Japan, the world’s third largest economy, the world’s leader in technology and the most connected country on the planet. And in one day all of the apparent strengths of this island-nation have been overshadowed by tragedies of epic proportions.
On March 11, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck the east coast of Honshu, the largest island in Japan. After the massive quake, a 33-foot high Tsunami swept away the cities of Sendai, Minamisanriku, Ofunato, Rikuzentakata and other towns in the prefectures of Iwate, Fukushima and Miyagi. As of this writing there are almost ten thousand reported casualties but authorities are conservatively estimating that deaths from the tsunami and the earthquake to exceed the 20, 000 mark.
Also as a result of these twin disasters, a nuclear power plant, the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, had successive meltdowns in four of its six reactors. It exposed countless people to radiation in varying amounts, though Japanese officials are quick to dismiss that radiation levels outside the immediate vicinity of the plant is relatively low. But in just a few days the situation in Fukushima had abruptly deteriorated, the International Atomic Energy Agency has raised the threat level from a three (serious incident) to a five (accident with wider consequence) using the International Nuclear Incident Scale.
Recently, Japanese authorities have recorded radioactive contamination of food products like milk and vegetables, and more disturbingly they have reported that drinking water in as far as Tokyo also has inexplicably high radioactive iodine content which the Health Ministry said to be unsafe for infants.
In nearby countries, paranoia and near hysteria are of prevalence. In the Philippines alone, news stories about radiation have triggered the government to up the ante on its drive to shield its citizens against radiation, in our airports and seaports radiation screening is a norm especially on people and shipments coming from Japan.
These government initiatives have stemmed from the need to allay and forestall the growing fears that a radioactive cloud would soon hit the Philippines. Such is also the case in countries like the United States, South Korea and other nations of close proximity to Japan.
The calamities currently crippling Japan holds resonance on the international community, ripping away our false sense of safety, snapping people out of their complacency and placing them in an overly-alert mode. As a testament to this, a relatively weak earthquake (5.8 in the Richter scale) that hit Manila a few days ago has practically made everyone jumpy.
The majority of Filipinos knows all too well that an earthquake of the same magnitude that hit Japan would completely flatten Philippine towns and cities.
And this logic is unquestionable, in fact it is infallible. The Philippines is a country which allocates meager amounts to national disaster preparedness. And this has been made apparent by the destruction brought by Typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng in 2009. Ondoy alone has destroyed hundreds of millions of pesos worth of both public and private properties. The damage brought by these typhoons is all preventable, yet it is apparent that both the executive and legislative departments are not ready to owe up to the opportunity and muster enough political will to prepare the nation against natural disasters.
The opposite is the situation in Japan. The East Asian country is well-prepared for disasters like these; a report from the Cable News Network explained that the Japanese have trained themselves to act in a disciplined manner during earthquakes since the 1920’s. The period after the great Kanto earthquake in 1923 which killed 100,000- 140,000 people has been a learning experience for Japan as a nation. They have rose from the ruins and stood as a stronger nation, prepared for whatever nature would throw their way. But even with almost a century of preparation for the “big one”, the killer quake of 2011 has left Japan reeling and coping with the destruction.
This only shows that when faced with the wrath of nature we are nothing. It is true that we can prepare for the inevitable to only a certain extent, we can never truly fathom the weight and decisiveness of a natural disaster, but as was shown by the triple disasters in Japan, preparation and readiness can cut fatalities and destruction by a significant percentage. Because of the safety measures and strict enforcement of Japan’s building code many people have found themselves safe after the quake hit. If you place the same situation, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake, in any other third-world country, it is with great conviction that I can say that fatalities would run in the hundreds of thousands like what happened in Haiti.
So the Japanese experience on disasters is full of lessons which everyone in the international community can learn from. Especially country’s like the Philippines can adopt the same legislative measures that Japan has implemented. We can man up to the situation and start to change policies pertaining to disaster preparedness. We have all the opportunities on our hands now. All we need is political will. The only thing against us is time. We must move quickly because in the shape we are in now the ‘big one’ could be the “last one” for many Filipinos.
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A reflection on Japan’s current woes
March 24, 2011Japan, the world’s third largest economy, the world’s leader in technology and the most connected country on the planet. And in one day all of the apparent strengths of this island-nation have been overshadowed by tragedies of epic proportions.
On March 11, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck the east coast of Honshu, the largest island in Japan. After the massive quake, a 33-foot high Tsunami swept away the cities of Sendai, Minamisanriku, Ofunato, Rikuzentakata and other towns in the prefectures of Iwate, Fukushima and Miyagi. As of this writing there are almost ten thousand reported casualties but authorities are conservatively estimating that deaths from the tsunami and the earthquake to exceed the 20, 000 mark.
Also as a result of these twin disasters, a nuclear power plant, the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, had successive meltdowns in four of its six reactors. It exposed countless people to radiation in varying amounts, though Japanese officials are quick to dismiss that radiation levels outside the immediate vicinity of the plant is relatively low. But in just a few days the situation in Fukushima had abruptly deteriorated, the International Atomic Energy Agency has raised the threat level from a three (serious incident) to a five (accident with wider consequence) using the International Nuclear Incident Scale.
Recently, Japanese authorities have recorded radioactive contamination of food products like milk and vegetables, and more disturbingly they have reported that drinking water in as far as Tokyo also has inexplicably high radioactive iodine content which the Health Ministry said to be unsafe for infants.
In nearby countries, paranoia and near hysteria are of prevalence. In the Philippines alone, news stories about radiation have triggered the government to up the ante on its drive to shield its citizens against radiation, in our airports and seaports radiation screening is a norm especially on people and shipments coming from Japan.
These government initiatives have stemmed from the need to allay and forestall the growing fears that a radioactive cloud would soon hit the Philippines. Such is also the case in countries like the United States, South Korea and other nations of close proximity to Japan.
The calamities currently crippling Japan holds resonance on the international community, ripping away our false sense of safety, snapping people out of their complacency and placing them in an overly-alert mode. As a testament to this, a relatively weak earthquake (5.8 in the Richter scale) that hit Manila a few days ago has practically made everyone jumpy.
The majority of Filipinos knows all too well that an earthquake of the same magnitude that hit Japan would completely flatten Philippine towns and cities.
And this logic is unquestionable, in fact it is infallible. The Philippines is a country which allocates meager amounts to national disaster preparedness. And this has been made apparent by the destruction brought by Typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng in 2009. Ondoy alone has destroyed hundreds of millions of pesos worth of both public and private properties. The damage brought by these typhoons is all preventable, yet it is apparent that both the executive and legislative departments are not ready to owe up to the opportunity and muster enough political will to prepare the nation against natural disasters.
The opposite is the situation in Japan. The East Asian country is well-prepared for disasters like these; a report from the Cable News Network explained that the Japanese have trained themselves to act in a disciplined manner during earthquakes since the 1920’s. The period after the great Kanto earthquake in 1923 which killed 100,000- 140,000 people has been a learning experience for Japan as a nation. They have rose from the ruins and stood as a stronger nation, prepared for whatever nature would throw their way. But even with almost a century of preparation for the “big one”, the killer quake of 2011 has left Japan reeling and coping with the destruction.
This only shows that when faced with the wrath of nature we are nothing. It is true that we can prepare for the inevitable to only a certain extent, we can never truly fathom the weight and decisiveness of a natural disaster, but as was shown by the triple disasters in Japan, preparation and readiness can cut fatalities and destruction by a significant percentage. Because of the safety measures and strict enforcement of Japan’s building code many people have found themselves safe after the quake hit. If you place the same situation, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake, in any other third-world country, it is with great conviction that I can say that fatalities would run in the hundreds of thousands like what happened in Haiti.
So the Japanese experience on disasters is full of lessons which everyone in the international community can learn from. Especially country’s like the Philippines can adopt the same legislative measures that Japan has implemented. We can man up to the situation and start to change policies pertaining to disaster preparedness. We have all the opportunities on our hands now. All we need is political will. The only thing against us is time. We must move quickly because in the shape we are in now the ‘big one’ could be the “last one” for many Filipinos.
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