Radiation Fears Spark Panic Buying And Evacuations In Tokyo

[Purveyor]

Source: REUTERS

(Reuters) - Panic swept Tokyo on Tuesday after a rise in radioactive levels around an earthquake-hit nuclear power plant north of the city, causing some residents to leave the capital and others to stock up on food and supplies.

Several embassies advised staff and citizens to leave affected areas, tourists cut short vacations and multinational companies either urged staff to leave or said they were considering plans to move outside the city.

In one sign of the panic, Don Quixote, a multistory, 24-hour general store in Tokyo's Roppongi district, was sold out of radios, flashlights, candles, fuel cans and sleeping bags on Tuesday as a Reuters reporter visited the shop.

Some international journalists covering the disaster from the worst-hit region around the northeastern city of Sendai, devastated by Friday's mammoth earthquake and tsunami that killed at least 10,000, were pulling out.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/15/us-japan-quake-tokyo-idUSTRE72E0ZR20110315

[jpak]

1. They know no science - nuclear power is safe and ionizing radiation is good for you

silly anti-science yuppie twits

yup

[Teaser]

3. what are you going on about?

.

[jpak]

5. This is what nuclear power skeptics have been called for nearly a decade here in the E/E forum

with death threats to boot

yup

[Teaser]

7. death threats?

well that's weird.

sorry if I seemed gruff, but you've posted like that on several threads and it just didn't make any sense.

[jpak]

8. You haven't been around E/E much - vicious personal attacks against nuclear skeptics are the norm

and I have received death threats from some pro-nuke types

"you will die yuppie"

yup

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Teaser]

13. probably not a good idea to bring that up in-thread here.

makes it kinda delete-bait.

[bananas]

16. You're probably right. nt

[bananas]

34. So much for transparency and open discourse

[AtheistCrusader]

14. I certainly haven't read every single thread but,

from what I've seen, the vitriol goes both ways. It's a contentious issue.

Still is and will be for decades.

[bananas]

33. False Equivalency

If someone makes death threats, they should be banned.

[AtheistCrusader]

38. I don't disagree there.

[boppers]

29. Well, you will die.

Part of life and all.

Dunno what it has to do with some forum, though.

[boppers]

30. Dupe

[bananas]

35. Yes, death threats. nt

[bananas]

10. Yup - it's been disgusting - you wouldn't believe the crap we've had to put up with.

[Teaser]

12. well I'm on the fence on this issue myself

never been that big fan of nuclear. But I'll admit I have tended to buy some of the arguments about western plants being a lot safer than Chernobyl. And that may still be the case, but I'm reassessing how I feel right now.

[ClarkUSA]

17. You might want to read this, then.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=433&topic_id=629647&mesg_id=629695

[Steerpike]

37. My goodness!

you poor thing...how tragic your life is that you have to put up with soooo much. You have my deepest sympathies for the horrors that you have endured...cause this is all about you.

[bananas]

9. I'm really pissed off about it, too.

I'm trying to decide whether to vent in "ask the administrators".

[mysterysoup]

6. I don't know what they need candles and flashlights for...

...if they're going to glow in the dark.

[Tx4obama]

18. They are going to experience rolling-blackouts.

So, if the electric is out in the middle of the night and ya have to get up and go pee then a flashlight does come in handy ;)

[Teaser]

2. mmm...hope panic doesn't wind up killing more people than rads.

ugh, what a horrendous situation.

[truthisfreedom]

4. I wonder how they're doing on duct tape and plastic sheeting? I have some to spare, about 10 years

old. God, they must be in hell. I feel unsafe and I'm on the other side of the world in the middle of a huge continent.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

15. They had found iodine and cesium and radiation levels in Saitama, near Tokyo, 40 times ......

normal levels, quoting the local government

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/15/japan-quake-idUSTKB00735920110315

[Scottybeamer70]

19. People really believe that

nuclear power is safe ??? wow......Do they also put their head in their microwave ovens?
Anyone who thinks the people in Japan are not in dire trouble, are totally delusional....
and it might also be other countries in jeopardy as well. If you're waiting on the govt.
to tell you if you are safe or not, try to remember the lies about Iraq.....and telling
the 9/11 responders that the air was "all right"..........not exactly a trusty source I
would think.

[Kuroneko]

20. Perfect example of bad journalism

And I'm nice.

In one sign of the panic, Don Quixote, a multistory, 24-hour general store in Tokyo's Roppongi district, was sold out of radios, flashlights, candles, fuel cans and sleeping bags on Tuesday as a Reuters reporter visited the shop.

In a city with rolling-blackouts, the items quoted seems to me perfectly rational. Same for food and water as supply is disturbed.

And that foreigners want to go back to their countries can be justified, even more if they are here only for tourism.

The most panicked is the writer himself.

[Dave Caputo]

21. Radiation warnings send mobs of shoppers into stores, start hasty evacuations in Tokyo

Source: Reuters

Radiation warnings and a gentle but potentially deadly wind blowing towards Tokyo from the general direction of the melting-down Japanese nuclear power plants has caused panic shopping and hasty evacuations in the Tokyo metropolitan area.

The line for the door was getting crowded as major corporations, foreign embassies, and visiting tourists hustled to get out of dodge before the 21st Century’s version of Godzilla got to the subways of Tokyo.

Everyone in Japan is “on the Beach” now. This is getting brutal.

Read more: http://blogosaurusstampede.com/radiation-warnings-send-mobs-of-shoppers-into-stores-start-hasty-evacuations-in-tokyo/

---

Panic in Tokyo. Is it Saturday afternoon? Is this a B-Grade horror movie? NO! It's "Return of the Pro-Nuclear Lies" (the Japanese remake) FOR REAL.

[kestrel91316]

22. Meanwhile, across the pond, I sit here feeling a little like the Aussies in

On the Beach. The cloud is coming, eventually, but they go on with their lives, resigned to whatever comes. I can't summon up dread. I don't dare. I don't want to even start down that road.

[CoffeeCat]

24. What bothers me so much...

...is that our shit-for-brains politicians won't tell us the truth. I just read that Mitch McConnell said the
equivalent of "remain calm, all is well" and come to find out--he has accepted enormous amounts of campaign
cash from corporations that deal in nuclear energy.

There have been so many articles that are a whitewash. We're forced to get info from real people on Facebook
and Twitter, because the corporate media has been paid to propagandize, instead of get us life-saving, truthful
information.

We're really left to fend for ourselves, as far as the information goes.

All we can do is keep the conversation going and read credible sources--and keep asking questions.

This could affect our country.

[Kaleko]

25. Hey kestrel,

a thousand miles north of you, we're sitting here, stunned, with flashes highlighting the implications of what has happened these past few days. Japan is going to be a nuclear wasteland, abandoned by everyone who can afford to get out or stay away from their products -- and the world is never going to be the same.

Best to you and all the cats in your care. :hug:

[diane in sf]

23. I'm eating seaweed in preparation for the nuclear garbage hitting the West Coast...

[Chris_Texas]

26. You are five thousand miles away.

[Missy Vixen]

27. There was radiation from Chernobyl found in multiple places in Washington State

I realize Japan is not next door, but those on the West Coast will most likely have fallout in our area.

Mostly, though, I'm thinking about Japan tonight, about people we know that are still there, and hoping they are safe.

[kestrel91316]

39. Enjoy it while you can. I think it all comes from Japan.

[aikanae]

28. The West Coast Will Get the Fallout

The west coast - (I'm from Wa) - is warmed by Japanese currents and tradewinds. That's why it doesn't get the harsh winters lik the east coast does. I can't remember where I read it, but there are authoratative (meaning non-politcal) projections of it reaching the west coast in as little as a week, as a worse case. Crescent City, Ca and Brookings, Or got the results of the tsunami.

I think it's important to remember, a multi-reactor melt down has never happened before. It's compounded by the fact that the Japanese reactors were storing pools of waste on top of the sites too. Both Democracy Now and Maddow have had good explainations on that increasing the problem.

This would be a really good time for a vacation.

[boppers]

31. "a multi-reactor melt down has never happened before"

It hasn't happened, ever.

As of this writing, it still hasn't.

There have been explosions, and leaks, but no melt-down.

[CountAllVotes]

36. adding to the panic does not help

I just heard on KGO San Francisco that the fall-out was not expected to effect the west coast and that it was not necessary to be handing out potassium iodine to anyone living on the west coast of the United States.

:dem:

[Hannah Bell]

32. maybe you should read this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x649300

the article is accompanied by a picture of the tokyo subway/train system, typically crowded & even more so with some lines still shut down. people standing neatly in lines. yeah, they look "panicked".

[Dave Caputo]

40. Update. New Evacuation Report from On The Ground in Tokyo

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/thousands-flee-tokyo-as-experts-try-to-calm-contamination-fears-2242992.html">New report on Tokyo evacuation in progress

This is getting very bad. Tokyo is a BIG city.