Stormy Weather

[greenilex]

Oh, I think a tsunami or several comes under the general heading.

Terrifying!

[Curalach]

Daniel was right Saly. It's snowing heavily here at the moment, and I have to go out to a dental appointment.

[salymap]

Good luck Curalach, take a warm scarf if you are having extractions... Nannymap x


Seriously, that Google report makes the world seem smaller and the danger nearer. Awfulthings going on in natural and human world

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

well in the middle it is warmer and dry with clear skies ... gorgeous early spring day

skyping with a chum in Hong Kong it was grey skies but no turbulence from the earthquake/tsunami ... Korean Peninsular and Taiwan stand in the way ...

[eighthobstruction]

Hawthorns buds just opening....

[Serial_Apologist]

Yep - and the yellow stuff is out here - Brucie?

[greenilex]

Definitely a forscythia bonus.

[Mr Pee]

The natural catastrophe that is still unfolding in Japan and the Pacific Basin puts our own "stormy weather" into perspective, doesn't it?

What a fuss we make if we have a few inches of snow in the winter, or our Village Fetes are rained off in the Summer.


My thoughts are with all those affected.

[marthe]

I agree Mr. Pee. A friend in Hawaii has posted photos of damage near her home. The tsunami still had enough force to break windows and doors of ground floor apartments and wreak a certain amount of havoc. Still, it's nothing compared with the utter catastrophe that has devasted parts of Japan. My sister's friend in Tokyo says that it feels like NYC after Sept. 11. My son in San Francisco reports minimal damage except to small craft in the bay. Today's dull, rainy weather is small potatoes compared with events on the other side of the world. I'm counting my blessings and sending a thought and prayer to those who are in need.

[salymap]

Marthe and Mr Pee, I agree with both of you. The dreadful news really got to me when I watched the 7am news on TV, a thing I rarely do.
My thoughts and prayers, [if anyone is listening], go to all the poor souls affected.

[greenilex]

Nightmarish film footage - unforgettable, especially when repeated over and over. I watched for a long time yesterday, switching to Sky News occasionally (surprised to find they showed longer clips and went into the science more thoroughly than BBC News).

I daresay a lot of people had disturbed nights, and not only the poor souls in shelters in Japan.

Interesting that only yesterday morning a French industrialist was talking up our govt plans for new nuclear power stations...

[Flosshilde]

Interesting that only yesterday morning a French industrialist was talking up our govt plans for new nuclear power stations...

Well, yes; apart from the shock I did wonder at how anyone could think it a good idea to build nuclear power stations in an area so prone to earthquakes (Japan, that is, not the UK, which mercifully is free of anything but very minor ones).

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Well, yes; apart from the shock I did wonder at how anyone could think it a good idea to build nuclear power stations in an area so prone to earthquakes (Japan, that is, not the UK, which mercifully is free of anything but very minor ones).

It comes down to overpopulation. Japan has population growth in control, as we have in Britain. But both countries have far more people than they can support in the long term, meaning that serious compromise have to made to produce the energy needed. It's all very worrying.

[doversoul1]

I am relieved to find that all my families are safe (touch wood, as there are still large scale quakes happening all over the country), and none of my friends have been caught up. But one friend walked six hours to get home as she was worried about her young daughter being stranded at school. This was, she says, with the last 20 minutes by taxi or it would have taken her another couple of hours. Another friend was at her local post office. She had to walk home by holding on to fences and posts, anything she could get hold of along the road. These incidents were in Tokyo. In the worst hit area, apparently even the fighter jets that are supposed to be deployed in deserter rescue missions are buried in the mud.

All that technology has been no use… As our technology grows, so, it seems, does the scale of natural deserters…. Or am I being fanciful?

As for nuclear power stations, I may be being inappropriately unkind at a time like this but it may come from their confidence in their technology and also from their unsuspecting, trusting national psyche. Very generally speaking, ‘ah, but if….’ is not a phrase you hear very often in Japan.

[BBMmk2]

How terrible the Japanese ~Earthqiuake is! I was worried about the tsunami that was triggeered by it, beciuase I have family out in Hawaii. One half of the fam,ily was still there but onn higher ground, so thanklfully they alright(especially with very young chilkdren). Apperantly the other halkf was in Tenessesse at the time, visiting in-laws!