Currently viewing the tag: “Japan”
ABC News’ Matthew Jaffe reports: U.S. nuclear energy agency chief Gregory Jaczko repeated to ABC News Wednesday evening that there is “no water” in spent fuel pool number 4 at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in the wake of last…
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Golf, NCAA brackets, Democratic fundraisers, trips to Rio….the president may be engaged in a lot of hard work on Japan, the Middle East and North Africa, the budget and the economy behind the scenes, but he seems conscious of the…
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A reader writes:
I don't believe looting stems from a cultural issue, but rather societal, which is very different.
Looting is more likely to occur when groups of people feel they have been abandoned or trapped and anarchy results, or simply when people are afraid of starving or dying of exposure. After Katrina, we had the first situation, along with a bit of the second. After the Haiti earthquake, we had both in full force.
The devastation in Japan has been horrific, but its extremely stable society so far has not become anarchic. The huge amounts of poverty in Haiti, and in New Orleans for that matter, by comparison to Japan, make those societies much closer to anarchy and revolt (and looting) even without an earthquake or flood. The citizens' relationship with their government is also extremely important – looting is more likely if people believe their government is corrupt and not trustworthy.
For the first several days after both of these events in the Americas, people worked hard to rescue and to help each other. As I recall, it took several days for desperation and fear to set in; along with it came the realization that sufficient outside help could not or would not come, residents were trapped, and the government essentially broke down. At that point most major looting and violence began.
Not true. According to the AP, the day after New Orleans was hit:
"It's downtown Baghdad," said tourist Denise Bollinger, who snapped pictures of looting in the French Quarter. "It's insane."
Another writes:
I think the main reason for the lack of looting might be because the tsunami devastated everything, not just flooding it. The pictures we've seen have been of total destruction and death, it looks like there's little to steal, let alone people to steal it – and there doesn't seem to be enough damage in Tokyo or other major cities that weren't leveled to facilitate looting. On top of that, there are nuclear reactors in the first stages of meltdown keeping people away from the towns that felt the brunt of the quake and tsunami.
Yet the authors of the articles you link to seem to want to point toward cultural or development reasons. And look what that has created: read some of the comments (3300 of them so far) for the Telegraph's story. It seems that the racists are coming out in force on this one, and want to make a point of "ethnic purity" and homogeneity with a lack of immigration as the main reason there haven't been reports of looting.
Overall, I think that anybody who sees a disaster like this and immediately wonders whether or not people are taking things from local stores either already has his mind made up as to "why" or simply wants others to back them up so they don't appear to be casting the aspersions that they are too cowardly to openly cast.
(Photo: The Sasaki family carry some of their personal belongings from their home that was destroyed after the devastating earthquake and tsunami on March 15, 2011 in Rikuzentakata, Miyagi province, Japan. By Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)
I came across “Ode Magazine” a couple of years ago and it has appeared on my screen almost daily since then.
It is a rather unusual publication. It is “a print and online publication about positive news, about the people and ideas that are changing our world for the better.”
I know, such a publication should not at all be “unusual,” but these days, alas, it is.
Ode was founded in 1995 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands by Jurriaan Kamp and Helene de Puy who wanted to create an alternative to mainstream publications, “a magazine that was open to new inspirations and new visions from around the world.”
After publishing the magazine in Dutch for the first nine years, 2004 Kamp and de Puy—who are married—moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2004 and launched the English-language edition of the magazine. Ode now appears ten times a year in both English and Dutch, with a worldwide circulation of more than 100,000. (Ode on-line, almost daily)
Its community of readers are passionate about the magazine and the issues for which it stands: “positive social, environmental and economic change.” Ode’s aim: “To bring a new reality into view, to explore opportunities for positive change in our daily lives and our daily minds.”
Faced with the almost unfathomable human tragedy in Japan, one might think that Ode would be hard-pressed to come up with “positive news,” or with “new inspirations and new visions” on the disaster.
This week’s Ode has exactly one such piece, exactly what we need to read during such tragic circumstances.
Ode has published a letter sent from Sendai, Japan, by Ode blogger Anne Thomas, “ demonstrating the power of community and the spirit of resilience in difficult times.”
The letter starts:
Things here in Sendai have been rather surreal. But I am very blessed to have wonderful friends who are helping me a lot. Since my shack is even more worthy of that name, I am now staying at a friend’s home. We share supplies like water, food and a kerosene heater. We sleep lined up in one room, eat by candlelight, share stories. It is warm, friendly, and beautiful.
The writer concludes:
Somehow at this time I realize from direct experience that there is indeed an enormous Cosmic evolutionary step that is occurring all over the world right at this moment. And somehow as I experience the events happening now in Japan, I can feel my heart opening very wide. My brother asked me if I felt so small because of all that is happening. I don’t. Rather, I feel as part of something happening that much larger than myself. This wave of birthing (worldwide) is hard, and yet magnificent.
Thank you again for your care and Love of me.
In between, the letter writer tells us about the stoic nature of the Japanese people, their concern and caring for each other and for others—perfect strangers—their humanity, their continuing respect for the law and for orderliness even during such desperate circumstances and about the writer finding beauty and hope amid chaos and misery.
Please read the entire letter here
A bleak assessment from the chairman of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission: radiation from Japan’s earthquake-caused nuclear crisis is “extremely high,” rose than the Japanese government acknowledged and the outlook is ominious.
The chairman of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission gave a significantly bleaker appraisal of threat posed by the Japanese nuclear crisis than the Japanese government, saying on Wednesday that the damage at one crippled reactor was much more serious than Japanese officials had acknowledged and advising to Americans to evacuate a wider area around the plant than ordered by the Japanese government.
Gregory Jaczko, the chairman of the commission, said in Congressional testimony that the commission believed that all the water in the spent fuel pool at the No. 4 reactor of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station had boiled dry, leaving fuel rods stored there completely exposed. As a result, he said, “We believe that radiation levels are extremely high, which could possibly impact the ability to take corrective measures.”
The details reveal how bad it is in terms of a fix:
If his analysis is accurate and Japanese workers have been unable to keep the spent fuel at that inoperative reactor properly cooled — covered with water at all times — radiation could make it difficult not only to fix the problem at reactor No. 4, but to keep workers at the Daiichi complex from servicing any of the other crippled reactors at the plant.
Mr. Jaczko said radiation levels may make it impossible to continue what he called the “backup backup” cooling functions that have so far prevented full nuclear meltdowns at the other reactors. Those efforts consist of dumping water on overheated fuel and then letting the radioactive steam vent into the atmosphere.
The emergency measures are all that has prevented the disaster at Daiichi from becoming a full blow meltdown.
Mr. Jaczko’s testimony came as the American Embassy, on advice from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, told American to evacuate a radius of “approximately 50 miles” from the Fukushima plant.
The advice represents a far more grave assessment of the situation at the stricken reactors than the decisions made by the Japanese themselves, who have told everyone within 20 kilometers, about 12 miles, to evacuate, and those between 20 and 30 kilometers to take shelter. And the recommendation comes as the Japanese government has said it will be giving less information about the situation.
Meanwhile, emergency crews had to pull out:
Click here to view the embedded video.
Precautions.
Fifty miles is four times farther than the Japanese government’s evacuation radius and roughly one-third the distance between Fukushima and Tokyo. If you want to see what it looks like on a map, click here. A good question from Jake Tapper: Does this mean the White House thinks the threat from the leak is more […]
The latest casualty estimates out of Japan are quite disheartening:
The terrible toll of Japan’s double disaster became clearer today as it emerged as many as 25,000 people could be dead.
As rescue crews trawled through mile after mile of tsunami-stricken wasteland, officials from the coastal town of Ishinomaki confirmed that 10,000 of their citizens were missing.
The unimaginable figure is the same given as in the town of Minamisanriku, also in Miyagi state, which lost around half its population when it was razed to the ground by the 20 foot high wall of water.
So far the official death tool has hit 4,340 with another 9,083 people missing. But there were very real fears tonight that the statistics were a terrible underestimate of those who perished in the tsunami.
Across the country some 434,000 people have been made homeless and are living in shelters.
Ken Joseph, an associate professor at Chiba University, is in Ishinomaki with the Japan Emergency Team.
He told the Evening Standard: ‘I think the death toll is going to be closer to 100,000 than 10,000.
And that doesn’t take into account, of course, any longer term casualties resulting from radiation exposure.
TAPPER: Just to be clear, those Americans in Japan who listened to the Japanese government and stayed 20 kilometers outside the reactor and don’t listen to the U.S. government and go 80 kilometers outside of the reactor, they are taking…
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Armed with new independent data, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Committee Wednesday recommended that all American citizens evacuate the 50 mile radius surrounding the Fukushima nuclear reactors. NRC Chairman Jaczko told President Obama earlier today, and just now told the House…
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Written by Julius Rocas
This post is part of our special coverage Japan Earthquake 2011.
As Japanese authorities are scrambling to contain the on-going nuclear crisis in the quake and tsunami hit Fukushima, governments in its neighboring countries are fighting to control the spread of something equally dangerous – hoax messages that sow unfounded fear and panic in the public about Japan's nuclear problems.
In the Philippines, it all started with a hoax message which circulated via SMS warning the public to stay indoors, swab iodine on their necks and avoid getting caught in the acid rain that was allegedly caused by radioactive material that leaked from Japan's damaged nuclear power plants.
The hoax message soon leaked into social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. However, bloggers were quick in coming out to prove that the messages were false and expose it as such.
Rungitom dissects the message point-by-point to prove it's a hoax:
Why is it a hoax again? Here are the reasons:
- The plume from the site of the incident will not pass Philippine territory as of March 14.
- It does not make sense because the location of the explosion is too far, so it does not affect the local rainfall.
- The wind pattern in Japan showed that the Philippines are unlikely to be hit by any radioactive fallout from Fukushima.
- Acid rain is formed when gaseous substances like sulphur and nitrogen mix and react with water in the clouds. Radioactive materials were in metal form so it would not react with water.
Ralph at Trunk Locker joins the chorus of bloggers appealing to everyone not to simply forward messages via SMS without taking time to check on the facts or veracity of the information:
And please if you received the text message, don’t spread it and might as well tell the person who passed it to you that it wasn’t true. In times of crisis, we Filipinos must learn from the Japanese… they were bombarded with calamities… first was the earthquake, then the tsunami and now the impending danger of radiation exposure due to damaged nuclear power plant… but they remained calm… they remained disciplined. It was said in the news that they were waiting in line for their turn to receive relief goods and there were no reported robbing in shops and grocery stores. All praises to them.
However, some like Tiffany Ann Amores-Amortizado, may have doubted the message after doing her own search on the Internet, but still chose to err on the side of caution:
As a mother of 3 young children, I am a known worrier. And to take necessary or UNnecessary precautions, I WILL PLAY IT SAFE and stay indoors for at least 24 hours.
Still on the other hand Blogged Philippines argues that playing safe isn't really safe:
Some may argue that they just followed what the SMS said because its better to be safe. Yes, that saying is absolutely true if the definition of “safe” is clear. In the case of the Fukushima radiation hoax, how many of us is sure that putting an iodine solution in our thyroid will protect us against radiation? Whether it will help or not, I don't know. What I know is that I'm not sure about it. What if the opposite is true, and putting an iodine solution in your necks will even worsen the case? The point is, before making a decision, make sure that you have FACTS.
In the case of the Fukushima Radiation Hoax, the damage is not big. That's something we should be thankful for. It only resulted to people staying at home, suspended classes, and an increase in the sale of “betadine” solution.
. But think about this: What if the message instead requires a more drastic action? Will you do it?
In an effort to genuinely help out, Korhz shared some tips on how to be prepared when one gets caught in disasters like an earthquake or a nuclear event.
Juan Republic dug deeper into the hoax message, illustrating how Filipino culture with its penchant for gossip have contributed to how it got so viral:
It all started with a chismis – an unconfirmed text message that was repeatedly forwarded because of fear. Whoever was the one behind this fiasco, he succeeded. He induced fear and changed the normal routine of some of the Filipinos. He created an instant talk-of-the town. Or if he did it for fun, for sure, he laughed his ass out.
It’s just so disappointing that some idiots grab the opportunity of a disaster to create something stupid and for self-gratification.
Should our chismis culture be blamed? Our love for showbiz-oriented shows and tabloid-liked stories may be a factor.
…
Unfortunately, they passed the wrong message.
And the rest was an infamous story.
With today’s technology, news and information can be delivered faster. But technology doesn’t give us accuracy or veracity instantly.
Then there's this satirical piece on Mosquito Press hitting back at Filipinos, sharply pointing out that being easily affected by hoaxes is due to their ‘exceptional gullibility.'
This post is part of our special coverage Japan Earthquake 2011.
Written by Julius Rocas
This post is part of our special coverage Japan Earthquake 2011.
As Japanese authorities are scrambling to contain the on-going nuclear crisis in the quake and tsunami hit Fukushima, governments in its neighboring countries are fighting to control the spread of something equally dangerous – hoax messages that sow unfounded fear and panic in the public about Japan's nuclear problems.
In the Philippines, it all started with a hoax message which circulated via SMS warning the public to stay indoors, swab iodine on their necks and avoid getting caught in the acid rain that was allegedly caused by radioactive material that leaked from Japan's damaged nuclear power plants.
The hoax message soon leaked into social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. However, bloggers were quick in coming out to prove that the messages were false and expose it as such.
Rungitom dissects the message point-by-point to prove it's a hoax:
Why is it a hoax again? Here are the reasons:
- The plume from the site of the incident will not pass Philippine territory as of March 14.
- It does not make sense because the location of the explosion is too far, so it does not affect the local rainfall.
- The wind pattern in Japan showed that the Philippines are unlikely to be hit by any radioactive fallout from Fukushima.
- Acid rain is formed when gaseous substances like sulphur and nitrogen mix and react with water in the clouds. Radioactive materials were in metal form so it would not react with water.
Ralph at Trunk Locker joins the chorus of bloggers appealing to everyone not to simply forward messages via SMS without taking time to check on the facts or veracity of the information:
And please if you received the text message, don’t spread it and might as well tell the person who passed it to you that it wasn’t true. In times of crisis, we Filipinos must learn from the Japanese… they were bombarded with calamities… first was the earthquake, then the tsunami and now the impending danger of radiation exposure due to damaged nuclear power plant… but they remained calm… they remained disciplined. It was said in the news that they were waiting in line for their turn to receive relief goods and there were no reported robbing in shops and grocery stores. All praises to them.
However, some like Tiffany Ann Amores-Amortizado, may have doubted the message after doing her own search on the Internet, but still chose to err on the side of caution:
As a mother of 3 young children, I am a known worrier. And to take necessary or UNnecessary precautions, I WILL PLAY IT SAFE and stay indoors for at least 24 hours.
Still on the other hand Blogged Philippines argues that playing safe isn't really safe:
Some may argue that they just followed what the SMS said because its better to be safe. Yes, that saying is absolutely true if the definition of “safe” is clear. In the case of the Fukushima radiation hoax, how many of us is sure that putting an iodine solution in our thyroid will protect us against radiation? Whether it will help or not, I don't know. What I know is that I'm not sure about it. What if the opposite is true, and putting an iodine solution in your necks will even worsen the case? The point is, before making a decision, make sure that you have FACTS.
In the case of the Fukushima Radiation Hoax, the damage is not big. That's something we should be thankful for. It only resulted to people staying at home, suspended classes, and an increase in the sale of “betadine” solution.
. But think about this: What if the message instead requires a more drastic action? Will you do it?
In an effort to genuinely help out, Korhz shared some tips on how to be prepared when one gets caught in disasters like an earthquake or a nuclear event.
Juan Republic dug deeper into the hoax message, illustrating how Filipino culture with its penchant for gossip have contributed to how it got so viral:
It all started with a chismis – an unconfirmed text message that was repeatedly forwarded because of fear. Whoever was the one behind this fiasco, he succeeded. He induced fear and changed the normal routine of some of the Filipinos. He created an instant talk-of-the town. Or if he did it for fun, for sure, he laughed his ass out.
It’s just so disappointing that some idiots grab the opportunity of a disaster to create something stupid and for self-gratification.
Should our chismis culture be blamed? Our love for showbiz-oriented shows and tabloid-liked stories may be a factor.
…
Unfortunately, they passed the wrong message.
And the rest was an infamous story.
With today’s technology, news and information can be delivered faster. But technology doesn’t give us accuracy or veracity instantly.
Then there's this satirical piece on Mosquito Press hitting back at Filipinos, sharply pointing out that being easily affected by hoaxes is due to their ‘exceptional gullibility.'
This post is part of our special coverage Japan Earthquake 2011.
As our thought and/or prayers go out to the people of Japan, it’s worth a review of some of the issues bubbling up in the press about events leading up to the Fukushima Disaster: 1) Fukushima’s Record On June 17,…
Political Punch
Alex Tabarrok points to some useful advice from philanthropy-watchdog GiveWell on how to make the most of your charitable dollar right now:
We believe that
-Those affected have requested very little, limited aid. Aid being offered far exceeds aid being requested. [There are more details on this in their actual post, if you’re interested — Ezra]
-Charities are aggressively soliciting donations, often in ways we feel are misleading (more on this in future posts).
-Any donation you make will probably be used (a) by the charity you give it to, for activities in a different country; (b) for non-disaster-relief-and-recovery efforts in Japan.
-If you’re looking to pursue (a) and help people in need all over the world, we recommend giving to the best charity you can, rather than basing your giving on who is appealing to you most aggressively with images and language regarding Japan.
-If you prefer (b), a gift to the Japanese Red Cross seems reasonable.
Overall, though, a gift to Doctors Without Borders seems to us like the best way to effectively “respond to this disaster”. We feel they are a leader in transparency, honesty and integrity in relief organizations, and the fact that they’re not soliciting funds for Japan is a testament to this. Rewarding Doctors Without Borders is a move toward improving incentives and improving disaster relief in general.
I’d also note Annie Lowrey’s advice: if you are going to give, do not earmark the funds. If you want to give to Japan, give to a charity helping Japan — but don’t force them to spend your money in Japan if it turns out your money could be better spent elsewhere. Lives are lives.
Josh Freed is director of the Clean Energy Program at Third Way, and a longtime supporter of using nuclear energy as one component of our response to climate change. We spoke yesterday afternoon about what the events in Japan mean for nuclear-energy policy in this country — if anything. An edited transcript follows.
Ezra Klein: Should this change our thinking on nuclear power?
Josh Freed: When nuclear goes wrong, it goes wrong big. Though what that means aside from a lot of white-knuckle days and nights for everyone, we don’t know yet. One shouldn’t minimize the dangers faced by the workers, but even something as catastrophic as the disaster in Japan might turn out to be a lot less catastrophic in terms of damage and loss of life than we fear right now.
And you have to weigh that against the health, environmental impact and assorted other costs of the fossil fuels we rely on every day. And if, like most people, you think climate change is happening and poses a massive threat, you have to ask what options we have. Right now, 65 to 68 percent of our electricity is coal or natural gas. Twenty percent is nuclear. And the remaining 12 percent is renewables. Now, the renewables are certainly growing, but it’s going to take a long, long time to get them to scale such that they can make a big dent in fossil fuels, let alone replace them. And they still require some kind of corresponding baseload fuel to provide the electricity for when they’re not running. So for a source that doesn’t emit carbon or other pollutants that contribute to health problems, the other source you have is nuclear.
EK: If I’m remembering this correctly. the Obama administration recently proposed loan guarantees to help with the construction of new nuclear power plants. What’s the status of that policy?
JF: Here’s the challenge: Utilities in the United States have a market cap of somewhere between 12 and 20 billion a piece. It costs between $ 8 and $ 10 billion to build a new nuclear reactor. For the past 40 years, no new reactors have been built — in part because of financing and in part because of regulatory challenges. The nuclear loan program was put in place to finance new reactors by making capital cheap enough that the utilities could go onto the private markets to secure financing. And they did that by guaranteeing the loans. The utilities still have to pay the credit premiums, so they have skin in the game.
EK: You could imagine a lot of movement on the Hill away from nuclear energy in the aftermath of this disaster. But I’m not really seeing it — most politicians, as far as I can tell, are taking a wait-and-see approach. Is that what you’re seeing, too?
JF: For the most part, that’s been the case. The reality on nuclear energy is that a plant is not going to be constructed and come online in the next two weeks. There is right now one new plant under construction in this country and it’s in Georgia. And what’s happening on that plant at the moment is that dirt is being moved for it. There are other applications pending, but they are very early in the process and ground hasn’t been broken. So the debate in Washington has plenty of time to mature and so we have plenty of time to learn exactly what happened in Japan and what lessons we need to apply in the United States. But so far, aside from a few outliers, this hasn’t been demagogued.
Media Matters reported Monday that the right-wing media kept pushing for accelerated permitting of nukes and removal of “obstacles” even in the wake of Japan’s nuclear crisis.
Now ThinkProgress has compiled a video of GOP Senators’ “frighteningly blasé and contemptuous attitude towards the severity of nuclear power’s dangers and the regulations necessary to address them”:
Commenting on the unfolding nuclear reactor crisis at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant, John McCain (R-AZ) said recently:
I think what happens now to this power plant as to whether the damage is contained or not will have a direct effect on the future of nuclear power in the United States. Let’s have a little straight talk.
… Not surprisingly, the crisis has also inspired renewed debate over the future of nuclear technology here in America. It’s worth noting that, before offering “straight talk” on nuclear energy, McCain and fellow Republicans — including Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK), and Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) — were displaying a frighteningly blasé and contemptuous attitude towards the severity of nuclear power’s dangers and the regulations necessary to address them [as the video shows].
McCain is probably regretting that his views on nuclear safety did not advance sooner beyond “blah blah blah.”
The worst-case scenario seems to be playing out more and more these days, and it remains foolish to downplay the risks.
