Wednesday: all quiet but still shaking

We had a rather strong shaking last night 22.32. If you want to know exactly when and where we are being rumbled by mother earth, check the website of the Japan Meteorological Agency,
http://www.jma.go.jp/en/quake/quake_singen_index.html

As you can see it doesn't ever really stop. We don't feel them all. But once in a while the floor sways and you stop to listen for the telltale creaks in the walls.

None of us still sleeping in Tokyo are getting more than about 6 hours (I can tell from the time-stamp of the emails!).  But we have shelter, electricity, hot showers, pantries full of food, electricity all day long (no cuts in my neighborhood so far), plenty of toilet paper (don't laugh, this is what everyone seems to be buying in truckloads - nothing worse for human dignity than having to wipe your backside with old newspapers). 

Hundreds of thousands around Sendai do not enjoy these comforts, and are grieving for their dead, their lost homes, and all the memories they contained.  

The climate I feel is shifting from shock to fear to sadness. We have been so preoccupied with particles of radioactive dust that might fall on us (and by the way, that can be dealt with by showering) that we have lost perspective on the real human tragedy. If I am just trembling each time a tremor shakes our solid, earthquake-proof house, then I am one of the lucky ones.

I watched a Japanese new program last night, which attempted to explain the issues at the Fukushima plant and the information about radiation measurements in Sieverts (Sv).  As always, once we venture into numbers with a lot of zeros it becomes a challenge to anyone but an engineer who has this hardwired in her brain. The confusion is compounded by the fact that the radiation recorded over Tokyo was in microsieverts, whereas near the plant it recorded in millisieverts, simply because numbers like 0.0004 are unwieldy:

1 Sv = 1000 mSv (millisieverts) = 1,000,000 μSv (microsieverts)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sievert

It helps to draw up a simple table, like the one you would use to convert cubic meters to cubic cm or cubic mm. If this is wrong, engineer friends, then please correct me!

SV			mSv			μSv
1	0	0	0	0	0	0
			1	0	0	0