Early Tuesday morning, aftershocks of magnitude 6.6, 6.4, and 6.6 rocked the northeast part of Japan within two and half hours. That must've been frightening. A 6.6 is not a "small" earthquake.

Rolling blackouts continued in parts of Japan, affecting about 10 million households.

"It's hard to reconcile the reassurances of the Japanese government with the actions taken by the US government."

Japan is probably trying to prevent a national panic. The U.S. government has always had its own agenda, whether we hear what it really is or not (usually not).

The first Rule of Business probably applies here: Always Follow the Money.

Sue

This is a good move. US personnel living in Japan use scarce resources just like all Japanese residents. By moving US citizens out and deploying the ships Japan has that many fewer people to supply with food, gas and electricity. While parked on a pier, a US ship uses shore power (electricity) and water. Underway, they have their own power systems on line and make their own fresh water. IMO it's better for all to deploy the ships and send dependents home. FWIW, my opinion

I agree on both counts. Such divergent recommendations just make it really hard to gauge the situation based on what either side is recommending that people do, particularly for people like my friend, who are watching the situation from outside Japan and having to decided if and when to return to Tokyo.

One thing is certain so far--none of the Western governments have yet recommended that people return to Tokyo yet.

I hadn't thought about them, but I guess American teachers who work on the bases in Japan are considered "essential personnel" and they can't evacuate if they wanted to. If they want to send their children home, they have to find someone to take custody of them.

Here's the Stars and Stripes article.

Authorities warn Tokyo residents that the tapwater contains radiation levels that exceed the safe limit for consumption by babies. The level did fall to just under the limit later, but it's still right on the edge. I hope this is not a sign of more long lasting things to come.

Not surprisingly, store shelves were stripped of bottled water very quickly.

That's one of the frustrating things about radiation--you can have temporary spikes in seemingly random places. The spike scares people and they remember it, even if the level quickly drops again.

I wonder if anyone is testing the bottled water for radiation levels.....

I'd much rather read stories about our military doing things like this in Japan rather than about how many cruise missles we have launched into yet another country.

"I wonder if anyone is testing the bottled water for radiation levels....."

If the water was bottled before the problems, why would it be an issue?

Sue

The hazard is actually not great. Babies would need to consume the contaminated water for a long time before showing measurable harm. Since the radioactivity has a half-life of 8 days, that's not going to happen (unless something else goes wrong, which is unlikely now).

The Japanese government are being excessively cautious again. See for example World Nuclear News.