Canon Reports Injuries, Plant Closings

Note: In no way is this brief report intended to minimize, mitigate, or delimit our concern for all the people of Japan or for any of the victims of the earthquake and tsunami or the nuclear powerplant crisis there. This is a photography-related website, and we discuss many things as they relate to photography. I hope it goes without saying that that does not mean that's the only thing we care about. —Ed.

Canon Inc. has this morning issued a Damage Report [link is a PDF download] detailing the suspension of operations at several operation sites and group companies. For most, the resumption of normal operations is marked "To Be Determined," but in the case of the Utsunomiya plants and Fukushima Canon Inc., an additional note is appended saying that "additional time will likely be needed before operations resume." There are 15 employee injuries reported at the Utsunomiya plant.

The report also notes that if Canon has to shut down operations for more than a month, it will consider making use of undamaged alternate sites as a means of continuing production.

Nikon and Epson have also issued further damage reports.

'They're just coming to take photos'
I noted that a Japanese woman in this Reuters video mentions that "nobody's coming here. They're just coming to take photos, and that's about it."

Speaking of photos, few things have brought home the incredible power of the tsunami more than these interactive shutter-curtain photos at nytimes.com. They're comparative satellite photos before and after the tidal wave. Astonishing and horrifying.

Particularly heartbreaking is that apparently, in areas largely swept away by the tsunami, few survivors are being found.

Tsunami-proof house
Just as a point of interest (and to inject a faint note of hopefulness after a very discouraging weekend following the news), I happened to remember from my housing research a few years ago that there's a company called Topsider that builds hurricane- and tsunami-resistant houses. They use a radiating pattern of reinforced post-and-beam atop a concrete piling.

Mike
(Thanks to Vlatko Juric-Kokic)

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Original contents copyright 2011 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.

Featured Comment by Marc Saylor: "The designers of the Topsider tsunami-proof house might want to add the possibility of passenger ferries to their contingency plans."

Associated Press

Comments

[Awake]

The plant stoppages are possibly due to the disruption of the supply chain rather than deep physical damage. With "Just in Time" manufacturing pretty much the norm for all manufacturing in Japan, it will take a while to get things reorganized and running smoothly again.

[Dennis Ng]

"To plan is human, do have to remember that whether it work depends upon whoever up above though."

I heard that there is a dam that can prevent a certain height of tsunumi, get world records but it turns out it cannot prevent this one. The area behind the dam is one of the hardest hit area this round.

"You can humble any mountain, but never underestimat the power of water".

***

I cannot help myself not to cnn, washingtonpost, nytimes, yahoo news on top of Hong Kong news sites. Such a tragedy and it is still unford before your eye.

One part of my job is to do business continuity management (old day called diasater recovery) as said in the Nikon report. The only one thing I find it hard to deal with is how to "BCM" the human part. Would the one left behind can RTFM I left for them without me being around any more. Luckily, it seems Nikon is not that kind of hard hit, reading in between the lines. Unless this is a sort of polite Japanese, understatement English or simply PR statement which I mis-read. Some good news is needed, like the man survive in the sea for 2 days, please and not another explosion or now trying to get water into the exposed nuclear rod in 2nd reactor.

I should not watch about this for a while. Your jazz make perfect sense. Need escape.

[Richard]

It remains to be seen what the status of the electric transmission lines may be and what the electric generation capacity will be. One has to suspect that there will be rationing to allocate electricity to the industries capable of resuming production so as to minimize the economic impact of the disruptions. There is also the matter of transportation by rail and road.

As noted in the body of the article, relocations may be in order.

Replacing the generating capacity of the plants which will not be returned to service will take some time.

[Paul Van]

With rolling blackouts being planned, I wonder how that will affect assembly lines throughout Japan. It appears that the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami will last for quite some time and be farther-reaching than we can anticipate.

Here's hoping for some good news to start coming out of Japan.

[MIkal W. Grass]

Mike, you didn't need to put the caveat at the beginning of this post. All of us who are regular readers know your heart and mind are in the right place.

[James Bullard]

While I understand the frustration of those who see people who "just come to take photos", that is how the rest of the world learns the magnitude of the disaster. There is little more that the journalists can do in the face of such overwhelming destruction. The hope is that rather than turning away to escape, the viewers of these images will be prompted to do whatever they can to help however little that may be. To that end I offer this URL http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/03/11/6246445-japans-earthquake-how-to-help which lists ways you can donate to your choice of organizations through the convenience of your cell phone. I'm sure a quick web search would produce many more opportunities to assist.

[Pak-Ming Wan]

The footage of the flags marking the dead is particularly harrowing. What does one say? (I hope this is why you've had a relatively low number of comments for these tsunami related threads...) it's clear that I think most of the world and your readership is suitably stunned.

Pak

[erlik]

Those rolling-shutter photos are a terrifying testament to the force of the tsunami. But this short video on Al-Jazeera English shows the actual moment the tsunami hit. Ugh.

BTW, I have to praise Al-Jazeera for their coverage, both of the Arab revolts and of the Japan earthquake. News almost in real time. That's the way a 24-hour news channel should work.

[ILTim]

Those photos are amazing, but the user interface intrigues me a bit too.... swipe, GONE! Its eerily empowering in a decidedly evil way.

[Drew]

You're going to need a bigger house . . . the buildings that house manufacturer makes wouldn't have survived the tsunami in Japan.

[Keith Loh]

Mikal, never underestimate the idiocy of the Internet. If Michael hadn't put that warning I guarantee there would be some keyboard cowboy trying to give him a whack or too in these very comments.

[iñaki]

I do find heartbreaking that we, as society, much prefer information to action, exemplified by that very wise cry of that woman.

It is heartbreaking that we now value information as pure value, and forget that someone has to act.

[Alex Vesey]

Post tsunami images show three story buildings with flood damage--even boats on roofs. If constructed in the northeastern part of Japan, the house would be just high enough to be a garbage can for lighter debris.

[Tom]

"I noted that a Japanese woman in this Reuters video mentions that "nobody's coming here. They're just coming to take photos, and that's about it.""

Photos help. This one ...

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/03/japan_continuing_crisis.html#photo2

... killed me enough that I more than doubled my previous contribution.