sean: could the devastation in japan pose a risk to mick? experts are expressing concern the fall out from a nuclear meltdown could endanger the united states if wind blows radiation across the pacific ocean. they are expressing concern about the threat of additional quakes. with more on these potential threats are professor of civil and environmental engineering at ucla john wallace and director of the heartland institute. john, is this a threat to the people in california? i know a lot of people are very concerned. it appears the winds seem to be blowing in that direction, is there a problem? there certainly could be. we all are following it closely to see what happens. we have to wait and see what plays out. sean: yeah? i couldn t disagree more. i think there is no chance of
sean: could the devastation in japan pose a risk to mick? experts are expressing concern the fall out from a nuclear meltdown could endanger the united states if wind blows radiation across the pacific ocean. they are expressing concern about the threat of additional quakes. with more on these potential threats are professor of civil and environmental engineering at ucla john wallace and director of the heartland institute. john, is this a threat to the people in california? i know a lot of people are very concerned. it appears the winds seem to be blowing in that direction, is there a problem? there certainly could be. we all are following it closely to see what happens. we have to wait and see what plays out. sean: yeah? i couldn t disagree more. i think there is no chance of
as we filmed, panic struck the neighborhood. emergency vehicles warning through blaring loud speakers, there s a tsunami coming, a tsunami. move to higher ground. we joined that exodus, but thankfully, the surging water didn t return. it was a false alarm, though that will be little comfort to this battered and traumatized city. sendai is a shell-shocked city that s hardly functioning. and although rescue and relief efforts are being stepped up, the challenges they face here are enormous. back to you. all right. thank you so much. nbc s ian williams. more now on the size and scope of friday s quake. japanese officials now say the earthquake was stronger than first thought. it s raised it now to a magnitude 9.0. joining me live once again, thomas o rourke, professor of civil and environmental engineering at cornell university. he s also on the advisory committee for earthquake hazard reduction. and with a welcome back to you, thomas, i want to run some of this video
have now raised the magnitude of friday s earthquake to 9.0. that is still the strongest on record to ever hit japan. and the size and scope of the quake has raised a lot of questions about how much advance notice can be given before such a catastrophic event. for more, i m joined live by thomas o rourke, professor of civil and environmental engineering at cornell university. he is also on the advisory committee for earthquake hazard reduction. so, thomas, we re going to be showing thank you, by the way, for being here and as we speak good morning, alex. we re going to run the amateur video just in to nbc. this is remarkable. about three minutes of it, in fact, as the tsunami was striking. can you get a heads-up with regard to the earthquake that causes this tsunami? we hear reports of people in tokyo having been given as much as two minutes warning. any chance we re going to develop the ability to do it even further in advance of that? well, there s two issues. there is
leaking pipe by thursday. meantime, 210,000 gallons of crude continue to gush into the gulf of mexico every day. when and how the responsibilities stop that unrestrained continuous blast of petroleum remains to be seen. joining us now is civil and environmental engineering professor of rice university. thanks so much for your time tonight. i hope i got your name right. yes, you did. excellent. the smaller box, the top hat, what makes it different than the bigger box and more likely to work? the primary thing is they will be sending the box down at the end of a pipe, if you will, that outer pipe will be sending down warm sea water. that will keep the box warm and hopefully it will not plug up the way the bigger one did and the ice plug will be prevented from forming. hopefully it will work.