Could someone sum up what's happened in the Japan disaster so far for me, please?

I agree with you it 'is' hard to follow because the media is 'not' giving hard facts, but a lot of hype and tabloid journalism to excite people and get viewers. It's hard to tease out the actual facts, but you can use the internet and 'hard' news sources (like the New York Times, AP, Reuters, Government sites etc.) to do it.

The facts...on Friday March 11, 2:45am US EST Japan was hit with one of the biggest earthquakes ever (magnitude 9). It was centered 70 miles off the Japanese 'east' coast well north of Tokyo. The ocean quake caused a Tsunami (Tidal) wave 30 feet high that surged a couple of miles inland and caused most of the damage. Japan is one of the most advanced/ wealthiest nations on earth. The damage area starts north of it's enormous capital Tokyo and runs north along the Japanese east coast. The Japanese were well prepared for earthquakes, and despite this being one of the biggest quakes ever, the confirmed death toll 4 days after the quake is less than 5,000, and from the facts may rise to 10,000. Almost all deaths/ damage occurred along the east coast north of Tokyo more from the Tsunami than the quake. There was some damage in Tokyo, and are some power, communication and transportation outages.

A secondary problem started Saturday March 12. The Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant sat on the east coast right in front of where the quake and Tsunami was strongest. Heavily damaged, it's nuclear reactors (which generate electricity for Tokyo and north Japan) shut down for the emergency, but the biggest quake and the wave, knocked out all it's power and cooling systems. So, the nuclear reaction could not be cooled for proper shut down Friday or Saturday. By the time it could be cooled Sunday, it had already overheated. Expected explosions and evacuations occurred Sunday through today Wed. March 16, as workers struggle to cool the reactor(s). There has been no deaths or injuries due to the nuclear plant so far, however varying radiation amounts have been released due to the difficulty of cooling down. Although the radiation releases have not injured anyone yet, as a precaution (since radiation could be dangerous or life threatening), an evacuation was ordered for anyone in the area. If workers can cool the reaction by noon EST US March 17 Thursday, all will probably be well...If not...worst case is...a 100 sq. mi. area of Japans NE coast will be off limits for many years due to poisons deposited if the plant can't be cooled. There would probably be no deaths or injuries. The clean up and relocation costs for the displaced population would be enormous.

We should have a better handle on it by noon US EST tomorrow (17th March, 6th day after the quake), which way it'll go...The media has already been hyping not only the worst but times 10 worst, although none has happened yet.

So far, on the 5th day after one of the worlds biggest quakes, Japan is solid overall, it's capital looking pretty good, it's northeast coast in turmoil after the quake and Tsunami, and the one Fukushima Plant nearest the quake causing great concern

Is it really that hard to follow? News articles are written at a 6th grade level, so....

Anyways, a large earthquake - one of the largest ever recorded - occurred off the shore of Japan. This caused a tsunami - a tidal wave - that slammed into the eastern coast of Japan, and traveled across the Pacific to hit the West coast of the US. (Damage to the US was very minor since we're so far from where the earthquake occurred.)

The earthquake didn't do much damage to Japan, but the ensuing tsunami pretty much destroyed everything 100' in-shore. You can find videos of the wave coming up on to land - throwing boats, and washing away entire buildings.

Over 10,000 are confirmed dead, and 10s of thousands more are missing or injured. Even though Japan has very comprehensive disaster preparedness plans the government has been enlisting the help of private companies to help with relief efforts. For instance, all 7-11s in Japan are offering food and drinks from their stores at no cost - just walk in and take what you need.

Of a larger concern is the damage done to the nuclear reactors located outside of the city of Sendai - which was the closest point to the earthquake and tsunami. The reactors' cooling system was damaged by the quake and tsunami. Without the water cooling system, the reactors are overheating. Several minor explosions have rocked one of the reactor buildings, which is causing low levels of radiation to leak into the area. While not an immediate threat since everyone within 20 miles of the plant was evacuated shortly after the tsunami, workers are still struggling to get the cooling system fixed so they can bring the reactors under control.

Even left alone, the reactors are not going to turn into nuclear bombs. What would happen is they would overheat so much that the actual reactor housing and the entire building would start to melt. This would still be a big issue for Japan, but wouldn't affect the US - we're too far away, and the radiation would fade long before it even reach Hawaii, much less the West Coast.

There was a big earthquake.

Then there was a big tsunami.

The earthquake combined with the tsunami knocked out an essential system at a nuclear power plant.

Operators eventually found a way to rig up something to work around that essential system. But it's not perfect, and there have been a few (non nuclear) explosions. Each explosion seems to damage another key piece of equipment, and they then have to rig up a replacement for that, as well.

There have been radiation leaks. At first they were mild (no one was likely to be harmed from being exposed), but they have progressed to moderate (it won't kill you now, but you're more likely to get cancer).

The fear is that something else will go wrong, and the plant workers won't be able to fix it, and the radiation leaks will become severe (anyone at the plant is killed, people hundreds of miles away are more likely to get cancer).

Earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, typhoons, mudslides, blizzards, floods, Tokyo and different cities have evacuation plans. a considerable earthquake is envisioned to take place on the fault that runs interior the direction of the Inland Sea by potential of Shikoku Island. you may study all approximately it in English on the cyber web. One website is that run by potential of the eastern Meterological enterprise. Many eastern cities have evacuation and earthquake plans on their cyber web web pages, which many times have an English version. additionally, there are signs and indicators alongside the streets in components which incorporate Tokyo's Shinjuku (the place there are distinctive tall glass-sided homes) directing people to interior reach parks interior the progression of earthquakes. Tokyo is an exceptionally great city, i think of the main important interior the international. The chaos of evacuating the finished inhabitants, interior the progression of the two a envisioned earthquake or the different organic disaster or hearth following a disaster, may well be a logistical nightmare. it might make an astounding concern for a singular, yet i does no longer desire to adventure it actually. even with arguably the international's superb mass transportation equipment, any interruption of capacity, loss of bridges, blockage of considerable roads, give way of larger highways, and issues might grind to a halt. That suggested, i've got faith very risk-free in Tokyo and adore Japan.

OMG you're joking right?