10,000 missing in Japanese town

[FourScore]

Is it just me, or is this is a wierd story? I can't post much because of the 4-paragraph rule -- click the link to read the whole article.

10,000 missing in Japanese town
From: NewsCore
March 13, 2011 2:54AM

AS many as 10,000 people have been reported missing in a northern Japanese town as a strong aftershock hit near a nuclear plant in Fukushima.

Three people evacuated from the area near the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant were exposed to radiation...

SNIP

...The patients had waited for rescuers outside a school, spending a long time outside and then being moved by helicopter at the time when an explosion hit the aging plant.

Up to 10,000 residents in the port town of Minamisanriku in the Miyagi prefecture - more than half of the population - were unaccounted for, highlighting the unfolding scale of the disaster...

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/world/missing-in-japanese-town/story-fn6sb9br-1226020512318#ixzz1GP19RJyI

[jannyk]

1. See extensive discussion here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=622877&mesg_id=622877

[malaise]

2. Before and after

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaclu/5519857082/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaclu/5519267771/

[angstlessk]

5. Here is another before and after pic..horrible!

http://twitpic.com/48s4ja

[jannyk]

7. That's Sendei - a different town to the one in OP which is Minamisanriku

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x622877

[tabatha]

3. another link

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/77165.html

[gkhouston]

4. If it's a port town, could they have been swept out to sea? Horrific, but possible. n/t

[Atman]

6. Off-topic, but a bit about that "four paragraph" rule...

Notice you only actually posted four sentences. Many sites like to do this, ignoring proper paragraph breaks in favor of a break after every period. Viola, now other sites can only legally post about one paragraph, not four. Minor point, but a trick that has bugged me for a while.

That said, sorry if I hijacked your thread. The story you posted is one more horrible report in what will undoubtedly be a very long, long series of horrible reports. My heart pours out to the people of Japan.

[Bosonic]

8. Brutal aerial view of Minamisankriku