Apart from donating 1,000 portable generators, Honda delivers something really useful: Precise information about road conditions in the disaster areas. Together with Google Maps and Honda’s traffic data suppliers Internavi and Smartloop, Honda provides real time road conditions for the disaster stricken areas.
You can get the interactive map here. Of course, the information is in Japanese, but you will learn Japanese in 5 seconds: The blue routes are passable. The grey routes are not. From afar, it looks ok. But zoom in. You’ll see grey. As in no go.
Now do this. Click here. This is a map of the two stricken reactor blocks in Fukushima. (Sorry, we haven’t figured out yet how to overlay one with the other. Any takers?) Compare this map with Honda’s real-time map of passable roads. See any blue where the power plants are? The only passable road is some 15 miles away. Now you know why getting help there is a bit challenging.
Move up north on the map, and you’ll see vast stretches of land impassable. These areas are densely populated. “Little” Sendai is a city of a million.
Add to that the fact that gasoline is hard to come by and you get a feeling of what is happening. Let’s hope many of these roads turn blue soon.
Speaking of Honda, they decided to keep their plants closed until the 23rd, Reuters said. Expect that to be moved out again. The Wall Street Journal writes that Honda warned its U.S. dealers that full production in some Japanese plants may not resume before May.
Very informative post, thanks.
As for May production resumption, I guess it all depends on the reactors, length of cool-down or burial, and the prevailing winds. The situation could become MUCH worse or they could get lucky. And then there’s the power supply situation for the entire country, a huge question mark of its own.
I feel for them.
Indeed. I can’t imagine what those folks are going through.
Given the situation there and the risks associated with the MOX burning reactor on site, it sounds more and more like the burial option will be the ultimate solution, as the restart of the electric cooling systems is probably unlikely. I could imagine these systems have sustained much water and fire damage, not to mention damage from the quake itself. The race is on.
Honda’s built over a hundred Asimo units; could they help at the reactors?
I can see one recreating Spock’s scene at the end of Star Trek II…