Th3 Core

This is the tail end of the tsunami in Emeryvilla in the East Bay.  As you can see it was not very destructive in the bay.  DB, you are exactly right about the narrow mouth of the bay having a shielding effect. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdMDCLwblkY

Latest news about the reactor seems pretty scary, one meltdown and another one likely.  They are doing mass evacuations.

Bill,
I think you are in for a tough time anyway living in Japan, so my thoughts go out to you all over there. 

It has made us realise again how lucky we are to be alive and in the UK.  Seems the last year or so has been one disaster after another, and this really tops it all.

Keep us posted when you can get online Bill.

Glad to hear your fine Bill

>CNN coverage

I've been avoiding it. CNN has just become embarrassing.  I've been going to the NHK website and they have had good coverage (along with the BBC).  However I just checked my NHK iPhone app and they appear to be streaming the news live with a translator translating on the fly.  This is giving a much better picture of what is happening in the refugee centers and remote villages.  It is very different from the carefully edited English language broadcasts.

If you have a smartphone, look for the NHK app.

> NHK app
I do have that one. It's handy sometimes, but I can get better streams of that on my PC usually. If I'm looking for breaking news I just go to Japanese sites. Like last night there was a 6+ magnitude quake under Mt. Fuji. That was strong enough to wake me up and get me out of bed to check on things. CNN was still showing Anderson Cooper (whom I would like to punch) walking through the devastation, talking about nothing.

I've heard great things about the BBC coverage, but I don't have them in my TV package. I tried on the web, but they say streaming is unavailable in my area. Any 'work-arounds' that you guys know of?

> run on food and gas in the affected areas
They're asking people in the unaffected areas not to hoard. I have a friend who runs a big food and beverage business, and suppliers are telling him to expect shortages. He immediately went out and ordered 5 times more than he usually does. He's down to a 1 week supply of Heineken in Japan, so things are starting to worsen already in the distribution of goods. The whole country will be affected by this.

Even the bbc is struggling a little with this, frankly, they have a lot of people on the ground now, but none of them appear to be able to speak Japanese which is leading to lots of reports about standing at barriers being unable to get closer to things, unable to talk to the soldiers manning the barracade and unable to interview locals as they can't find English speakers. Might just be better if they stayed in the studio with a translator and didn't use up what resources there are 

Bill, not sure if you know the answer, but aid efforts here are mostly to get cash to the Japanese Red Cross - is that the ony/best place that is distributing on the ground help or are there other charities out there that desperately need donations?

I have to agree with Gurtie, to be fair the BBC coverage has been a bit slow, their videos have translations but some of the voiceovers are a little sketchy. I've found Reuters to be a little more up to date.

I'm hoping one day soon to wake up and see this nuclear scare (or at least the headlines) simmer down... it's been one hell of a week over there.