I thought I'd start a specific new topic rather than continuing the earthquake one.

So I live in Okayama. Everyone, mostly people back home, are telling me to pack my stuff and leave because of the nuclear scare. I'm not sure how serious it is or how much its being downplayed by the government but I really don't want to leave. I'd have to pretty much quit my job and leave all my possessions here... so it boils down to weather or not their fears are justified or not. Thoughts?

IMHO, you're too far away for there to be any serious radiation problems where you are. I can't advise you, but I can say that if I were in your position, I'd stay, if I had some reason to stay.

There should be basically no danger in Okayama.

yeah that's what I tell people... but everyone was freaking me the hell out

Just tell them how far away it's from Fukushima.

Can't tell exactly, but thinking of getting everybody I know out of japan as soon as possible. It's so strange. Feels like something will go wrong, soo wrong!

Tori-kun Wrote:Can't tell exactly, but thinking of getting everybody I know out of japan as soon as possible. It's so strange. Feels like something will go wrong, soo wrong!

Well as there is nothing more precious than you life, it won't hurt to be cautious.
Getting out of Japan wouldn't be a disaster or anything.

It's just the question of whether the situation is that bad or not.

There is something more precious than your own life; that being living what's left of it without being spooked by your own shadow every five minutes.

Okayama is very far away. I don't think a situation that would put you in danger is yet in the forecast. A few people I know at work and in my old apartment building did leave until they feel things get better, but that's probably because Tokyo is heck of a lot closer ... but still fairly far away.

yeah, it seems like you shouldn't worry where you are for now. just check after all this is over that the government sets up the necessary regulations and testing on radiation levels in food and check where your food is coming from.

Yeah... Okayama is way far away. If Okayama is in trouble, then frankly, a bunch of other places are in trouble. (Well, depending on the wind.) >_>a

Suggestion to your folks: Tell them to have a look at Google Maps. Sometimes a little perspective is a Good Thing.

I'd understand bailing out if you live in Tokyo-- things are going to be difficult there for a while, although not nearly as difficult as it will be in Tohoku. But I wouldn't think it'll be too bad in Okayama.

Just wait and see for now is my advice. If it gets bad, bolt.

The so called radiation death cloud that was detected over Tokyo for a brief period of time registered at .809 MICROsiverts. Please note the decimal.

The average CT scan you receive in a hospital? 6900 MICROsiverts (or 6.9 Millisiverts, 1000microsiverts = 1 millisivert).

So if my calculations and understanding is correct even if the radiation in Tokyo increased 100 times over the highest readings they've detected so far, which no longer exists btw, it would take you 85 hours of exposure to receive the same level of exposure that you would get from one CT scan at the hospital.

activeaero Wrote:The so called radiation death cloud that was detected over Tokyo for a brief period of time registered at .809 MICROsiverts. Please note the decimal.

The average CT scan you receive in a hospital? 6900 MICROsiverts (or 6.9 Millisiverts, 1000microsiverts = 1 millisivert).

So if my calculations and understanding is correct even if the radiation in Tokyo increased 100 times over the highest readings they've detected so far, which no longer exists btw, it would take you 85 days of exposure to receive the same level of exposure that you would get from one CT scan at the hospital.

So what your saying is... abandon hospitals?

Everyone's just having a bit of a panic atm, unless your in the immediate vicinity I think it's best not to overreact.

Here's one view:
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showpost....count=1250

if you wait too long it will be impossible to leave

duder Wrote:if you wait too long it will be impossible to leave

What the hell is this supposed to mean? Don't make people afraid when you obviously have no idea what's going on.

Radiation levels in Okayama will never be high enough to cause any health damage.

yudantaiteki Wrote:Here's one view:
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showpost....count=1250

He's actually wrong about this being the only nuclear accident since Chernobyl. One other such accident was the Tokaimura criticality accident in 1999, in Ibaraki prefecture, which was bad enough that people needed to stay in their homes and some residents in the area were hospitalized.

[ファブリス]

Tzadeck Wrote:Radiation levels in Okayama will never be high enough to cause any health damage.

Take this with a grain of salt:

Quote:Japan has banned all its government agencies, including its nuclear regulatory and protection agencies, from issuing any statements about the nuclear crisis situation in Japan, according to Yochi Shimatsu, former editor of the Japan Times.

http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/201...le-15.html

I'm not going to say that the Japanese Government are being entirely truthful about what's going on (I have no proof whether they are or not), but you have to take into consideration that they are in a bit of a lose/lose situation with this.
They restrict other people from within government agencies from commenting and they are said to be 'covering things up', they allow anyone to comment and they are 'giving mixed messages/information'.

If you have to pass through Tokyo at all to get home (while the aftershocks are still going on), that is probably going to be more dangerous than staying in Okayama anyway.

Following the german news, Tokyo has 20milisiverts PER HOUR right now, i.e. one CT/x-ray per DAY. Friends left Tokyo for Shiga right now, thinking of leaving Japan. Get out of there.

This has been a battle of me figuring out what's going on as things progress. Of course I'm not an expert, so keep that in mind, but I'm pretty good at limiting my sources to experts and blocking out the fluff. They all seem to be in agreement that even Tokyo is completely safe, and I understand the reasons they're saying so.

One thing I admit I haven't researched yet, since it hasn't seriously seemed to be in the picture, is how plutonium could make things more dangerous if it became a major part of the disaster. I also don't know to what extent it could become part of the picture.

I should probably be more balanced than my post yelling at Duder, but with so much fear-mongering in the air it's pretty hard not to be mad about it. It's hard because you read articles with headlines like "Japanese plant poses little threat to America--for now" (an AP article posted today), that are obviously completely an utter bullshit that sound dramatic in order to get people to read them.

Tori-kun Wrote:Following the german news, Tokyo has 20milisiverts PER HOUR right now, i.e. one CT/x-ray per DAY. Friends left Tokyo for Shiga right now, thinking of leaving Japan. Get out of there.

I haven't seen anything to back such a serious claim, do you have a source?

Tori-kun Wrote:Following the german news, Tokyo has 20milisiverts PER HOUR right now, i.e. one CT/x-ray per DAY. Friends left Tokyo for Shiga right now, thinking of leaving Japan. Get out of there.

Well it looks like you should stop following the German news if that is what they are saying. For starters 20 millisieverts per hour would be about TWICE that of a typical CT every hour. It would also be nearly twice as high as the current readings at the Fukushima plant gate itself and 25,000 times higher than the previous readings reported for Tokyo lol. So yeah either the German news is complete trash or you did not understand them correctly.

Tori-kun Wrote:Following the german news, Tokyo has 20milisiverts PER HOUR right now, i.e. one CT/x-ray per DAY. Friends left Tokyo for Shiga right now, thinking of leaving Japan. Get out of there.

If this were true it would be really alarming, but looking now I can't find anything in agreement.

That's also pretty absurd. NHK is still reporting the highest level recorded at ground level AT THE REACTOR to be 11.6 millisieverts/hr. The BBC is reporting it to be 1,000 millisieverts/hr, based on a mistake said at a press conference, if you're wondering how much foreign media is dropping the ball. (If the number really was 1,000 this morning the people working at the plant would already have started vomiting from radiation poisoning, with an onset time of 2-6 hours).

Reading the doomsday posts is wrecking my head, think I might take up complete AJATT for my own sanity.