Nuclear Disaster
Japan has been well equipped for most of the natural disasters that occurred on, and, because of the earthquake/tsunami 11, March 2011. Their main infrastructure of buildings and cities, has survived the brunt of the earthquakes and tremors since the initial quake. The type of tsunami that hit Japan is next to impossible for humans to restrain and plan adequately for because of its power, as well as all of the other disasters that follow like dominoes; for example: Japans coast sinking from the original earthquake, lowering levees and sea level along the Eastern coast. That exact occurrence is what made the Fukushima nuclear power plant so vulnerable. The Plant had thirty foot levees, as high as the water table would have been, had the coast not sunk. Increasing the plants vulnerability was the failed power systems accompanied with an insufficient back up power system which inevitably led to the plants cores, meltdown.
Earthquakes in Japan are not uncommon, Japan lies in the ring of fire, and on a highly concentrated number of fault lines. Both of those factors create a high number of earthquakes in Japan’s region of the world (Hess, 2011). Because of these factors, Japan being a financially stable country (especially in comparison to places like Haiti), they design their buildings to be able to withstand earthquakes, including the Fukushima power plant.The plant was functioning properly when the power source to the core was shut down, it was the flooding that had not been anticipated by designers, therefore, it was the tsunami that did most of the Damage. To add insult to injury, the plant had designed levee walls that they believed was taller than they would possibly need. Tragically, even if the coast had not sunk and lowered Fukushimas power plants levee walls, they would have quite possibly still been breached causing the facility to flood anyway, and still consequently leading to the power plants meltdown (Nova, 2011). Either way, the plant did flood, the cooling system did fail, the core in at least one reactor melted down, and millions of gallons of contaminated radioactive seawater (that was used to help cool the reactors) ran off into the ocean. This type of occurrence is the opposite of the U.N.'s goal for environmental stability. The reason is because pollution from events like this can destroy marine habitats causing threats to species contaminated. On the other side of the coin, it inadvertently helped, even if momentarily, by destroying some of Japans fishing fleets, and coastal fishing towns. Some of these regions around Japan are overfished leading to population depletion (Blue Planet, 2001), hence, when the fleet is not fishing, the environment is not taking such a hit. Even so, what has happened in Japan is tragic, and may take the country decades to overcome. Fukushima may never be inhabitable again because of nuclear contamination; crops around the contamination zone have had to be destroyed, taking away the livelihood of some farmers(NPR News Audio). Hundreds of thousands of people are homeless and displaced because the torrential waves leveled so many homes. One can hope that even after this disaster is forgotten by the media, that Japan will have the aid it needs to help those most affected by this tragic event.
Even with all of these threats and factors, Japan has developed on a very unstable region of the world and consequently, suffers losses and damages from natural disasters. Even Tokyo is in a very vulnerable position as far as tsunamis. In fact, if the epicenter of the 11 March earthquake had been horizontal to Tokyo, the event would have been catastrophic, and the death toll could have been in the hundreds of thousands, not to mention the costs may have been had the tsunami hit that city (Nova, 2011).
Earthquakes in Japan are not uncommon, Japan lies in the ring of fire, and on a highly concentrated number of fault lines. Both of those factors create a high number of earthquakes in Japan’s region of the world (Hess, 2011). Because of these factors, Japan being a financially stable country (especially in comparison to places like Haiti), they design their buildings to be able to withstand earthquakes, including the Fukushima power plant.The plant was functioning properly when the power source to the core was shut down, it was the flooding that had not been anticipated by designers, therefore, it was the tsunami that did most of the Damage. To add insult to injury, the plant had designed levee walls that they believed was taller than they would possibly need. Tragically, even if the coast had not sunk and lowered Fukushimas power plants levee walls, they would have quite possibly still been breached causing the facility to flood anyway, and still consequently leading to the power plants meltdown (Nova, 2011). Either way, the plant did flood, the cooling system did fail, the core in at least one reactor melted down, and millions of gallons of contaminated radioactive seawater (that was used to help cool the reactors) ran off into the ocean. This type of occurrence is the opposite of the U.N.'s goal for environmental stability. The reason is because pollution from events like this can destroy marine habitats causing threats to species contaminated. On the other side of the coin, it inadvertently helped, even if momentarily, by destroying some of Japans fishing fleets, and coastal fishing towns. Some of these regions around Japan are overfished leading to population depletion (Blue Planet, 2001), hence, when the fleet is not fishing, the environment is not taking such a hit. Even so, what has happened in Japan is tragic, and may take the country decades to overcome. Fukushima may never be inhabitable again because of nuclear contamination; crops around the contamination zone have had to be destroyed, taking away the livelihood of some farmers(NPR News Audio). Hundreds of thousands of people are homeless and displaced because the torrential waves leveled so many homes. One can hope that even after this disaster is forgotten by the media, that Japan will have the aid it needs to help those most affected by this tragic event.
Even with all of these threats and factors, Japan has developed on a very unstable region of the world and consequently, suffers losses and damages from natural disasters. Even Tokyo is in a very vulnerable position as far as tsunamis. In fact, if the epicenter of the 11 March earthquake had been horizontal to Tokyo, the event would have been catastrophic, and the death toll could have been in the hundreds of thousands, not to mention the costs may have been had the tsunami hit that city (Nova, 2011).
Hope for a nuclear future?
Bibliography
File: Pacific Ring Of Fire.png http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Pacific_Ring_of_Fire.png
United Nations millennium development goals/ We can end poverty 2015.
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/environ.shtml
WorldNuclear (2011, March 18) Fukushima: WNA Director General John Ritch talks to CNN. Retrieved From youtube.com: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpMtnkt8bxg
Harris, R. (2011, March 24) Crisis Forces Japanese Farmers To Destroy Crops. NPR News. Podcast Retrieved From: http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=134830705&m=134830888
Pioneer Productions, (Producer) For Nova. (2011, March 30). Japan's Killer Quake [ Nova ]. PBS Online By: WGBH. http://video.pbs.org/
Hess, D., Tasa, D., (2011). Physical geography: A landscape appreciation (10th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Inc.
Fothergill, A. (Producer), & Attenborough, D. (Narrator), (2001). The blue planet seas of life. [Documentary]. BBC. United States: Warner Home Video
United Nations millennium development goals/ We can end poverty 2015.
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/environ.shtml
WorldNuclear (2011, March 18) Fukushima: WNA Director General John Ritch talks to CNN. Retrieved From youtube.com: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpMtnkt8bxg
Harris, R. (2011, March 24) Crisis Forces Japanese Farmers To Destroy Crops. NPR News. Podcast Retrieved From: http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=134830705&m=134830888
Pioneer Productions, (Producer) For Nova. (2011, March 30). Japan's Killer Quake [ Nova ]. PBS Online By: WGBH. http://video.pbs.org/
Hess, D., Tasa, D., (2011). Physical geography: A landscape appreciation (10th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Inc.
Fothergill, A. (Producer), & Attenborough, D. (Narrator), (2001). The blue planet seas of life. [Documentary]. BBC. United States: Warner Home Video
