First anniversary of Japanese earthquake, tsunami, and meltdown

From ITN News on YouTube comes the official memorial.

Japan holds a minute's silence to mark the one year anniversary of the massive earthquake and tsunami that killed more than 19,000 people. Report by Katie Lamborn.

ITN also has this retrospective.

A look back at the destruction caused by the massive earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan a year ago. Report by Katie Lamborn.

Click on Read more to see the earthquake/tsunami/meltdown stories from last night's Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday on Daily Kos.


This week's featured story comes from the University of Alabama.

When the Earth Shakes
March 1, 2012

The United States Geological Survey records earthquakes every day. The earliest reported U.S. quake was felt in 1769 about 30 miles southeast of Los Angeles. A single earthquake several thousand years ago is believed to have killed 800,000 in central China.

In 2011, a Richter magnitude 9.0 quake in Japan became the largest Japanese earthquake since records began. The Japanese National Police Agency confirmed 15,787 deaths from it with more than 6,000 injuries. In addition, the earthquake, tsunami and aftershocks damaged or destroyed more than 125,000 buildings. From an economic standpoint, the Japanese government estimates the overall costs could exceed $300 billion, making it the most expensive natural disaster in Japanese history.
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In the wake of a catastrophic natural disaster, engineers review whether human and economic losses can be reduced. Through structural-engineering research and experimentation, building codes and retrofitting techniques are improving, better protecting inhabitants and property.

Mississippi State University: CAVS studies radiation effects on nuclear reactor materials
March 9, 2012

STARKVILLE, Miss.--Testing how steel reacts under radioactive conditions with tens of thousands of simulations may seem ambitious, but that's the goal of research at Mississippi State University.

The nuclear meltdown in Fukushima, Japan, a year ago--a crisis started by a massive earthquake that set off a tsunami--helped show the importance of learning more about the strength of materials used in nuclear reactors. While Japan continues to deal with the fallout of the nuclear reactor's breakdown, the global scientific and research community for nuclear energy are taking measures to prevent this scenario from happening again.

Mark Tschopp, an assistant research professor at Mississippi State, has led efforts to create better predictive models for materials used in extreme environments such as nuclear reactors. The research is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Now, the moment of silence in full, from Al Jazeera English.

A minute of silence has been observed across Japan at the exact instant that, one year ago, a devastating earthquake struck off the country's northeast coast.