Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Knowledge Tuesday: Japan: Three Months Later


On March 11, 2011, Japan sustained an earthquake and a tsunami which took thousands of lives, destroyed homes, and left a nuclear power plant unstable.

In my part of the U.S., they don’t talk much about what’s going on in Japan beyond a snippet here and there. It seems lately we’re experiencing the disaster of the week. I have friends who live in or have lived in Japan. I love their culture, their people and customs. So, I did some digging and found out what is still going on in their country.

Basically, they need our support.

On Forbes’ blog, they focus on what has happened to the nuclear power plant in Fukushima. Three of six reactors are believed to have belted down. Radioactive seawater has spread; the fishing industry may never recover. People are still displaced and can’t return to their homes around the plant.

Progress is being made as they clear the debris left from the earthquake and tsunami. In this picture found here, you can see the recovery in just two months, but they have a long way to go.

The estimated cost in lives has neared 28,000...in clean-up hundreds of billions of dollars.

The Japanese are strong, resilient people. I believe they will overcome this, but it’ll take time, patience, and support.

My story “Folding Hope” is part of the Stories for Sendai anthology. The proceeds of this anthology will be donated to GlobalGiving. For more information, please visit the Stories for Sendai blog here.

5 comments:

Aubrie said...

Wow, what a difference between the two pictures! They are such hardworking people. Let me know when I can pre order that short stories book!

Talli Roland said...

Massive difference between the two photos! Congrats on being part of such a wonderful project.

Nicole Zoltack said...

Wow, the difference between the two photos is just amazing!

Christine Rains said...

Holy moly. That is a great difference! I remember just a few months ago, it was all over the news. Now I don't see it any more. I think struggles like that are more important than speculations on who might be running for president next year.

Michael Offutt, Phantom Reader said...

That's a huge difference in those two pictures.