In a column published Monday, KEK Director General Atsuto Suzuki offers an overview of damage from the March 11 earthquake to the laboratory's campuses in Tsukuba and Tokai and outlines a repair and recovery plan. Although both sites are more than 300 km from the epicenter, the quake was so powerful -- a 9 on the magnitude scale -- that the shaking caused significant damage, he wrote:
In the Tsukuba-campus, components of accelerators, detectors and peripheral became detached and fell to the ground or collided with each other. Infrastructures such as the substation to receive and distribute electric power from outside, water reservoir tanks and campus roads were also damaged. Their functions have already been partially restored with quick-fix repairs. The tsunami did not affect J-PARC although it did penetrate somewhat beyond the beach area. However, there is serious subsidence and cracks have appeared in the surrounding roads, with a partial collapse of the accelerator/detector buildings. Fortunately, there has been no observed serious damage to the accelerator and detector devices located underground.
His report includes a map and details of the damage at both sites, as well as a recovery timeline, and concludes:
Thanks to your strong and continuous encouragement, we are moving from the inspection phase to the recovery phase. All the KEK staff are maintaining their tenacious efforts not just to restore KEK, but to create a new KEK. Once again, I would like to thank you for your support.
