FUKUSHIMA TODAY AND TOMORROW

Fukushima: the future is unknown, but the present is terrible enough; We must not let our fear of the potential risks of radiation eclipse the real and present dangers the Japanese people face
Jonathan Watts, 3 April 2011 (UK Guardian)

"…[D]isaster victims [in Japan] are being put to one side [for fear they are contaminated with radiation] while the world is gripped by fear of a meltdown…The explosions and radiation leaks at the nuclear plant have dominated coverage…though they have so far resulted in far fewer casualties than the earthquake and tsunami. This is frustrating to anyone who has seen the situation in the evacuation shelters, where the need for food, fuel and care is enormous…

"So why has the media focus remained on less tangible nuclear fears? The old media adage 'If it bleeds, it leads;, was clearly not the deciding factor. The problems at the plant have not yet resulted in a single fatality, whereas the 28,000 people dead or missing as a result of the earthquake and tsunami make it Japan's deadliest disaster since the war…[and the cause of] more economic damage than any disaster man has known...[Up to 400,000 people homeless. Fewer than a third are nuclear evacuees…Yet these powerful scenes have been pushed aside by a radioactive threat we cannot see."

click to enlarge

"…The nuclear crisis hits closer to home. There is a far higher chance of a reactor accident than a tsunami in most countries, particularly in Europe and North America. But…people in Sendai (80km away) were going about their business…while embassies and firms in Tokyo (200km away) were frantically evacuating…And shoppers in China (1,000km away) were fighting…[for] an antidote to radiation…[This] suggests media messages are being distorted and amplified."

click to enlarge

"…This is not to dismiss the threat. Nobody can predict what will happen next, because we have not been here before. This novelty, more than anything, explains why the nuclear angle has pushed the continuing human suffering in Japan off the front pages…We have had earthquakes and tsunamis before, but we have never consumed a multiple meltdown threat quite like this. The efforts to contain the leak have been horrifyingly compelling – both extraordinarily brave and yet, given the enormity of the problem and the improvised nature of the countermeasures, touchingly inadequate. Until the threat posed is clear, we must watch it closely.

"…[But] we should not lose sight of suffering and need…[A]s reports came in of explosions at the reactors…expert advice suggested the radiation risk was tolerable if we kept a decent distance. A bigger concern was the shortage of food and fuel, which took hours to find each day…[and without] oil, there was a very real risk of society grinding to a halt. For those in the shelters, of course, the situation was much worse…[and] the humanitarian challenge is not over."