Tokyo BLACKOUT!
CNN Aug 14- Tokyo darkened by power failure
Blackout in wide areas of Tokyo, vicinity
TOKYO, Aug. 14 KYODO
Right now downtown Tokyo is having a widescale blackout —the first I can remember.
For you folks in the 3rd world where this happens everyday, this is a rarity in Tokyo. A large scale blackout like this has not happened in 30 years. It is even hard to find backup power supplies for computers here–they aren’t needed.
The poor guys in Tokyo Electric will have to report to Diet and aplogize on their knees for this.
When I used to work with the guys in Hitachi and they keep asking me why all the server room plans I approved had UPS added for power back up. When I said it was for blackouts, they first replied that Tokyo isn’t subjected to aerial bombing anymore so there’s no need for blackouts. The concept of power blackouts was unheard of, hee, hee. They kept asking me, “Why would the power company turn off the power?”
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August 14th, 2006 at 9:40 am
On the news, they are saying a crane truck hit a power line?
With Japan being almost nothing but above-ground power lines, for one to get severed and cause a wide blackout is not good.
August 14th, 2006 at 10:05 am
It seems to be more than one crane involved at two different locations. There’s a barge crane on the Edo River the took off the main line for east Tokyo.
Yes, above-ground power lines are the second worst aspect of Japanese hate-of-Nature right after concrete on everything (homes, rivers, beaches, mountainsides, etc).
August 14th, 2006 at 10:24 am
Above ground power lines, the concrete and Ueno Zoo.
August 14th, 2006 at 3:50 pm
The full story is comming out, finally.
http://www.crisscross.com/jp/news/381464
August 16th, 2006 at 1:15 am
LOL I live in Brazil and this doesn´t happen everyday. :)
August 20th, 2006 at 9:59 pm
Crane owner won’t compensate for damage caused by blackout
The Yomiuri Shimbun, Aug 20, 2006
Mikuniya Kensetsu, the company that owns the floating crane that caused a widespread blackout in the metropolitan area by accidentally hitting electric cables on the Kyu-Edogawa river last Monday, said it bears no responsibility to compensate for indirect damage resulting from the blackout.
“We don’t bear any responsibility to make reparations for indirect damage, such as failure of air conditioners and personal computers, and the death of tropical fish,” the offshore civil engineering company said in a statement on its Web site Friday.
Kenji Kimata, chairman of the company based in Kamisu, Ibaraki Prefecture, told The Yomiuri Shimbun, “My personal view is that we are responsible for the direct damage to the electric cable, and we would comply if [Tokyo Electric Power Co.] requests compensation, but I don’t think we bear any legal responsibility to pay for indirect damage caused by the blackout.”
TEPCO will not pay compensation for damages either, because its contract with customers exempts the company from liability claims …more.…