1000319 Japan's Nuclear Fears

Japan's Nuclear Fears

More trouble takes hold of the Asian nation after a strong quake and powerful waves caused deadly destruction last week

By Jonathan Rosenbloom and Kelli Plasket

The effects of the massive earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan last Friday are still playing out at Japan's nuclear power plants. Nuclear reactors at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant are experiencing cooling problems after the tsunami waves knocked out the plant's power and backup power.

On Monday morning, an explosion occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi plant that blew off the roof of one of the buildings. Some radiation—energy that can be harmful at high levels—has been released into the air as efforts continue to shut down the reactors. Two of the three reactors that were operating when the quake struck have since been damaged. Cooling problems at the reactors have led to nuclear fuel overheating and fires, causing fears of a meltdown at the plant. Now, 50 workers are working around the clock to flood the reactors with seawater to cool off the fuel rods.

Fears of radiation exposure in Japan are slowing down recovery efforts from the tsunami. Some 70,000 residents have been evacuated from the 12-mile area around the plant. Another 140,000 people in a 19-mile area have been told to stay indoors. Many outside of the area are heading south, just to be safe. Radiation exposure testing centers have been set up for residents, but authorities believe that most people have not been exposed to high levels of radiation.

A Rippling Effect

The massive earthquake that struck Japan last Friday registered a 9.0 magnitude—upgraded from an original 8.9-magnitude reading by the U.S. Geological Survey. It was the most powerful temblor to hit Japan since officials there began keeping records 140 years ago. Before this, the country's worst earthquake was an 8.3 temblor in 1923. Japan lies on the "Ring of Fire"--an area rimming the Pacific Ocean. About 90 percent of the world's earthquakes take place in that region. With the updated 9.0 reading, Friday's quake ranks as the fourth largest quake in the world since 1900, scientists say.

The center of the quake was located about 17 miles beneath the ocean floor, in a spot 80 miles off the eastern coast of the island nation. "The earthquake has caused major damage in a broad area in northern Japan," Prime Minister Naoto Kan said. This week, millions of people are still without water, food or heat as recovery efforts continued and as new problems arose at the nation's nuclear power plants.

Dozens of cities and villages along a 1,300-mile stretch of coastline were shaken by violent tremors Friday. Because it struck below the Pacific Ocean, the quake set off waves as high as a three-story building. The monstrous waves, called a tsunami (soo-nah-mee), swept away homes, boats and cars as the water roared several miles inland, stopped, and rolled back out to sea. Highways buckled, telephone lines snapped, and fires broke out. Hundreds of aftershocks, or smaller quakes, have followed the big quake, causing more damage and forcing residents to seek safety outside.

Tokyo, Japan's capital, is about 230 miles away from the center of the quake (Click here to see a map of Japan). But even there, people felt the ground shake. Buildings swayed, at least 2 million homes were without electricity, and trains stopped running. "At first it didn't feel unusual, but then it went on and on. So I got myself and my wife under the table," said Jesse Johnson, an American living in Tokyo. "I've lived in Japan for 10 years and I've never felt anything like this before. The aftershocks keep coming. It's gotten to the point where I don't know whether it's me shaking or an earthquake."

Japan's Devastation

The total damage, deaths and injuries won't become clear for days or even weeks. On Wednesday, Japanese officials reported that the death toll has reached more than 3,600, though thousands remain missing. "In the 65 years after the end of World War II, this is the toughest and the most difficult crisis for Japan," Prime Minister Kan said.

A large-scale emergency response operation continues in northern Japan. As of Monday, about 15,000 people have been rescued. A 60-year-old Japanese man floated on a piece of his house's roof for over two days. He was rescued 10 miles offshore Sunday when sailors spotted the man waving a red flag.

Many of the world's nations have offered to assist Japan. President Obama has ordered five Navy ships to head for the island to help, as well as search and rescue teams. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is closely watching the situation. She promised immediate disaster relief assistance. "We are working closely with the government of Japan to provide additional help," she said in a statement. As the damage becomes clearer, Japan may need all the help it can get.

Max-This quake in Japan is really a big disaster! After that big quake at March 11th, many tsunamis started to attack everywhere in Japan and some other places in the Pacific Ocean, and now it was the nuclear disaster! The power plants also started to explode, and the nuclear power started to spread in Japan. Now, I heard that three parts of the nuclear power plant has exploded, and one part of that is going to explode. But if that part of the nuclear power plant explodes, it is very dangerous! Because after it explodes, the air will have some dangerous elements. Now, many people started to spray water into the power plant to avoid it exploding, and about 200 people even rushed in the power plant to let it cool down! This mission is really dangerous, experts estimate about 70 percent they would die in this mission, and if they didn’t die, they also have to suffer cancer forever! So I think these people are the last people to save Japan. If they fail, the east half of Japan will be destroyed!

1000311 Big Earthquake in Japan

Big Earthquake in Japan

By Max

     Today, a big earthquake happened in Japan. This earthquake was very big; the magnitude in Japan was 8.9. This earthquake is the fifth largest earthquake in the whole world, and the biggest earthquake ever in Japan. At about 7:00 pm, already 41 people died and even more people are missing. This earthquake also caused some big fires and some big tsunamis that can attack the whole Pacific.

     Recently, I think there are too many earthquakes in February and March. At February, New Zealand’s earthquake was so big, that rebuilding may take 10 years. At March, five earthquakes happened in only three days! These five earthquakes all almost reached to magnitude 6!

     Scientists found out that the “super moon” is going to happen in March 19^th. This thing occurs when the moon is close to Earth as possible, and something scary is going to happen, but we don’t know what it is. We maybe think these earthquakes would be related to the “super moon”, but the scientists don’t think so. At least we know, our world is very dangerous right now.

1000304 Woody Wins An Oscar

February 28, 2011

Woody Wins an Oscar!

The Academy Award for Best Animated Film goes to Toy Story 3

By Brenda Iasevoli

Toy Story 3 took home the Oscar for Best Animated Film on Sunday night at the Academy Awards, in Hollywood, California. The Disney/Pixar cartoon beat out The Illusionist and How to Train Your Dragon.

 The director of Toy Story 3, Lee Unkrich, accepted the award. "Thank you to audiences all over the world who came out in historic numbers and embraced a movie about talking toys that, hopefully, had something very human to say," he said.

This is the fourth Oscar win in a row for Disney's Pixar Animation Studios. In all, Pixar has produced six of the 10 Oscar winners for Best Animated Feature, including Finding Nemo, Wall-E and last year's winner, Up.

Toy Story 3 also scored a golden statue for Best Original Song for "We Belong Together," by Randy Newman. The cartoon was nominated for Best Picture, but that honor went to The King's Speech.

A Royal Success

The King's Speech snagged four out of a possible 12 Oscars, for Best Picture, Actor, Director and Original Screenplay. In the film, actor Colin Firth plays King George VI of Britain, who struggles to overcome his stutter with the help of a speech therapist, played by Geoffrey Rush.

To make the film accessible to a wider audience, it will be edited and re-released with a PG-13 rating instead of an R. (An R rating prohibits anyone younger than 17 from seeing the film without an adult.) The retooled version softens the main character's fits of cursing, or swearing.

Firth doesn't like the idea of cleaning up the language, especially since King George VI's angry swearing fit helps him to momentarily overcome his speech problem. "Really, it's about a man who's trying to free himself through the use of certain words," Firth said backstage at the Academy Awards. "I still haven't met the person who would object, so I think the film should stand as it is."

An Inspirational Ending

The Academy Awards show ended on a high note. The fifth-grade chorus from Public School 22, in Staten Island, New York, stole the show with their performance of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." The kids swayed and moved to the beat. They closed their eyes and gestured with their hands. In the end, their performance earned them a standing ovation from the star-studded audience and high-fives from Academy Awards co-host Anne Hathaway.

Chorus leader Gregg Breinberg said an Academy Awards producer had become a fan of the kids after watching online videos of their performances of hit songs, including Lady Gaga's "Just Dance."

"The Academy has done everything they can to make the students feel like this is their night," Breinberg told TFK. "That's the best part. It's wonderful to see the kids being treated respectfully. I'm so proud."

The P.S. 22 Chorus members aren't strangers to fame. In recent years, they have performed for President Barack Obama, Lady Gaga and Beyoncé. Since chorus members change every year, singing at the Oscars is the new group's first big gig. What's next for the singing sensations? The 65 fifth-graders will perform on The Oprah Winfrey Oscar Special, today.

Max- The Oscar Awards is very hot recently in America. Everyone in the whole world is excited about who won the Oscar awards, and what exciting performances are performed. On last weekend, my family watched the Oscar awards in the evening. We knew that the whole ceremony was so long, so we only watched one part of the program. We saw Toy Story 3 won the best animated film and best music (?), and also saw many shorts’ awards. In the middle, we also saw some singers singing the movie’s songs. I think the best part of the show is playing some movies remix, including Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, Toy Story 3 and some other movies. It was really funny! We also know that the new movie, “The King’s Speech” was very popular now, and the movie had 12 nominated awards, so it’s very easy to get an Oscar on a popular movie. At the end of the show, I know that this movie got 4 Oscars. And the film, “Black Swan”, got the best actress award, and also I think this movie is very good, so I’m looking forward to see this movie. In the Oscar Awards, the competition of all the awards are very intense, but we should thank all the actors for giving us many good movies to watch.