- Joined
- Dec 6, 2010
- Messages
- 33,422
- Reaction score
- 5,683
This thread is now restored and Computer Fogie's useless posts have been removed. Enjoy the discussion.
Poor Japan just couldn't catch a break!
This past June, 22,000 was hospitalized and 65 died from a sweltering heatwave that was declared a natural disaster.
Then comes July, 200+ people died and 5.9 millions had to evacuate their homes because of major landslides and flooding caused by record rain falls.
And now this double-whammy of typhoon and earthquake, back-to-back in the same week!
Here's to hoping they will make it through the year without anymore deadly disasters.
Powerful typhoon leaves at least 11 dead in Japan, damages major airport
Hundreds injured as storm knocks out power to more than 400,000 households
The Associated Press · Sep 04, 2018
Hundreds injured as storm knocks out power to more than 400,000 households
The Associated Press · Sep 04, 2018
One of Japan's busiest airports remained closed indefinitely after the strongest typhoon to hit Japan in at least 25 years flooded a runway and other facilities while damaging other infrastructure and causing at least 11 deaths as it swept across part of Japan's main island.
Japan has long had a reputation for transportation that runs like clockwork. But even that couldn't hold up to the fury of Typhoon Jebi, whose 160 km/h winds destroyed buildings, cut off power to more than 400,000 households and left 11 people dead and 470 injured.
Kansai International Airport officials said Wednesday they weren't sure when the airport will reopen. Although a damaged runway had been mostly cleared, other equipment to ensure safe flying wasn't operating.
The airport is built on two artificial islands in Osaka Bay, and the high seas flooded one of the runways, cargo storage and other facilities, said the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. One passenger was slightly injured by shards from a window shattered by the storm.
The closure typhoon is raising worries about the impact on tourist traffic, mostly from China and Southeast Asia, as well as on exporting computer chips and other goods. About 3,000 passengers stranded at the airport overnight were given blankets and biscuits until they gradually left by boats and buses.
Hideko Senoo, a 51-year-old homemaker who was planning a family trip to India, said the terminal was hot and dark after losing power, and she could not even buy drinks at vending machines after food at convenience stores were all sold out. "We could not use vending machines or access to wireless local network to get information, and we didn't even know about this boat service," she told Kyodo News.
Another passenger, Miki Yamada, a 25-year-old office worker planning a trip to Thailand with her friend, said she spent the night at an airport cafeteria, Kyodo said. "It was a rather scary night, as we were so isolated."
30 dead, 9 missing after 6.7 magnitude earthquake hits Japan
By Haruka Nuga, The Associated Press | September 8, 2018
Japanese rescue workers and troops searched Saturday for the missing for a third straight day in a northern hamlet buried by landslides from a powerful earthquake in Japan. Power was restored to most households and international flights resumed to the main airport serving the Hokkaido region.
The Hokkaido government said Saturday that 30 people are dead or presumed dead and nine remain missing. All but three of the victims are in the town of Atsuma, where landslides crushed and buried houses at the foot of steep forested hills that overlook rice fields.
Toyota Motor Corp. announced that it would suspend nearly all its production in Japan on Monday. Toyota makes transmissions and other parts in Hokkaido and also has suppliers on what is the northernmost of Japan’s four main islands.
The magnitude 6.7 earthquake that struck about 3 a.m. on Thursday knocked out power to the entire island of 5.4 million people, swamped parts of a neighborhood in the main city of Sapporo in deep mud and triggered destructive landslides.
Backhoes were removing some of the solidified mud to clear a road in Kiyota ward on the eastern edge of Sapporo. In parts of Kiyota, the earth gave way as it liquefied, tilting homes and leaving manhole covers standing one meter (three feet) in the air. In parking lots, cars were still stuck in mud that reached part way up their wheels.
The return of electricity came as a huge relief for residents. About half of Hokkaido got power back Friday, and all but 20,000 households had power Saturday morning.
“It was a relief that it was back yesterday evening, but it feels it took time,” said 66-year-old Sapporo resident Tatsuo Kimura, adding that the blackout was a reminder “of how important electric power is in our life.”
Tourists from South Korea and China were able to head home from New Chitose Airport, outside of Sapporo. About 1,600 people spent the previous night at the airport, according to Japanese media reports.
Hokkaido has become a popular destination for tourists from other parts of Asia.
Last edited: