Tsunami at Japan's Sendai Airport & Matsushima Airbase

[Isaac 0]

1st Lady should learn from how other countries (HK, Taiwan, China) respond to the crisis:

- 1 week long tv donation charity concerts by singers/entertainers to raise donation for Japan.

- setting-up donation lines by phone, at banks, post office, convenient stores, bus/train/MTR stations, supermarkets.

There is a donation drive now in Taipei. It started at 8pm and have so far got more than TWD750 Million, which is around RM80 Million. Impressive !!!

Edited March 18, 2011 by Isaac

[Denny Yen 0]

There is a donation drive now in Taipei. It started at 8pm and have so far got more than TWD750 Million, which is around RM80 Million. Impressive !!!

Concert kicked-off last night too...there are clips of it on StarTV, Phoenix and TVB/TVBS with running by-lines showing dial-in #

 

Not only Taiwan...the donation drive/aid is also happening in China too and they're putting aside WW2 grudges. President Hu personally visited Japanese consulate to hear briefing about what they need and bowed his head to special shrine set up for quake victims. China which earlier sent fuel supply, and is now starting to ship food especially rice.

 

Two aircraft carriers + 1 marine carrier are now parked on east coast Japan, and have started flying in supplies to stricken areas.

[S V Choong 4]

Concert kicked-off last night too...there are clips of it on StarTV, Phoenix and TVB/TVBS with running by-lines showing dial-in #

 

Not only Taiwan...the donation drive/aid is also happening in China too and they're putting aside WW2 grudges. President Hu personally visited Japanese consulate to hear briefing about what they need and bowed his head to special shrine set up for quake victims. China which earlier sent fuel supply, and is now starting to ship food especially rice.

 

Two aircraft carriers + 1 marine carrier are now parked on east coast Japan, and have started flying in supplies to stricken areas.

Unfortunately things have not been so rosy here in Australia. People here cared more about the nuke than the actual damage by the Tsunami and earthquake. Only the red cross appeal for Japan has been set up here. Other than that it is certainly not as concerned as those folks in Taiwan, China and HK.

 

As for personal grudges against Japan in WWII. Although Japan has done pretty bad in WWII, but to be practical and realistic, it is the future they should look towards. I actually think the Chinese should be focus the bulk of their attention on the threats and crap instrumented by the USA, UK and Co. than Japan itself. As to why the Diaoyu Islands (Senkaku Islands) are being held by Japan, the USA has a lot to do with it in the post war arrangement and to align with their own interests in East Asia. Of course to an average person whom did not bother to read it further, on the surface the problem would have seemed to stopped at Japan only.

 

In terms of handling the crisis in Japan. The People's Republic of China was the first foreign help to arrive to the scene, followed by the Republic of Korea(2nd), Republic of Singapore (3rd) and Australia came 5th. The People's Republic of China and Republic of China (Taiwan)'s search and rescue team even went to Christchurch to help. I wonder where Malaysia is? I also read that the Japanese government did not accept the search and rescue help offer from Malaysia at all. They should go and ponder why.

Edited March 18, 2011 by S V Choong

[Arzman 0]

Unfortunately things have not been so rosy here in Australia. People here cared more about the nuke than the actual damage by the Tsunami and earthquake. Only the red cross appeal for Japan has been set up here. Other than that it is certainly not as concerned as those folks in Taiwan, China and HK.

 

As for personal grudges against Japan in WWII. Although Japan has done pretty bad in WWII, but to be practical and realistic, it is the future they should look towards. I actually think the Chinese should be focus the bulk of their attention on the threats and crap instrumented by the USA, UK and Co. than Japan itself. As to why the Diaoyu Islands (Senkaku Islands) are being held by Japan, the USA has a lot to do with it in the post war arrangement and to align with their own interests in East Asia. Of course to an average person whom did not bother to read it further, on the surface the problem would have seemed to stopped at Japan only.

 

In terms of handling the crisis in Japan. The People's Republic of China was the first foreign help to arrive to the scene, followed by the Republic of Korea(2nd), Republic of Singapore (3rd) and Australia came 5th. The People's Republic of China and Republic of China (Taiwan)'s search and rescue team even went to Christchurch to help. I wonder where Malaysia is? I also read that the Japanese government did not accept the search and rescue help offer from Malaysia at all. They should go and ponder why.

 

Our own Dewan Rakyat observed a minute of silence for victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Meaning, the PM has apologised to the Japanese Governmenton on behalf of that first lady "uncharacteristic standard choiced of words".

 

May the victims rest in peace

[Raymund Yeoh 1]

Taiwan raises US$30 million for Japan quake relief

Posted: 19 March 2011 1114 hrs

 

Photos 1 of 1

Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou, second from right, during a fund-raising party for the victims of a devastative earthquake and resulting tsunami in Japan. (AP Photo/POOL)

 

 

 

 

TAIPEI: Taiwan has raised about US$30 million in two star-studded televised fundraisers this week for quake-hit Japan, organisers said Saturday.

 

President Ma Ying-jeou and more than 300 entertainers raised Tw$800 million (US$26.7 million) in a four-hour fundraiser broadcast live on local channels late Friday, said co-organiser Taiwan Red Cross.

 

Ma and his wife Chow Mei-ching joined the stars to take donations from viewers via the telephone while Terry Gou, head of the hi-tech Hon Hai group, made the single biggest donation of Tw$200 million.

 

Another fundraiser co-sponsored by World Vision Taiwan on Thursday also saw hundreds of local celebrities join hands to raise Tw$114 million for Japan quake relief.

 

So far the Taiwanese government has pledged Tw$100 million while many corporations and charity groups have also been collecting donations for Japan quake victims.

 

Taiwan was a Japanese colony from 1895 to 1945 and is still heavily influenced by Japanese culture. Many Taiwanese performers have attempted successful careers in Japan.

 

- AFP/cc

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

A country like Taiwan who is hit regularly by earthquakes and typhoons can raise this amount of money in such a short time......really respect them.......Malaysian goverment should do something for Japan since we have been getting quite a lot of aid and help from the Jap goverment...

 

 

[Isaac 0]

President Ma Ying-jeou and more than 300 entertainers raised Tw$800 million (US$26.7 million) in a four-hour fundraiser broadcast live on local channels late Friday, said co-organiser Taiwan Red Cross.

TWD800 Million, that's around RM86 Million. All in just 4 hours. This is pretty amazing

[Alif A. F. 0]

However, the amount of financial aid towards the victims in Japan is lower compared to Haiti earthquake and Indian Ocean tsunami disasters. Partly the reason being Japan is viewed as a wealthy nation compared with Haiti or Indonesia.

[KK Lee 5]

As for personal grudges against Japan in WWII. Although Japan has done pretty bad in WWII, but to be practical and realistic, it is the future they should look towards. I actually think the Chinese should be focus the bulk of their attention on the threats and crap instrumented by the USA, UK and Co. than Japan itself. As to why the Diaoyu Islands (Senkaku Islands) are being held by Japan, the USA has a lot to do with it in the post war arrangement and to align with their own interests in East Asia. Of course to an average person whom did not bother to read it further, on the surface the problem would have seemed to stopped at Japan only.

 

If one go back to history far enough, most countries boundaries overlapped with neighbors at some time. If current regime wish to reclaim the ‘lost land’, claim and counter claim can be endless, and war is likely when one is much stronger than the other.

 

In war, winner takes all. Like Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands, Japan’s Nothern Territories was lost to the Russia at the end of WWII. Unlike China, Japan don’t provoke Russia profoundly.

 

Taiwan is a democratic country, China has a non elected gomen, it is natural for the U.S. not to allow Taiwan to go under. Until a few years ago, U.S. didn’t view China as a threat or strategic competitor. However, communist China has always perceived U.S. as their enemy.

[husnula 0]

Probably MAHB is unwelcoming Japanese visitors and MAHB is known to be over reacting or excesses e.g. thermal scanning of arriving pax although flu is no longer on travel alert. However, some cancer patients were made known by airport thermal scanning.

 

Further, believe few local medical centers are geared to handle radioactive case.

 

 

The directives for both above came from the Govt, not MAHB and carried out by the ministries. MAHB do not have such facility nor expertise.

Edited March 19, 2011 by husnula

[KK Lee 5]

The directives for both above came from the Govt, not MAHB and carried out by the ministries. MAHB do not have such facility nor expertise.

 

Oooops!

 

Opportunity for ministries to use idle equipment, claim some overtime and ask for bigger budget

[S V Choong 4]

In war, winner takes all. Like Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands, Japan’s Nothern Territories was lost to the Russia at the end of WWII. Unlike China, Japan don’t provoke Russia profoundly.

 

Taiwan is a democratic country, China has a non elected gomen, it is natural for the U.S. not to allow Taiwan to go under. Until a few years ago, U.S. didn’t view China as a threat or strategic competitor. However, communist China has always perceived U.S. as their enemy.

Yes agree with you Mr. Lee. The Diaoyu/ Senkaku Islands were ceased by Japan under the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895. Thing is, when Japan lost the WW2, they were ordered to return Taiwan to the then Republic of China government based in the mainland. Something to do with the US government which caused these island not entirely return to China and at the same time it has something hush-hush with General Chiang Kai Shek in the post war as he was keen to gain the US support to defend themselves against the Communists and even one point at a time they were urged by the US to befriend with Japan.

 

The land the Russian took in the 1800s from the Qing Dynasty has all been legalised at then of the last Century by Jiang Zemin. It too was a hush hush deal behind the scene not known to the Chinese public. When the secret leaked out, the public was furious but it was already a done deal. Interestingly Russia's Far East is a bit of a loose territory these days. China has become increasingly influential in the region and the Caucasian Russian in the area (mostly Vladivostok) are increasingly worried that China might be coming back to take over their territory in the future. There are even talks and suggestion that China should by that piece of their lost territory from Russia etc. It will be interesting to see how foreign relations played out in the coming decades and one thing for sure - the Russian seems to acknowledge that the area in the far east was stolen from the Chinese.

 

Like yourself, I also find it amazing that China mentioned very little about how other foreign powers invaded them, particularly the British and at some point of the time as much as eight Western nations invaded China. I can only think that the Chinese looked down on the Japanese deep in their mind, thinking that Japan owed much of their cultural debt to China. The Communist regime had fostered some sort of hate Japan education every now and then by boardcasting images from the Nanjing Massacre and the Unit 731 biological weapon experiement (interesting the US had confiscated these report and now stored for their own purpose). Russia on the other hand, stole much more than just a few islands from the Chinese and didn't get any mention. The British on the other hand took Hong Kong (and Tibet almost) and sold opium to the Chinese by drugging them, seems to have lost in memory.

 

The US didn't see China as a threat in the past because China was not much of a match for them though. However, close examinations of western media seems to suggest that the gang who befriends the USA (incl. Australia and the UK) seems to hate China. They report negative news about China whereever possible - incl. diverting attention of their own pollution problem to China. Forever claiming that China is communist - we all know China isn't much of a communist these days though I would agree it is an authoritarian regime. Again, I would emphasize democracy isn't a solution to every single problem - there are instances of false democracy in many developing countries - such as Malaysia.

 

Sorry way off topic, but I guess we need to move forward rather than stuck in history. As far as China and Japan goes - it would be ideal for China and Japan to forge a closer relationship much like China and South Korea. From this Tsunami and earthquake disaster, it goes to show the importance of the neighbours and that they are the ones who care and able to help them the most.

Edited March 19, 2011 by S V Choong

[KK Lee 5]

Sorry way off topic, but I guess we need to move forward rather than stuck in history. As far as China and Japan goes - it would be ideal for China and Japan to forge a closer relationship much like China and South Korea. From this Tsunami and earthquake disaster, it goes to show the importance of the neighbours and that they are the ones who care and able to help them the most.

 

Concurred with your reply

 

Every country needs a perceived enemy whether genuine or imaginative to justify huge defense budget.

 

China is avoiding opportunity for U.S. army come close to Chinese border and financing Kim Dynasty of North Korea as part of Ministry of Defense budget. Unless U.S. promised to withdraw its troops from Korea peninsular, China is reluctant to allow a united Korea.

Edited March 20, 2011 by KK Lee

[S V Choong 4]

Concurred with your reply

 

Every country needs a perceived enemy whether genuine or imaginative to justify huge defense budget.

 

China is avoiding opportunity for U.S. army come close to Chinese border and financing Kim Dynasty of North Korea as part of Ministry of Defense budget. Unless U.S. promised to withdraw its troops from Korea peninsular, China is reluctant to allow a united Korea.

Yes, I think China is using North Korea as a buffer zone. It is as simple as seeing a united Korea, things would have been a lot easier. Without the US troops withdrawal from South Korea, a united Korea would mean an opportunity for the US to advance the troop right towards the border with China. Not only China, but I bet Russia would not like this as well.

 

We know that Gaddafi in Libya has been a dictator in 40 odd years and the West had not done much to them till now. Gaddafi once announced that he will refuse to sell oil to the USA, Britain, France and all the other nations who opposed them, they will deal directly with China, Russia and India instead. Liberating Libya from the people seems like a nice tagline, but the actual intention might just be about oil I am afraid! In the past the USA had been supporting authoritarian regime like Iraqi, Egypt, Saudi Arabi and so forth, while chanting away their freedom value. The USA and the West too have been turning many blind eyes on the actions of Israel. I can only think they are running their own show (one could call it imperialism in contemporary context) and that China is also attempting their own. "The USA wants to help you" hypocrisy somehow fails to get past me. Heck, even the international aid to the disaster scene are about reaping rewards (although may not be an instant reward).

 

Befriend with the USA somehow actually translates to "be a lapdog of the USA". None of the Allies of the US are large enough to overshadow them (that includes Japan). Having one onboard will upset the hierarchy relationship and one the USA do not wish to see. Even Australian PM Julia Gillard admitted that they shared information with the USA because they are not large enough to go out and acquire it on their own. I guess the Russian and Chinese are not going to be their lapdogs, particularly if they are large enough and they are a sovereign country which do not need to rely heavily on others to develop or to prosper. I for one are happy to see that the West are not going to sell their weapons to China and that China has to develop their own. Buying from others is the easiest way out.

Edited March 20, 2011 by S V Choong

[c.lee 0]

http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/g7ksg/written_by_a_delta_pilot_on_approach_to_tokyo/

 

Written by a Delta pilot on approach to Tokyo during earthquake

 

Warning: long (but good) anecdote. I received this from a friend, and felt it deserved a wider read. We (my friend, not me), who flew in the industry, can easily put ourselves in this Captain's shoes and say - "There, but for the grace of God, go I"

 

If you have already seen it - Sorry. But it is still a very good read.

 

"I'm currently still in one piece, writing from my room in the Narita crew hotel. It's 8am. This is my inaugural trans-pacific trip as a brand new, recently checked out, international 767 Captain and it has been interesting, to say the least, so far. I've crossed the Atlantic three times so far so the ocean crossing procedures were familiar.

 

By the way, stunning scenery flying over the Aleutian Islands. Everything was going fine until 100 miles out from Tokyo and in the descent for arrival. The first indication of any trouble was that Japan air traffic control started putting everyone into holding patterns. At first we thought it was usual congestion on arrival. Then we got a company data link message advising about the earthquake, followed by another stating Narita airport was temporarily closed for inspection and expected to open shortly (the company is always so positive).

 

From our perspective things were obviously looking a little different. The Japanese controller's anxiety level seemed quite high and he said expect "indefinite" holding time. No one would commit to a time frame on that so I got my copilot and relief pilot busy looking at divert stations and our fuel situation, which, after an ocean crossing is typically low.

 

It wasn't long, maybe ten minutes, before the first pilots started requesting diversions to other airports. Air Canada, American, United, etc. all reporting minimal fuel situations. I still had enough fuel for 1.5 to 2.0 hours of holding. Needless to say, the diverts started complicating the situation.

 

Japan air traffic control then announced Narita was closed indefinitely due to damage. Planes immediately started requesting arrivals into Haneada, near Tokyo, a half dozen JAL and western planes got clearance in that direction but then ATC announced Haenada had just closed. Uh oh! Now instead of just holding, we all had to start looking at more distant alternatives like Osaka, or Nagoya.

 

One bad thing about a large airliner is that you can't just be-pop into any little airport. We generally need lots of runway. With more planes piling in from both east and west, all needing a place to land and several now fuel critical ATC was getting over-whelmed. In the scramble, and without waiting for my fuel to get critical, I got my flight a clearance to head for Nagoya, fuel situation still okay. So far so good. A few minutes into heading that way, I was"ordered" by ATC to reverse course. Nagoya was saturated with traffic and unable to handle more planes (read- airport full). Ditto for Osaka.

 

With that statement, my situation went instantly from fuel okay, to fuel minimal considering we might have to divert a much farther distance. Multiply my situation by a dozen other aircraft all in the same boat, all making demands requests and threats to ATC for clearances somewhere. Air Canada and then someone else went to "emergency" fuel situation. Planes started to heading for air force bases. The nearest to Tokyo was Yokoda AFB. I threw my hat in the ring for that initially. The answer - Yokoda closed! no more space.

 

By now it was a three ring circus in the cockpit, my copilot on the radios, me flying and making decisions and the relief copilot buried in the air charts trying to figure out where to go that was within range while data link messages were flying back and forth between us and company dispatch in Atlanta. I picked Misawa AFB at the north end of Honshu island. We could get there with minimal fuel remaining. ATC was happy to get rid of us so we cleared out of the maelstrom of the Tokyo region. We heard ATC try to send planes toward Sendai, a small regional airport on the coast which was later the one I think that got flooded by a tsunami.

 

Atlanta dispatch then sent us a message asking if we could continue to Chitose airport on the Island of Hokkaido, north of Honshu. Other Delta planes were heading that way. More scrambling in the cockpit - check weather, check charts, check fuel, okay. We could still make it and not be going into a fuel critical situation ... if we had no other fuel delays. As we approached Misawa we got clearance to continue to Chitose. Critical decision thought process. Let's see - trying to help company - plane overflies perfectly good divert airport for one farther away...wonder how that will look in the safety report, if anything goes wrong.

 

Suddenly ATC comes up and gives us a vector to a fix well short of Chitose and tells us to standby for holding instructions. Nightmare realized. Situation rapidly deteriorating. After initially holding near Tokyo, starting a divert to Nagoya, reversing course back to Tokyo then to re-diverting north toward Misawa, all that happy fuel reserve that I had was vaporizing fast. My subsequent conversation, paraphrased of course...., went something like this:

 

"Sapparo Control - Delta XX requesting immediate clearance direct to Chitose, minimum fuel, unable hold."

 

"Negative Ghost-Rider, the Pattern is full" <<< top gun quote <<<

 

"Sapparo Control - make that - Delta XX declaring emergency, low fuel, proceeding direct Chitose"

 

"Roger Delta XX, understood, you are cleared direct to Chitose, contact Chitose approach....etc...."

 

Enough was enough, I had decided to preempt actually running critically low on fuel while in another indefinite holding pattern, especially after bypassing Misawa, and played my last ace...declaring an emergency. The problem with that is now I have a bit of company paperwork to do but what the heck.

 

As it was - landed Chitose, safe, with at least 30 minutes of fuel remaining before reaching a "true" fuel emergency situation. That's always a good feeling, being safe. They taxied us off to some remote parking area where we shut down and watched a half dozen or more other airplanes come streaming in. In the end, Delta had two 747s, my 767 and another 767 and a 777 all on the ramp at Chitose. We saw to American airlines planes, a United and two Air Canada as well. Not to mention several extra Al Nippon and Japan Air Lines planes.

 

Post-script - 9 hours later, Japan air lines finally got around to getting a boarding ladder to the plane where we were able to get off and clear customs. - that however, is another interesting story.

 

By the way - while writing this - I have felt four additional tremors that shook the hotel slightly - all in 45 minutes.

 

Cheers, J.D."

 

PS - Personal note: I did not see anyone in the news even mention anything about this problem. Which, to me, meant everyone made it 'on deck safely' - perhaps not where they thought they would be that night but still 'safely on deck'.

[Fahiruz 0]

The nuclear powerplants have done their job well to withstand the earthquakes and if it wasn't the tsunami which destroyed the backup facilities. They wouldn't have this crisis. If this incident had occurred in countries like Malaysia, I would think the worse had already happened.

 

 

In her country, hospital & stadium collapse out of all sudden..

[Cire 0]

"environmentally friendly development = safe natural disaster"...hm this is the first.

 

What sort of development that Japan need in order to avoid an earthquake. Stop pounding kilometer long pilings into the earth crust? Or stop building the many overheads bridges all over the nation?

All we know that neither these or any human-made structures could induce an earthquake. No? Perhaps a global warming. Ya, blame Japan for exporting millions of cars to the world and creating global warming..

 

Anyway, I am sure she could have been mis-qouted.. * ahem.

[S V Choong 4]

"environmentally friendly development = safe natural disaster"...hm this is the first.

 

What sort of development that Japan need in order to avoid an earthquake. Stop pounding kilometer long pilings into the earth crust? Or stop building the many overheads bridges all over the nation?

All we know that neither these or any human-made structures could induce an earthquake. No? Perhaps a global warming. Ya, blame Japan for exporting millions of cars to the world and creating global warming..

 

Anyway, I am sure she could have been mis-qouted.. * ahem.

How about developing a huge stapler to staple down the world's techtonic plates? Just an idea for her

[Naim 6]

Sendai reopens today and this is the first plane:

 

 

source: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/zoom/20110413-OYT9I00273.htm