Japan’s Recovery From the Earthquake, Tsunami & Nuclear Crisis
On the eleventh day of March, 2011, Japan was dealt a devastating blow as an earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis rocked the northeast portion of the country.
The earthquake off the Pacific coast of Tohoku in Japan last March was classified as an undersea megathrust earthquake with a magnitude of 9.0 and the most powerful known quake ever to hit Japan. It was one of the five most powerful earthquakes in recorded world history since 1900.
This was a triple calamity for the tiny nation because the earthquake triggered a fearful tsunami with waves up to 133 feet or 40.5 metres. The tsunami, in turn, triggered several nuclear accidents, including the Level 7 meltdowns at the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant complex aand damage to the Fukushima II Nuclear Power Plant, too. The nuclear accidents affected hundreds of thousands of Japanese citizens who were forced to evacuate due to possible effects of radiation.
Following the earthquake and subsequent tsunami, the Japanese National Police Agency reported over 21,000 deaths along with 5,929 injured and an additional 4,122 people missing. More than 125,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed outright. The tsunami and earthquake also caused extreme structural destruction with massive damage to roads and bridges as well as widespread fires. Almost 4-1/2 million northeastern Japanese homes were without power and about 1-1/2 million without water following the disasters.
The Nuclear Threat
The nuclear reactors that were affected suffered damage caused by explosions due to a build-up of hydrogen gas in containment buildings following the failure of cooling systems.
In the wake of the disasters, Japanese officials raced to evacuate citizens within a 20 km or 12 mile radius of the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant and a 10 km or 6.2 mile radius of the Fukushima II Nuclear Power Plant. The United States suggested that its citizens should evacuate up to 80 km or 50 miles of either plant.
On March 18th, Japanese officials elevated the rating of the nuclear disaster from four to five out of a possible rating of seven. This rating is equivalent to the infamous catastrophe of Three Mile Island in the U.S. back in 1979.
The day before the threat rating was raised, soldiers, firefighters and police worked side by side spraying seawater from helicopters and water cannons on the smoldering core of the nuclear reactors, hoping to cool the temperatures. Unfortunately, these efforts were not successful.
Some workers were contaminated by radiation and many were under observation, suspected of being contaminated by radiation. Winds blew much of the radioactive leaking from the nuclear reactors to the east over the Pacific Ocean, much to the relief of Tokyo residents. Nevertheless, tension was high as people worried about the prevailing winds changing direction.
In June of this year, Japanese officials stated that conditions at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant have improved greatly since March, but went on to say that the nuclear plant won’t be totally stabilized until early in 2012.
At a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Association in Vienna this past June, officials released two reports that chronicle what went wrong after the disaster. One of these reports was prepared by the Japanese government for the IAEA, or International Atomic Energy Agency. The other report originated with an IAEA team after a visit to the stricken country last May. Both reports have a similar outlook regarding why things more or less fell apart at the nuclear power plants in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami.
Ultimately, the reports placed most of the blame for the way the situation was handled on the Japanese government while praising workers at the plants who courageously battled against impossible odds and under extremely hazardous conditions to try and contain the nuclear threat.
Renewable energy lobbyists are urging authorities to look at this potential atrocity and invest more in safe, renewable sources of energy such as solar power, wind energy and other renewable sources.
Financial Damages to Japan from the Disasters
The overall damage as a result of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear threat has been projected to exceed $300 billion, making Japan’s March 11th disaster the most expensive one on record to date. The silver lining in this cloud is that massive reconstruction on the scale necessary in Japan post-earthquake means an increase in jobs and sales of all sorts of good such as building materials and more; which will aid in economic recovery. Japan’s economy is recovering and is expected to continue to show improvement in the coming months. This was brought to you by the Greater Sydney Partnership who are making the Asia Pacific region a better place.