Japanese child being checked for radiation |
Whether
it was eating dirt, planting flowers with my mom in the garden or helping my
big brothers with target practice, being repeatedly pegged by paintballs, some
of my greatest childhood memories were made outdoors at the house I grew up in.
Imagine waking up one morning and having everything you’ve ever known taken
away from you. This was the unfortunate reality for the 160,000 citizens that
were displaced by the horrible Fukushima Diachii disaster that struck the
Tohuku area of Japan on March 11, 2011. Families were displaced from their
homes, forced to leave everything behind. Parents no longer allowed their
children to play (or in my case eat) the contaminated dirt. On the three-year
anniversary of this tragedy here are nuclear lessons learned for Japan as well
as the rest of the world.
Wearing white protective masks and suits, Yuzo Mihara and his wife Yuko pose for photographs on a deserted street in the town of Namie |
Killing 16,000
citizens, injuring 6,000 and leaving billions of dollars of destruction in its
path, the series of unfortunate events left hundreds of thousands of people in
complete dismay. The disaster began with a 9.0 magnitude earthquake, the worst
earthquake in Japans history, triggering a tsunami with waves as high as 133
feet. The tsunami generated serious damage to the Fukushima Diachii Nuclear
Plant, melting down three out of the six General Electric boiling water
reactors. Citizens braced themselves for a complete nuclear disaster. This disaster has
effected and continues to effect the environment and its inhabitants in many
ways including increased radioactive cesium on land as well as in the ocean.
Takeda Miyoko poses for journalist Kim Kyung-Hoon in her old dance Kimono |
Located
within 310 square miles of the disaster, the total economic loss of cities,
towns, agricultural lands, business, homes and properties add up to $250 to
$500 billion. In September 2012 a total count of 159,128 people were evicted
from their homes in the exclusion zone, loosing not only their homes , but almost
all of their possessions. Journalist Kim Kyung-Hoon accompanied evacuee, Takeda Miyoko, back to her now uninhabitable
home in Okuma. In this touching image, Miyoko shows the journalist her most fancy kimono and
explains, with tears in her eyes, that she used to wear it for her dance
performances. The beautiful kimono can no longer be worn because of radiation, the
former traditional dancer will never get to wear it again.
Okuma is one of the many villages evacuated
from radiation pollution. Mr. Jason Bartashius, a graduate of St.
Michael’s College and, after the disaster, an activist in Japan stated in an interview, “Some 80,000
people from that area are now living in temporary housing units or have
relocated to other parts of Japan.” Many
people were evacuated back in 2011 but now are being told that they can return
to their homes. The government plans on relocating the people of Fatuba to the
city of Iwaki, which is inside the Fukushima prefecture. TEPCO (Tokyo Electric
Power Company) claim that these areas, like Iwaki, are now safe again. Those 2 million people who
have returned home to the district have all sorts of medical issues, which the
government insists are unrelated to Fukushima. Idogawa, the former Mayer of
Futaba, claims that this is a “violation of human rights” and that the area is
not safe no matter what the government says.
An example of one of Reads pieces |
The abandoned homes now have a new dweller,
radioactive cesium. Cesium contaminates soil, plants and animals. It has been
detected in many Japanese food sources including spinach, tealeaves, milk and
beef. Cesium-137 has a half-life of 30 years and takes 10 half-lives for any
radiation to disappear. Needless to say, this radioactive disaster will be
around for the next couple of centuries. There are many attempts going on to
decontaminate the land affected by this catastrophe, but none have been
exceedingly successful. Attempts to clean up areas are failing because once
slight progress is made, rain and melting snow from the contaminated mountains
trails the radioactivity directly back to the area. Geoff Read, is a British
artist who organized workshops for Fukushima children. Read helped the children
paint self-portraits as a way to express their feelings about the heartbreak. Read has the children paint depictions of their feelings and when they are finished, he then adds his artistic put on the drawings. “Their lives had changed in
one day” Read explains in his video, “for example, they weren’t aloud to play
football outside anymore, thier parents were concerned that they were just
grieving the loss of play in their lives.” The art was a way for the children
to feel like they were “just simply being children.”
Image showing the dispersed radiation from Fukushima |
“A lot of sushi is consumed these days in neighboring East Asia and if it
comes from Japanese waters they are going to be concerned” Johnston explains. Cesium
is not only polluting the land but the water surrounding the Fukushima Diachii
plant and beyond. The contamination has affected freshwater fish up to 200
miles from Fukushima. The disaster produced the largest release of radioactive
material into the ocean in history. 733,000 curies of radioactive cesium were
pumped into the Pacific Ocean. Fifteen months after the tragedy 56% of all fish
caught were contaminated with cesium. As
well as 40% of bottom dwelling fish, including halibut and cod, were found with
cesium levels higher than the Japanese regulatory limits. Fishing had been
banned off the coast of Fukushima, one of the many factors taking a toll on the
Japanese economy. The radiation threatens to pollute the food chain, affecting
people all the way in the Asia-Pacific region.
"Fukushima wasn't a
'Japanese' nuclear accident," said Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer who worked
in the industry for 17 years before joining the UCS staff. "It was a
nuclear accident that happened to occur in Japan.” There are 23 nuclear
reactors in the US designed exactly like those at Fukushima making them highly
vulnerable to catastrophic natural disaster, system failures and terrorist
attacks. Jeff Ayres, St.
Michael’s College professor, the chair of the department of political science
and the program director of environmental studies, stated that, “what has
happened in Fukushima is an international issue”. The US nuclear reactors and emergency plans are no more
equipped than the Japanese to handle such devastation. An article published by USA today on March 9
predicted that very low levels of radiation would reach the ocean waters along
the west coast by April. These levels of radiation are extremely low and will
not harm humans or the environment. The University of Hawaii created a digital
image showing the dispersing of nuclear waste from Fukushima over time.
Eric Johnston, the
deputy editor in Osaka for the Japanese Times, one of the biggest English news
papers in Japan, stated:
If a
high-tech, highly educated and highly organized society like Japan has an
accident like Fukushima, what are the odds of an even worse accident occurring
in other countries that lack Japan's technological and organizational
strengths? And what happens if there is an accident, especially if the country
involved does not have a transparent system of government?
Tokyo 2020 announcement |
Johnston
explains that, “Not enough is being done.”
He goes on to say, “what is clearly needed is a massive, unprecedented
effort on the part of the Japanese government to tap as much available
international expertise on all aspects of the Fukushima clean-up, regardless of
whether or not the experts are fundamentally in favor of nuclear power.” The
2020 summer Olympics are being hosted in Tokyo, Japan just 150 miles from the
Fukushima disaster. Ayers explains, “Japanese politicians in Tokyo are
trying to assure everyone that they have Fukushima under control, don't worry,
and `please do come to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics” when in reality the situation
is not under control. The Olympics, however, will be great for Japans
economy since the great loss from Fukushima. Although it will take centuries to
clean up the unfortunate catastrophe at Fukushima, the Olympics may be exactly
what Japan needs to pick back up.
Bibliography
Bartashius, Jason. E-mail interview. 9 Mar. 2014.
Childs, Dan. "How Fukushima May Show Up in Your Sushi." ABC News. ABC News Network, 28 May 2012. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
Conca, James. "Radioactive Fukushima Waters Arrive At West Coast Of America." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 16 Mar. 2014. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
"Fukushima 2014: Don't Forget (English Subtitles)." YouTube. YouTube, 10 Mar. 2014. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
"Fukushima Radiation Killing Our Children, Govt Hides Truth - Former Mayor." - RT News. N.p., 21 Apr. 2014. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
Johnston, Eric. E-mail interview. 11 Mar. 2014.
"'Kids Die, Govt Lie!' Ex-mayor Exposes Real Scale of Radiation in Fukushima (FULL INTERVIEW)." YouTube. YouTube, 21 Apr. 2014. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
Kille, Leighton W. "The 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Fukushima and Japan’s Economy." Journalists Resource RSS. N.p., 18 Sept. 2013. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
Kyung-Hoon, Kim. "Tragedy in Fukushima: When Can We Go Back to Home Again?" Photographers Blog RSS. N.p., 13 Feb. 2012. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
Read, Geoff. "Fukushima’s Children." Kyoto Journal. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
ROBICHON, FRANCK. The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.