2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami

'''This is the working space for THS' efforts to help those in need after the Tohoku earthquake, tsunami, and ongoing disaster at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant. '''

Affected Areas
The prefectures of Fukushima, Iwate and Miyagi have been worst affected. Wikipedia has a list of affected cities: List of cities

Issues:
 * Food
 * Water
 * Shelter
 * Communications
 * Sanitation
 * Economy
 * Energy

Projects

 * Solar lanterns: Akiba
 * Radiation Mapping with Safecast: Akiba, Pieter, Kalin, Jonwaller
 * Battery chargers: MRE, Taylan, Akiba
 * Large solar panel applications: MRE
 * Wireless data: Akiba
 * VoIP: Rick, Kalin
 * Coloring Books/Art Supplies for kids: Lauren
 * Environmental Sensors (Geiger counters, etc): Akiba, Jonwaller
 * Second Harvest support
 * Dome Kits: Karamoon
 * Forward Planning: Karamoon
 * Personal Protection Packs
 * Kamogawa Agricultural Sensor Network: Akiba, Chris Harrington, MRE
 * Software projects
 * Github repository for projects that need it: https://github.com/TokyoHackerspace/tokyohackerspace (contact Rick to add your account)
 * Tracking of donations and requests by aid drivers: Rick
 * An offline navigation solution for delivery vehicles and other volunteers: Kalin
 * Public Volunteer list and tracking volunteer needs requests made by survivors: ?

(please put your name next to anything you're working on)

Hints for iphone / android projects

Our list
The list: (feel free to send anything directly)


 * HackerSpaces - Please consider making/sending the following:
 * Solar lanterns
 * Mintiboost kits
 * Solar-powered NiCad/NiMH battery chargers


 * Personal Protection Packs
 * Rechargeable batteries (AAA, AA, C, D cells)
 * Ready-to-eat meals
 * Hand-held GPS receivers (preferably with Japan maps)
 * Mobile phone charging cables (USB-to-phone):
 * Android (micro USB?)
 * iPhone
 * Softbank / AU
 * DoCoMo


 * Toys for Kids

You can mail any of the above items directly to us:

Tokyo HackerSpace 5-11-11 Shirokanedai Minato-ku, Tokyo-to 108-0071 JAPAN

There are addiitonal items that can be of use, but please you contact us first. You can join our google group, or contact via email any of the following members:
 * MRE: e_premeaux @ hotmail . com
 * Akiba: Akiba @ freaklabs . org

Extra things: (please contact us first, if you can provide anything)


 * Camping equipment (tents, sleeping bags)

LDS humanitarian Services was collecting FamilyDailyHygeneKits.
These kits were apparently distributed until April 2011.

Understanding Radiation

 * A very good manga (ja) 放射線の正しい測り方 http://p.booklog.jp/book/30823

Current situation

 * Safecast.jp: http://safecast.jp/list-of-drives/
 * Safecast.jp / Keio University / SoftBank stationary sensors: http://scanningtheearth.org/?page_id=90


 * Realtime updated map (needs Chrome/Safari) http://www.spurs.jp/surfdayz/map/gmap2.html
 * Government radiation measurements mapped: http://www.naver.jp/radiation
 * Government radiation measurements mapped: http://www.nnistar.com/gmap/fukushima.html
 * the above hand-processed: http://kipuka.blog70.fc2.com/blog-entry-397.html
 * Maps, maps and more maps: http://cegrp.cga.harvard.edu/japan/?q=webmaps
 * Greenpeace map: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=216097317933419817421.00049f79dd8efb50bf317
 * Lots of machine readable sources: http://sites.google.com/site/radmonitor311/top_english

Serious science

 * Gamma spectra data http://www.radiochemistry.org/periodictable/gamma_spectra/
 * Interactive Chart of Nuclides http://www.nndc.bnl.gov/chart/reCenter.jsp?z=38&n=52
 * Radionuclides in Drinking Water http://www.epa.gov/safewater/radionuclides/training/module4/index.html
 * Manual for Environmental Radiological Surveillance (JAEA-Review-2009-064) [ja] http://jolissrch-inter.tokai-sc.jaea.go.jp/pdfdata/JAEA-Review-2009-064.pdf
 * Calculating radiation: http://www.des.umd.edu/rs/material/tmsg/rs6.html
 * Radiation calculator: http://www.radprocalculator.com/Gamma.aspx
 * different constants: http://www.iem-inc.com/toolabs.html
 * gamma-constants for Cs-137: http://health.phys.iit.edu/extended_archive/0006/msg00473.html
 * Full on-line course "Basic Radiation Detection" http://nsspi.tamu.edu/nsep/courses/basic-radiation-detection
 * Radiation Countermeasures: http://www.radccore.org/modules/rad_edu/index.php?id=2

Perspective on dosage

 * XCKD's awesome radiation dosage chart: http://xkcd.com/radiation/
 * WHO: http://www.who.int/hac/crises/jpn/faqs/en/
 * Some math: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/03/22/134746912/radioactive-milk-only-a-danger-after-58-000-glasses
 * Pregnancy/babies and radiation dosage: http://www.bt.cdc.gov/radiation/prenatalphysician.asp
 * Converting Bq/kg to μSv/kg per nuclide for air and water: http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/node/1897

DIY devices in the wild
http://radiopench.blog96.fc2.com/category8-3.html

Miscellaneous
Radiation 101
 * http://www.darvill.clara.net/nucrad/types.htm

Government Guidelines
 * Guideline on Radiation Measurement for Export Containers in Port http://www.mlit.go.jp/kowan/kowan_fr1_000048.html

Iodine, Konbu, What?
 * http://www.iodine4health.com/research/teas_2004_iodine_in_seaweed.pdf
 * http://www.living-intentionally.com/?p=459

Comedy? Hair-tearing idiocy? You decide:
 * http://www.jpquake.info/home-1/journalism-wall-of-shame
 * http://www.snopes.com/photos/technology/fallout.asp
 * http://www.japanprobe.com/2011/03/16/japan-nuclear-radiation-fear-mongering-vs-facts/

What happens long-term?
 * http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110405/full/472007a.html
 * Radiation cleanup? http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110411/full/472146a.html
 * Effect on marine life? http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110412/full/472145a.html

What's going on with that reactor:
 * http://georneys.blogspot.com/
 * http://mitnse.com/
 * http://www.fairewinds.com/content/3-2011-areva-fukushima-report
 * http://www.scribd.com/doc/52467769/NRC-Rst-Assessment-26march11

Worst case scenario?
 * http://ukinjapan.fco.gov.uk/en/news/?view=News&id=566799182
 * http://www.zeit.de/wissen/umwelt/2011-03/fukushima-szenarien-japan (german)

Level 7? Maybe, but not the same as Chernobyl:
 * http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2011/04/how_fukushima_is_and_isnt_like_1.html
 * http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110413005584.htm
 * http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFB9E7F702Y20110413?sp=true Another possible reason?

Radiation Monitoring
 * Live geiger counters around the country: http://japan.failedrobot.com/
 * Greenpeace Scan: http://bit.ly/g0NlVu
 * US DoE report http://blog.energy.gov/content/situation-japan/
 * Food sampling database (ja) http://yasaikensa.cloudapp.net/

Geiger Counter Calibration
 * RDTN/Tokyo Hackerspace on Geiger counter calibration and safe handling of radioactive check sources
 * efficiency calculations for a GM counter

List of current models
 * in Japanese

How to get warning of quakes (sort of)
Japan has an Emergency Earthquake Warning System (Kinkyuu Jishin Sokuhou) that uses arrival of P-Waves to warn of incoming earthquakes. It's not 100% reliable but it's far better than nothing.
 * Official Explanation (pretty good, actually): http://www.jma.go.jp/jma/en/Activities/eew.html
 * Wikipedia explanation (more details): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake_Early_Warning_(Japan)
 * Most major cell phone companies offer some version of a receiver for the warning system on mobile phones - see the wikipedia article above for more info.
 * There is also an iPhone app "ゆれくる" that is free and works fairly well: http://itunes.apple.com/jp/app/id398954883?mt=8
 * Of course radio and tv news will also announce warnings if they get them in time, so if you don't get the messages on your phone, maybe leave a tv running in the background? (Not very energy efficient, I know.)

How to satisfy your morbid curiosity about just how big that quake was
First, there are two ways of measuring quakes which you will hear about in Japan:
 * The Moment Magnitude system, which is the successor to, and roughly similar to, the Richter Scale - (and probably the figure most people are familiar with, i.e. a 9.0 for the Tohoku quake): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moment_magnitude_scale
 * The Japanese Shindo scale, which measures the degree of actual shaking at ground level, and in that sense is actually easier to understand from an experiential perspective: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Meteorological_Agency_seismic_intensity_scale
 * Reports of shindo also tend to include measurements over wide areas, not just the center, which is really useful for understand the effect

Resources listing measurements above for Japanese quakes (both will update fairly quickly after a big quake, though it sometimes takes a few minutes):
 * Japan Meteorological Agency official reports list both magnitude and shindo: http://www.jma.go.jp/en/quake/ (english)
 * Weathernews also has visualizations that are easier to use and look cooler, but are only in Japanese: http://weathernews.jp/quake/
 * (And has an iPhone app for them! http://itunes.apple.com/jp/app/id302955766?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D2 )

What is not helpful and harder to measure: how high you are off the ground and what type of building you are in can have a huge effect on what an earthquake feels like. Some buildings (usually modern earthquake resistant ones like skyscrapers) sway and rock, but others (e.g. older, solider concrete buildings) can shiver like diving boards.

What to do in a quake

 * Not-bad multilingual guide from Yokohama on how to prepare for earthquakes and what to do when one happens: http://www.city.yokohama.jp/me/shobo/kikikanri/jishinpanfu/pdf/jishinpanfu.pdf


 * Have an Earthquake Disaster Pack ready on your bedside.

Understanding Tsunami
(Needs Info)

Japan's Aid Organizations
Please add any organizations we should maintain contact with. Please keep it to organizations and contacts within the country. (Ex. the Red Cross is fine, if the contact info or site is the Japan local organization)


 * The Peace Boat: http://www.peaceboat.org/english/index.php


 * Second Harvest Japan: http://www.2hj.org/


 * https://japanvolunteers.wordpress.com/


 * http://www.tokyomedia.jp/


 * List of orgs supporting Japan Disaster Relief


 * Foreign volunteers japan (article written about Dave Kell's last run up to Rikuzentakata)

Tohoku Disaster Articles

 * Shelters getting some PCs: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/224690/japanese_earthquake_shelters_getting_pcs_wimax.html
 * Reports from the field of a small charity effort to deliver straight to the needy: Rescue Japan
 * What's it like in a shelter?: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2011/mar/25/japan-tsunami-survivors-shelter-video

Learn from the Past
Post any links to past disaster post analysis, so that we can better understand what may be needed in Tohoku

Stay prepared
Earthquake Disaster Pack

Mentions
Cross promotions of other sites and groups who have mentioned our efforts


 * The Corbett Report: http://www.corbettreport.com/


 * Relief 2.0: http://www.relief20.com/