel 500 MW of electric power[226] Auto and auto parts makers in Kanto and Tohoku agreed in May 2011 to operate their factories on Saturdays and Sundays and close on Thursdays and Fridays to assist in alleviating the electricity shortage during the summer of 2011.
Oil, gas and coal
A 220,000-barrel (35,000 m3)-per-day oil refinery of Cosmo Oil Company was set on fire by the quake at Ichihara, Chiba Prefecture, to the east of Tokyo. It was extinguished after ten days, injuring six people, and destroying storage tanks. Others halted production due to safety checks and power loss. In Sendai, a 145,000-barrel (23,100 m3)-per-day refinery owned by the largest refiner in Japan, JX Nippon Oil & Energy, was also set ablaze by the quake. Workers were evacuated, but tsunami warnings hindered efforts to extinguish the fire until 14 March, when officials planned to do so.
An analyst estimates that consumption of various types of oil may increase by as much as 300,000 barrels (48,000 m3) per day (as well as LNG), as back-up power plants burning fossil fuels try to compensate for the loss of 11 GW of Japan's nuclear power capacity.
The city-owned plant for importing liquefied natural gas in Sendai was severely damaged, and supplies were halted for at least a month.
In addition to refining and storage, several power plants were damaged. These include Sendai #4, New-Sendai #1 and #2, Haranomachi #1 and #2, Hirono #2 and #4 and Hitachinaka #1.
Further information: 2011 Japanese nuclear accidents
The Fukushima Daiichi, Fukushima Daini, Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant and Tōkai nuclear power stations, consisting of a total eleven reactors, were automatically shut down following the earthquake. Higashidōri, also on the northeast coast, was already shut down for a periodic inspection. Cooling is needed to remove decay heat after a reactor has been shut down, and to maintain spent fuel pools. The backup cooling process is powered by emergency diesel generators at the plants and at Rokkasho nuclear reprocessing plant. At Fukushima Daiichi and Daini tsunami waves overtopped seawalls and destroyed diesel backup power systems, leading to severe problems at Fukushima Daiichi, including three large explosions and radioactive leakage. Over 200,000 people were evacuated.
The 7 April aftershock caused the loss of external power to Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant and Higashidori Nuclear Power Plant but backup generators were functional. Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant lost 3 of 4 external power lines and lost cooling function for as much as 80 minutes. A spill of a couple liters of radioactive water occurred at Onagawa.
Europe's Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger addressed the European Parliament on 15 March, explaining that the nuclear disaster was an "apocalypse". As the nuclear crisis entered a second month, experts recognized that Fukushima Daiichi is not the worst nuclear accident ever, but it is the most complicated. Nuclear experts stated that Fukushima will go down in history as the second-worst nuclear accident ever.. while not as bad as Chernobyl disaster, worse than Three Mile Island accident. It could take months or years to learn how damaging the release of dangerous isotopes has been to human health and food supplies, and the surrounding countryside.
Later analysis indicated three reactors (Units 1, 2, and 3) had suffered meltdowns and continued to leak coolant water, and by summer the Vice-minister for Economy, Trade and Industry, the head of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, and the head of the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, had lost their jobs.
Fukushima meltdowns
Main articles: Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster and Timeline of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster
Japan declared a state of emergency following the failure of the cooling system at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, resulting in the evacuation of nearby residents. Officials from the Japanese Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency reported that radiation levels inside the plant were up to 1,000 times normal levels, and that radiation levels outside the plant were up to 8 times normal levels. Later, a state of emergency was also declared at the Fukushima Daini nuclear power plant about 11 km (7 mi) south. This brought the total number of problematic reactors to six.
It was reported that radioactive iodine was detected in the tap water in Fukushima, Tochigi, Gunma, Tokyo, Chiba, Saitama, and Niigata, and radioactive cesium in the tap water in Fukushima, Tochigi and Gunma. Radioactive cesium, iodine, and strontium were also detected in the soil in some places in Fukushima. There may be a need to replace the contaminated soil. Many radioactive hotspots were found outside the evacuation zone, including Tokyo. Food products were also found contaminated by radioactive matter in several places in Japan. On 5 April 2011, the government of the Ibaraki Prefecture banned the fishing of sand lance after discovering that this species was contaminated by radioactive cesium above legal limits. As late as July radioactive beef was found for sale at Tokyo markets.
Incidents elsewhere
A fire occurred in the turbine section of the Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant following the earthquake. The blaze was in a building housing the turbine, which is sited separately from the plant's reactor, and was soon extinguished. The plant was shut down as a precaution.
On 13 March the lowest-level state of emergency was declared regarding the Onagawa plant as radioactivity readings temporarily exceeded allowed levels in the area of the plant. Tohoku Electric Power Co. stated this may have been due to radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accidents but was not from the Onagawa plant itself.
As a result of the 7 April aftershock, Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant lost 3 of 4 external power lines and lost cooling function for as much as 80 minutes. A spill of a couple liters of radioactive water occurred at Onagawa.
The number 2 reactor at Tōkai Nuclear Power Plant was shut down automatically. On 14 March it was reported that a cooling system pump for this reactor had stopped working; however, the Japan Atomic Power Company stated that there was a second operational pump sustaining the cooling systems, but that two of three diesel generators used to power the cooling system were out of order.
Japan's transport network suffered severe disruptions. Many sections of Tōhoku Expressway serving northern Japan were damaged. The expressway did not reopen to general public use until 24 March 2011.All railway services were suspended in Tokyo, with an estimated 20,000 people stranded at major stations across the city. In the hours after the earthquake, some train services were resumed. Most Tokyo area train lines resumed full service by the next day - 12 March. Twenty thousand stranded visitors spent the night of 11-12 March inside Tokyo Disneyland.
A tsunami wave flooded Sendai Airport at 15:55 JST, about 1 hour after the initial quake, causing severe damage. Narita and Haneda Airport both briefly suspended operations after the quake, but suffered little damage and reopened within 24 hours. Eleven airliners bound for Narita were diverted to nearby Yokota Air Base.
Various train services around Japan were also canceled, with JR East suspending all services for the rest of the day. Four trains on coastal lines were reported as being out of contact with operators; one, a four-car train on the Senseki Line, was found to have derailed, and its occupants were rescued shortly after 8 am the next morning. Minami-Kesennuma Station on the Kesennuma Line was obliterated save for its platform; 62 of 70 (31 of 35) JR East train lines suffered damage to some degree; in the worst-hit areas, 23 stations on 7 lines were washed away, with damage or loss of track in 680 locations and the 30-km radius around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant unable to be assessed.
There were no derailments of Shinkansen bullet train services in and out of Tokyo, but their services were also suspended. The Tōkaidō Shinkansen resumed limited service late in the day and was back to its normal schedule by the next day, while the Jōetsu and Nagano Shinkansen resumed services late on 12 March. Services on Yamagata Shinkansen resumed with limited numbers of trains on 31 March.
The Tōhoku Shinkansen line was worst hit, with JR East estimating that 1,100 sections of the line, varying from collapsed station roofs to bent power pylons, will need repairs. Services on the Tōhoku Shinkansen partially resumed only in Kantō area on 15 March, with one round-trip service per hour between Tokyo and Nasu-Shiobara, and Tōhoku area service partially resumed on 22 March between Morioka and Shin-Aomori. Services on Akita Shinkansen resumed with limited numbers of trains on 18 March. Service between Tokyo and Shin-Aomori was restored by May, but at lower speeds due to ongoing restoration work; the pre-earthquake timetable was not reinstated until late September.
The rolling blackouts brought on by the crises at the nuclear power plants in Fukushima had a profound effect on the rail networks around Tokyo starting on 14 March. Major railways began running trains at 10–20 minute intervals, rather than the usual 3–5 minute intervals, operating some lines only at rush hour and completely shutting down others; notably, the Tokaido Main Line, Yokosuka Line, Sobu Main Line and Chūō-Sōbu Line were all stopped for the day. This led to near-paralysis within the capital, with long lines at train stations and many people unable to come to work or get home. Railway operators gradually increased capacity over the next few days, until running at approximately 80% capacity by 17 March and relieving the worst of the passenger congestion.
Cellular and landline phone service suffered major disruptions in the affected area. On the day of the quake, American broadcaster NPR was unable to reach anyone in Sendai with working phone or Internet. Internet services were largely unaffected in areas where basic infrastructure remained, despite the earthquake having damaged portions of several undersea cable systems landing in the affected regions; these systems were able to reroute around affected segments onto redundant links. Within Japan, only a few websites were initially unreachable. Several Wi-Fi hotspot providers reacted to the quake by providing free access to their networks, and some American telecommunications and VoIP companies such as AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile and VoIP companies such as netTALK and Vonage have offered free calls to (and in some cases, from) Japan for a limited time, as did Germany's Deutsche Telekom.
Matsushima Air Field of the Japan Self-Defense Force in Miyagi Prefecture was struck by the tsunami, flooding the base and resulting in damage to all 18 Mitsubishi F-2 fighter jets of the 21st Fighter Training Squadron. 12 of the aircraft were scrapped, while the remaining 6 were slated for repair at a cost of 80 billion yen ($1 billion), exceeding the original cost of the aircraft. At the 2nd Regional Headquarters of the Japan Coast Guard in Shiogama, Miyagi, 2 patrol boats were swept away.
Space center
JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) evacuated the Tsukuba Space Center in Tsukuba, Ibaraki. The Center, which houses a control room for part of the International Space Station, was shut down and some damage was reported. The Tsukuba control center resumed full operations for the space station's Kibo laboratory and the HTV cargo craft on 21 March 2011.
Cultural Properties
754 Cultural Properties were damaged across nineteen prefectures, including five National Treasures (at Zuigan-ji, Ōsaki Hachiman-gū, Shiramizu Amidadō, and Seihaku-ji); 160 Important Cultural Properties (including at Sendai Tōshō-gū, the Kōdōkan, and Entsū-in, with its western decorative motifs); one hundred and forty-four Monuments of Japan (including Matsushima, Takata-matsubara, Yūbikan, and the Site of Tagajō); six Groups of Traditional Buildings; and four Important Tangible Folk Cultural Properties. Stone monuments at the UNESCO World Heritage Site: Shrines and Temples of Nikkō were toppled. In Tokyo, there was damage to Koishikawa Kōrakuen, Rikugien, Hamarikyū Onshi Teien, and the walls of Edo Castle. Information on the condition of collections held by museums, libraries and archives is still incomplete. There was no damage to the Historic Monuments and Sites of Hiraizumi in Iwate prefecture, and the recommendation for their inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List in June was seized upon as a symbol of international recognition and recovery.
Aftermath<
Main article: Aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
The aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami included both a humanitarian crisis and a major economic impact. The tsunami resulted in over 340,000 displaced people in the Tōhoku region, and shortages of food, water, shelter, medicine and fuel for survivors. In response the Japanese government mobilized the Self-Defence Forces, while many countries sent search and rescue teams to help search for survivors. Aid organizations both in Japan and worldwide also responded, with the Japanese Red Cross reporting $1 billion in donations. The economic impact included both immediate problems, with industrial production suspended in many factories, and the longer term issue of the cost of rebuilding which has been estimated at ¥10 trillion ($122 billion). In comparison to the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake, the East Japan Earthquake brought serious damage to an extremely wide range.
Main article: Humanitarian response to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
Japan's national public broadcaster, NHK, and Japan Satellite Television suspended their usual programming to provide ongoing coverage of the situation. Other nationwide Japanese TV networks also broadcast uninterrupted coverage of the disaster. Ustream Asia broadcast live feeds of NHK, Tokyo Broadcasting System, Fuji TV, TV Asahi, TV Kanagawa, and CNN on the Internet starting on 12 March 2011. YokosoNews, an Internet webcast in Japan, dedicated its broadcast to the latest news gathered from Japanese news stations, translating them in real time to English.[317] All warnings were broadcast by NHK in five languages: Japanese, English, Mandarin, Korean and Portuguese (Japan has small Chinese, Korean and Brazilian populations).
It was noted that the Japanese news media has been at times overly cautious to avoid panic and reliant on confusing statements by experts and officials.
In this national crisis, the Japanese government provided Japanese sign language (JSL) interpreting at the press conferences related to the earthquake and tsunami. Television broadcasts of the press conferences of Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano included simultaneous JSL interpreters standing next to the Japanese flag on the same platform.
According to Jake Adelstein, most Japanese media accepted and parroted the misinformation put out by the Japanese government and TEPCO about the unfolding Fukushima nuclear crisis. Notable exceptions, according to Adelstein, were newspapers Sankei Shimbun and Chunichi Shimbun which questioned the accuracy of the information coming from the government and TEPCO. Because of the unquestioning nature of most Japanese media to hold to the "party line", many Japanese mid-level officials and experts spoke to foreign media to get their opinions and observations publicized.
Scientific and research response
A large amount of data was collected that provides "the possibility to model in great detail what happened during the rupture of an earthquake." The effect of this data is expected to be felt across other disciplines as well, and this disaster "would provide unprecedented information about how buildings hold up under long periods of shaking – and thus how to build them better.
Seismologists had anticipated that the "big one" would strike the same place as the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake in the Sagami Trough, southwest of Tokyo. Since 1976, when Katsuhiko Ishibashi said a large earthquake in the Suruga Trough was forthcoming, the government tracked plate movements, in preparation for the so-called Tokai earthquake. Occurring 373 km (232 mi) northeast of Tokyo, the Tōhoku earthquake came as a surprise to seismologists, since the Japan Trench was known for creating large quakes, but was not expected to generate quakes above an 8.0 magnitude.
Selection below of active groups who publish online materials in English
Asahi Shimbun 3.11 Digital Archive
This special section is designed to provide readers with the Internet's most comprehensive, archival coverage of Japan's tragic earthquake, tsunami and Fukushima nuclear crisis.
3.11 Digital Archives - Harvard University
The initiative aims to collect, preserve, and make accessible as much of the digital record of the disasters as possible, to enable scholarly research and analysis of the events and their effect.
Foreign Volunteers Japan
Foreign Volunteers Japan is created to gather willing volunteers, who wish to take an active role in the Tohoku relief efforts. This is an open discussion forum for sharing and discussing information regarding volunteer activities, aid delivery, and humanitarian relief issues concerning the post-tsunami recovery of the Tohoku region.
Fumbaro Eastern Japan Project
Because of complicated decision-making process, government could not provide supports promptly to the devastated area. PFEJ uses its website and twitter to spread/gather the information, it makes prompt support easily and much faster. However, as a matter of fact, most of the elderly in that area cannot use computer, so we also have volunteer telephone operators to contact the survivors directly to get their voices, what they really need.
Ganbatte 365
We find inspiring stories about people who are helping to restore Japan. Then, with a camera crew, we go to the actual location to film what exactly these people are doing to help. Each story has multiple videos documenting their progress each step of the way, showing how it was in the beginning, what they did, how people reacted, and how this process made them feel.
Heartquake 9.0
Starting from cleaning up rubble, leveling ground and establishing the BaseCamp, eventually projects of "thinking" and "acting" with us together like the agriculture reconstruction and new town-building, there are various activities you can join.
International Disaster Relief Organization
IDRO-Japan aims to provide aid and assistance for immediate post-disaster relief and also assist in long-term support through relief trips and the construction of housing and community centers in the Tohoku region.
i-Kifu p2p Social Donation Platform
i-kifu is an award winning revolutionary social network, which aims to simplify the way people can contribute to the society by helping anyone who wants to change the world, to find a right cause and make concrete actions that will bring results. i-kifu (i-寄付) simply means "I donate" in Japanese.
Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support
The mission of JEARS is to support the shelters that are providing long-term care for the still growing number of Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support (JEARS) animals. JEARS Media assists in organizing food, supplies, and donations so critically needed as well as logistical support, volunteer searches, and adoption outreach.
Its Not Just Mud - Community Building
Non-profit volunteer organization specializing in disaster relief and grass-root support and rehabilitation of disaster affected individuals and small businesses.
Matsushima Relief Fund
Non-Profit 501(c)(3) organization aiding Matsushima rebuilding efforts through financial donations. Supporting Miyagi and Iwate through hand-made blanket donations, letters, and heart-to-heart connections.
MIT Japan 3/11 Initiative
This Initiative, established by the MIT-Japan Program at the Center for International Studies, will provide a mechanism for faculty and student exchange between MIT and universities in the Tohoku region for the study and implementation of disaster-resilient planning.
O.G.A. for Aid Eastern Japan
O.G.A. FOR AID has been actively involved in relief aid and recovery work in Minamisanriku since March 2011. Helping to build up a system of distribution where essential food, water, other emergecy supplies were made accesible to ALL survivors and residents of the devastated area.
Peace Boat Volunteer Relief Center
Peace Boat is a Japan-based NGO that has been working to support Ishinomaki city and its environs since March 2011. Current projects include: mud and debris clearance, supporting the reopening of factories and fisheries, and providing support and care to residents of temporary houses.
Photohoku - our live's true treasures
Photos are the true treasures of our lives. We collect them over the years and assemble them into photo albums which in turn become our own autobiographies. "Photohoku" is a project to rebuild and restart family photo albums of those affected by the Tohoku Tsunami distaster.
Project Fukushima
Organisation of numerous events before and after an art festival in Fukushima in August 2011, carrying out projects under the name Fukushima! on a continuous and long-term basis.
Sakura Line 311 Project
This project seeks to plant sakura trees that demarcate the reach of the tsunami, to show future generations the extent of the damage. Starting with the development of the home page, SAVE TAKATA seeks to support the project by publishing information about it.
Save Minamisoma Project
Our current efforts focus on delivering foods and safe drinking water to residents of the temporary housing units who lost their houses due to the tsunami and forced evacuation due to the radiation.
Tasukeai Japan Information Portal
Delivering information that is as reliable as possible. Offering advice and opportunities for people who want to help. Excellent Map that locates local and national recovery and support initiatives.
Tohoku 10x26 Windows
Organized by the students and alumni of Tokyo University of Foreign Studies and translated into 26 languages, the web-site shows what is going on Tohoku, focusing on 10 local groups. To appeal for the public consciousness and continued support, lest the disaster be forgotten, is our main purpose.
Tohoku Cotton Project
Restarting agriculture in Tohoku by planting cotton in idle rice paddies affected by sea water, providing stable employment by creating products and new enterprises using Tohoku cotton together with apparel related corporations, contributing to disaster reconstruction by sustaining economic activities where farmers, spinning companies, apparel brands, stores and 'YOU' can collaborate together!
Tohoku University Research Center
The center develops high technologies to evaluate disaster risk, such as earthquakes, tsunami and floods in regional areas, control earthquake damages of building group, raise a high accuracy tsunami warning and analyze tsunami system.
Tohoku Planning Forum
The TPF² project seeks to facilitate collaboration among Japanese and international designers, architects and planners contributing to the long-term revitalisation of Japan's tsunami-affected Tohoku region.
WaWa Project
WAWA Project is a social, creative platform for opportunity which is managed by the artist-run non-profit organization command, with the cooperation of 3331 Arts Chiyoda. The aim of WAWA is to connecting people in the different disaster-hit areas of Tohoku, who are initiating rehabilitation activities on the ground with those people who wish to support such local regeneration activities. WAWA Project engages closely with activists in the affected communities, is maintaining a physical base for their activities in Tokyo.
The devastation brought to northern Japan by the Great Tohoku Earthquake on March 11 left a startling number of individuals without homes and in need of support. While many have expressed interest in offering relief to those affected and contributing toward the rebuilding process of Japan, effectively connecting donors to those in need presents a tremendous challenge. Wecarejapan.org is a website designed to face this challenge, facilitating the flow of information between people requesting aid and those offering donations.
Embedded list of Japan 3.11 related videos - including many from TEDxTokyo event May 2011
Foundation A.B.C. Overview
Dedicated effort to establish a trust fund for the expressed and specific intent to provide support to those affected by the tragic events on March 11th 2011 in Tohoku. By joining key leaders from Academic, Business and the Community at large: We propose to take all steps required - together - in order to get the best resources possible in place to enable their goals for the long-term challenges ahead.
The cost of post secondary education can be very difficult in the best of times, now certainly many talented students will face additional challenges with their family finances impacted by the quake and resulting tsunami. We propose to allocate 30% of our resources in order to fund tuition and expenses for the most qualified candidate applications from Tohoku. The goal is to provide needed support for those who require it the most with all award decisions focused on pure merit - regardless of their course or institution. We will arrange for special consideration with several well-established partner universities overseas and would fund additional language training in advance of entry.
Many small and medium enterprises have been destroyed or seriously impacted, with traditional industries facing an uncertain future. As observed from the Katrina event, the fastest growing start-up city in the U.S. has been in New Orleans as people struggle to get their lives back in order. We will strive to enable internships for the most qualified candidates to earn immediate income and gain new skills to build future careers. We also propose to assist with direct entrepreneurship re-training programs through local university programs. It should be noted the new Re-Construction Ministry law has designated certain areas as so-called 'special economic zones' along with considerable focus and required support for ICT related businesses.
The very fabric of entire communities in Tohoku has been shattered. So much has been lost, so many gone, the re-building of this region and way of life will take years. Sadly, no words can adequately describe the pain or genuine need of regular people. There are countless small projects serving the full range of concerns that urgently require continued support. Working together with key community advisor members it will be our greatest task, and perhaps most valued contribution, to provide assistance for those most worthy of such efforts. While major infrastructure work will be addressed by governments and industry, the weakest voices generally have the most need. Our initial targets to support will be from the youth and seniors segment, where we can provide the greatest benefit for the most reasonable cost.
Key Members and Partners
For the time being our names are not important, we will make identities available for public review when the legal entity is established. As the saying goes "it takes a village to raise a child" it will take the combined force of countless supporters from both Japan and overseas to return this region to a stable area. We firmly believe that there must be some 'good' that comes out of the terrible loss for so many people in Tohoku. The young people who survived, who are now faced with even greater financial and psychological challenges, should be recognized and supported by all segments of society.
The need for domestic and international exchanges is clear. There has been significant good-will from global communities for Japan and there is much work needs to be done in the coming years, we will provide a platform to enable colaboration. The lessons learned in Japan from this disaster must be identified and shared for the benefit future calamities, here and abroad, with the Shimaguni Tamashi spirit. Wasurenai - We Will Never Forget - because it's not just about the past, Now.. more than ever.. it's About The Future!
We have visited Ishinomaki, Onagawa, Minamisanriku, Rikuzentakata and Ofunato plus Share Your Christmas part II event. Photos Here.
Twitter Live Stream Search Translated from Japanese version Here
Tweets about "Tohoku"
Powered by Love for Tohoku = Shimaguni Konjo!


text:
Kirkuk, a Counterfeit Prize
By Barbara Nimri Aziz
Global Research, October 20, 2017
Region: Middle East & North Africa
Theme: Media Disinformation, Oil and Energy, Terrorism, US NATO War Agenda
In-depth Report: IRAQ REPORT
The Iraqi government has every right to assert control over Kirkuk. The city had never been a Kurdish center and only after it repulsed threats by ISIS three years ago, did Peshmerga replace Iraqi government forces in the area. Peshmerga has been a coddled and abetted military presence in the US-UK-Israel plan to divide Iraq. (No Kurdish force has had any legitimate presence there.) So recent references by both National Public Radio and BBC news hosts about Peshmerga fighters representing Kurdish sovereignty in Kirkuk are misleading at best.
No one yet knows what the outcome will be of Baghdad's belated move to affirm authority in the area with its surprising military victory in and around Kirkuk earlier this month. Interested foreign parties from Turkey to Israel have remained silent, thus far. Meanwhile Kurdish spokespeople are making alarming claims in the international press about the deployment, even suggesting those Iraqi forces are ISIS-linked, also invoking the trope of Shia militants taking over their (sic) city, assertions left unchallenged by an acquiescent NPR and BBC.
Why is there so little willingness by US and British media to acknowledge the character and legal status of Kirkuk in Iraq? One hears no reference to the strategic transformation of the city and its environs by nationalist-secessionist Kurdish interests from a majority Turkmen community to a Kurdish one starting in 1991 when the US and UK helped establish an inchoate Kurdish sovereign state in northern Iraq?
The day of the Kurdish referendum in September I noted the process by which Iraqi Kurdish leaders worked to convert Kirkuk into a Kurdish city, with the intention of annexing it when the time came (last month) for their claim of independence, and ignoring the Iraqi constitutionally defined border outside Kirkuk and nearby areas.
It is mystifying why the Turkmen of Iraq, a fiercely Iraqi nationalist, significant minority, has been so invisible in international press coverage of the region. This while they embody a remarkable ideal that opposes any military action. Visiting Kirkuk on two occasions before American forces invaded Iraq in 2003, I saw the displacement of Turkmen families (begun in 1991) in progress and I've followed their growing fear of Kurdish dominance, all without threat of armed retaliation. Their population is not small—at least three million– and many Turkmen are well placed in Iraq's government. Although that proved insufficient to thwart Kurdish ambitions over Kirkuk.
Turkmen's marginalization in their heartland has won little sympathy outside; their identity and ethnic rights are completely overshadowed by Kurdish separatists and their foreign partners and lackeys, such as Peter Galbraith. Are we to accept comments by BBC guest Nadhim Zahawi as a fair assessment (BBC World News 10.17.17)? Zahawi is a British-Kurdish millionaire, a UK member of parliament, also director of Gulf Keystone Petroleum GKP operating in Iraqi Kurdistan; he moreover chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group for Kurdistan. This in addition to his many controversial legal involvements.
The wider public, it seems, is only permitted to know that Kirkuk sits on major oil deposits. (Of course that explains it being coveted by the Kurds in alliance with the West.) But what about the longtime Turkmen character and history of the city? What about the sustained opposition by Turkmen Iraqis and the Baghdad government to surreptitious tactics by the Kurds, to make it appear the city and surrounding areas is Kurdish and lies within the three Kurdish-dominated governates (Erbil—a once Turkmen-majority city for 700 years, Sulaimania and Duhok) that have enjoyed considerable autonomy since 1991. Kirkuk is no more a part of Kurdish Iraq than nearby Mosul is, and Kurdish rights to Kirkuk has never been part of the semi-autonomous understanding between Iraqi Kurds and Baghdad.
Barbara Nimri Aziz is a New York based anthropologist and journalist. Find her work at www.RadioTahrir.org. She was a longtime producer at Pacifica-WBAI Radio in NY, also author of Swimming Up The Tigris, Real Life Encounters with Iraq, (University Press of Florida, 2007), based on her many years of work in Iraq.
Featured image is from VOA News.
Copyright © Barbara Nimri Aziz, Global Research, 2017
Articles by: Barbara Nimri Aziz


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False Bay was covered in breaking 2m waves and the wind, already 30kts, seemed to be strengthening. But the worst problem was that it was already almost dark.
And as I paddled into Fish Hoek at the end of what should have been a classic downwind run, I was frantic with worry - I was almost certain that one of the group was off his ski, in the water, about ten kilometres back near Millers Point.
I love the Millers Run - we do it whenever the southeaster blows, which is pretty much all the time in summer. As autumn arrives though, the southeasters become few and far between and we try our utmost to squeeze every run in, sneaking out of the office early so that we can start in time to finish before dark.
On Wednesday 18th April conditions were ideal - but it was getting dark as we arrived at Fish Hoek and we agreed that perhaps we were pushing our luck a little far. The southeaster was forecast to blow the following day and we agreed that we'd meet a little earlier, at 16:30 to be on the water by 17:00 at the latest.
Thursday arrived and three of us, Damian, John and I met at Fish Hoek. We've all done the run many times and have confidence in each other's capabilities. When we arrived, Simon introduced himself and asked if he could join us. He's a vastly experienced paddler (about to set off on a 30,000km round-Africa paddle in December - but that's another story).
John had also invited Gordon. I knew Gordon from races but had never paddled with him. I figured if John had invited him, he must be ok - and I knew that he'd done the 244km PE to EL challenge in December last year.
The first problem was that we weren't prompt about leaving. A couple of the guys arrived a few minutes late, then we had wasted time sorting out which vehicles were going to carry which skis, and the upshot was that we got on the water at 17:20, twenty minutes later than we had intended.
The second issue was that although Gordon is normally very confident on the Millers run (and did a number in much more hectic conditions when he was training for PE to EL), he had a new boat about which he was slightly apprehensive, and he hadn't paddled on the sea for a couple of months. This made him tentative in his paddling and he felt unstable.
Conditions at Millers Point itself were relatively mild but were more challenging outside the little bay where the swell was large and breaking, with cross chop making for confused seas. The swells were not breaking on the ramp as they had done on the day before and the wind was also less strong. We set off for Bakoven Rock (the turning point to go downwind) and the three of us waited for John and Gordon.
After some minutes, we turned around to see that Gordon was off his ski, some 200m inshore of Bakoven Rock. John was with him, and as I paddled towards them I saw that Gordon was back on his ski and that John was paddling fast out to us.
When he got to us he said that Gordon was feeling a bit tippy but that he, John, would stay with him.
But further out to sea it was a bit more frenetic.
With that, we all turned around to start the run. But Gordon was out of sight having already started. We spread out, hoping to see him. From my GPS track I can see that we went about 500m then stopped to look; another 500m or so and then we stopped for some minutes to discuss what to do. John said that he'd paddle back upwind to Millers Point and then sweep back close to the shore and that if it looked as though it was getting very late he'd get out at Simonstown. The three remaining paddlers spread out, with me taking an inside line, Simon in the middle and Damian on the outside. We were a couple of hundred metres apart and swept down towards Fish Hoek, arriving there at 6:25.
I immediately called the NSRI to let them know that we were one paddler short and that we might have a bad situation on our hands. Darren immediately alerted his crew who started congregating at the Simonstown NSRI station. We started trying to contact John and sent his wife around to Simonstown in case he and Gordon had come in there.
Gordon later confirmed that we were quite far seaward of him when we passed. Shortly after that he fell off again and then he couldn't get back on. He blew his whistle but none of us heard it. When John went back to look for him, he went inshore to within 200m of the boat ramp to the north of Millers Point and then swept back. He must have passed very close to Gordon who by then was in the water. Neither of them saw the other.
John then paddled all the way to Fish Hoek, arriving some 15min after the rest of us.
Around this time Darren called me back to say that a member of the public had phoned into the NSRI to report that a flare had been fired out to sea, between Millers Point and Simonstown. The NSRI immediately launched their two boats.
Gordon fired his first pencil flare (of three) when it was dark, popped another about 30 minutes later, saving the last one for when he could see his rescuers.
The NSRI shore crew arrived opposite his position and he could see the flashing lights on their vehicle - he fired his last flare and he saw them flash the vehicle's headlights back to him and knew that they had seen the flare.
By this time John and I were at the Simonstown NSRI control room, listening to the radios as the shore team attempted to direct the boats to where the flares had been fired. Finally came the call, "we can hear his whistle," and I breathed a massive sigh of relief.
But... two minutes passed, then five. "We can't hear the whistle any more," came the report. That was one of the worst moments of my life.
After some more fruitless searching, and much discussion, the NSRI team decided that Gordon must be near shore. If he had come ashore though, the danger of his being hypothermic would actually have increased because of the howling wind blowing on his wet clothing. They started to organise groups to search the beaches, and John and I drove to join the shore team.
My heart sank still further when I arrived. The wind had strengthened and I could see the tiny lights of the search vessel as it plunged up and down the waves about a kilometre off shore. How could they possibly find someone in the pitch darkness in that maelstrom?
Then I had a call from Craig Lambinon, the NSRI's media liaison officer. "Has anyone contacted Gordon's family?" he asked. "Someone's just called News24 to say that two paddlers are confirmed drowned." No, we hadn't called his family, we didn't have their number. I called John who had gone to fetch Gordon's car from Millers Point and he began searching through the contact list on Gordon's cell phone.
One of the NSRI guys looked up from his radio. "It's OK," he said. "We've got the police chopper on the way. They've got a FLIR (Forward Looking Infra Red) scanner and they'll pick him up in no time." We heard later that the helicopter had been undergoing maintenance and the pilots were off duty. On hearing what had happened, the engineers had reassembled the aircraft in record time.
Groups were setting off to start searching the shoreline, when suddenly, out of the darkness loomed the bearded shape of Gordon himself. He'd managed to swim with his ski to shore, had run up to Main Road and thumbed a lift to find us. He'd been in the water about 2 ½ hours.
Gordon reckons the NSRI boat passed within 20-50m of him when he was blowing his whistle. Its searchlight had passed right over him. When the boat carried on searching upwind, he realised that he had to help himself and he carried on swimming his ski to shore. Gordon is a very experienced spear fisherman who has spent many, many hours swimming in that very area. He said that helped him not to panic. In fact given the warm 18.5C water, the only thing that really worried him was the possibility of sharks.
In marginal conditions (e.g. late in the afternoon), never take ANYONE with whom you haven't done a recent run - i.e. whose current capabilities you're not intimately aware of. Apart from anything else, it's not fair on them.
Always, always carry a cell phone (or VHF radio). Gordon did everything right (had his leash, had flares and used them properly, had a PFD, had a whistle) and still couldn't be spotted. He said he doubted whether he could have made a call with his cell in the conditions, but, thinking about it, we could have called him. It's a lot easier to receive a call than to make one.
One of the moving aspects of this incident was seeing the volunteers of the NSRI all doing their utmost to help us - and being so darned nice about it.
A heartfelt thank you to all of you.
We hope to do an exercise in June with the Simonstown NSRI to try to prove (or disprove) some of the theories and suggestions about what rescue kit one should use in extreme conditions. For example we'll actually practise make calls on a cell phone and directing the rescue boat. If the conditions are right (i.e. some wind and waves) we'll measure how fast a ski drifts downwind with a paddler hanging over the side (any volunteers?). We'll film what happens when a paddler lets the ski go - to show just why a paddle leash is important.
With any luck we'll combine the fun with getting some really useful information.


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What: Gently used clothing, coats, shoes, back packs, and lunch boxes. All donations should be stain and rip free.
The PTA Clothing Center is located at the Marshall High School Campus. We are open for students to receive clothing on Monday and Thursday school days from 10am-1pm, September through April.
PURPOSE: Since 1964, our sole purpose has been to furnish age-appropriate clothing that fits children that come to us needing these services. By caring for the basic needs of our youth and allowing them to dress as their peers, we are encouraging positive self-esteem, academic success and regular class attendance. We share the Portland Council PTA's purpose to give every child a chance.
QUALIFYING CHILDREN: All Portland Public School children that do not have access to age-appropriate clothing are eligible to be referred to the PTA Clothing Center.


Clary sage is a tall perennial plant with long, erect, hairy stems topped with very geometric white-pink flower spikes. The velvety, aromatic, gray-green leaves release a pleasant, musky, honeyed smell when crushed. The small, glandular hairs found on the above-ground plant parts are what contain the characteristics fragrant substances. The "green crushed" essential oil is extracted from the fresh botanic material. The above-ground parts are harvested during the blooming period and distilled fresh from the fields. The resulting essential oil exudes a gentle, herbaceous fragrance with a dry amber bottom note reminiscent of tobacco. The tradition-quality essential oil is produced from dried raw material and differs little from the "green crushed" quality.
Salvia comes from the Latin salveo and salvaro, terms that mean "save," and clarus, meaning "clear" or "clarify." The plant's medicinal properties have been recognized since ancient times, leading to nicknames like "all good" or "wound grass." Viewed as a treasure of the gods, the scent of clary sage was known to lead to divine illumination, according to the great sages of India, the Rhisis. Probably native to western Asia and southern and central Europe, clary sage is now grown in France, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Russia.