This article was probably well-intentioned, albeit peppered with some geeky form of arrogance and not-quite-well-researched “facts” to bolster over-confident claims. I just figure that maybe the writer really meant this for his mom (as mentioned in the preface), in which case it could be forgiven.

That said, I did learn some about the geography of Japan from the article (by being compelled to check Google maps), and overall it could still help to soothe worried relatives and friends, so thank you Patrick for the effort.

In Fukushima population will be safe even in the worst case scenario because they have already been evacuated, just in case. There is absolutely no need for panic because panic is more deadly. There are already reports that one old man died from suffocation when he became scared from radiation and tightly sealed all air vents in his house and used gas stove for cooking.

I am not saying that radiation is harmless but we should see the things in proper perspective. There haven’t been any significant radiation leak from the nuclear plant yet. This article is about organized rescue efforts and that is the most important thing at the moment to save countless lives. Arguments about pro-/anti-nuclear energy policy can wait until this is over.

I mentioned that on some of my public comments, but forgot it for this post. Absolutely, that is one of the things that worked and saves lives.

A friend of mine, working in Tokyo, said that they had an automated announcement on the building P.A. system 1 minute before the quake. And while it’s somewhat hard to find more reports on the functioning of the system (drowned out by reporting on the nuclear situation) I imagine that even closer to the epicenter there would still be some pre-quake warning time so that emergency response probably started even before the quake hit. (Mostly automated responses like stopping/slowing trains or scramming the reactor.)