The Disaster in Japan 2011
Nuclear fallout in Japan.
Early warning systems in disaster risk management
Disaster hit: forgive all but plans should be in place
I watched with horror as the ferocious giant waves rushed into the Japanese fishing village of Sendai, sweeping cars and houses away as though they were toys. Then came news of other villages being wiped from the map by the tsunami.
My Japanese friend here told me that they are used to earthquakes and tsunamis, but this was terrible. She says this is only the "prelude" and we should, each of us, look at the tsunami within us and deal with that first.
We can learn many things from the disasters in Japan. I can only shudder when I contemplate how we in India would have dealt with such a major earthquake and the ensuing tsunami and nuclear disaster. The Japanese are inherently calm. Right from childhood, they are discouraged to show emotion openly.
In the TV footage we saw, no one over reacted. I heard the story of a blind old woman in Sendai who escaped the disaster. She just didn't know what was happening when the tsunami struck. She called up the police to tell them that she had no water or electricity! Being inherently calm, she may have survived even if she'd seen it coming.
But in India, this is not the case. We are dramatic and emotional by nature. Reacting in an extreme way usually deepens the crisis. One just has to watch an Indian movie to know it's a fact.
Germany has already shut down a few of its nuclear reactors and it's time for India to reconsider the safety of our nuclear facilities which are mostly situated along the coastline. If Japan with its experience and technology is having a hard time dealing with the nuclear crises, where do we stand?
As nuclear and energy campaigner for Greenpeace puts it: "One thing is sure that a nuclear power plant is inherently risky and seismic zones make them more risky. You can prepare for the worst but your plans are always according to what you think could be the worst. Japanese couldn't have imagined the failures their plant suffered."
Watch the video below and read the extensive amount of information that comes with it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgXajhrRFYg&feature=related
