Here’s a short update. It’s now 10:45 am Sunday morning here.

There appears to be something going on with the #3 nuclear reactor in Fukushima. Still unclear what. The one with the explosion yesterday was the #1 nuclear reactor. It’s not really clear what’s happening there either. The news shows here have started quoting CNN, so you all may have more information than I do at this point.

There were a several more large-ish aftershocks this morning. I was exhausted so basically ignored them and went back to sleep each time.

I think the government is finally getting to the worse-hit areas in Miyagi now. People seem to be gathering in evacuation areas there.

Tokyo is eerily calm and quiet. Amazingly my power and Internet continues even though power failed for almost 4 million households in Tokyo. The government did ask for cooperation in saving energy so I did shut off the heaters in my house yesterday. That’s not too bad – just need an extra top layer of clothing. And my java sparrows have their little pet heaters.

I did some extra shopping. The store shelves are almost empty (you can see some photos I took at the supermarket yesterday at http://douglerner.com/empty-supermarket-shelves-after-the-earthquak) but I have enough food in the house for several day. By then I would hope distribution is working again. There are far worse problems in other areas.

They expanded the evacuation radius from the power plants from 10 km to 20 km. People on the Internet are saying 50 km is really safest. Tokyo itself is about 260 km south, plus prevailing winds are north, so I think I’m ok. All eyes are on the rescues in Miyagi and the Fukushima nuclear power plants now. I know the energy is vital for a country like Japan, but I wish there was some way of just covering them all in concrete and finding some better way to generate power.

doug