From Friday to now, and we are just begining to get the extent of damage

Kinda speaks to how bad this is going to end up.

Where is PACFLT? Why don't we have ships at the power plant supplying power? Couldn't they commandeer some commercial ships to generate power?

Who builds a nuke plant in a Tsunami floodplain? Apparently, descendants of the people who coined the term.

Did they ever find those trains that were reported missing?

I cry for the people of Japan.

-Hoot

a field.

that story. I couldn't find any additional information on the other trains reported missing, though.

As for the Pacific Fleet, if they could help, I'm sure they would. It's not all as simple as it may seem. Most ships are not set up to deliver electrical power to shore. Japan has many resources, including manufacturers of powerful gas turbine generation equipment. Some of that has already been delivered to the sites.

Your question about building nuclear power plants in tsunami zones is a good one.

As for the trains, you'd have to check Japanese news sources for that information. There are too many larger stories and the Western media is focusing on the big picture, rather than the details, as you might expect.

We all hurt for the people of Japan, I'm sure.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503543_162-20042505-503543.html4

President Barack Obama said Saturday that one U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan, was already off the coast of Japan, and another was on its way. Washington has also dispatched urban search and rescue teams, according to U.S. Ambassador John Roos.

CBS News correspondent David Martin reports that the USS Reagan is serving as a "lily pad" for Japanese helicopters, i.e. a place to land and refuel. Reagan has a supply ship with it, so it will be able to keep refueling Japanese helicopters indefinitely. There are two escort ships with the USS Reagan and four more destroyers on the way to conduct Search and Rescue.

The next big deck ship to arrive will be the Tortuga, probably sometime tomorrow. It has just finished loading heaving lift MH-53 helos in Korea and is en route to Honshu. The Essex, an amphibious ship carrying a Marine Expeditionary Unit is in the South China Sea but still a couple days away. It will rendezvous with two other amphibious ships: Harpers Ferry and Germantown.

The Blue Ridge, a command ship loaded with relief supplies, has left Singapore but it will get to Japan after Essex.

This is very different from Haiti where the local government had no resources and was basically helpless until the U.S. military arrived. The Japanese have hundreds of helicopters.