Two years from Japanese disaster

On Friday, March 11, two years ago an 8.9 Richter scale earthquake hit the Japan’s eastern coast. This is one of the top five earthquakes ever recorded. The quake nearly killed 15000 people and there were 5000 people missing.

The magnitude of the quake unleashed a 7meter tsunami and was followed by more than fifty aftershocks for hours. According to the experts’ opinion, after an earthquake of this magnitude, the aftershocks take quite a while to die down.

Hours later the tsunami struck Hawai and warnings blanketed the Pacific, putting many areas on alert as far away as South America, Canada, Alaska and the entire US West Coast.

Apart from the people who died, there were, in my opinion, two main consequences:

1.- Nuclear Power plant explosion

The Fukushima plant was shut down during the quake, but after that, the backup generators needed to power cooling systems, but instead of that experienced critical failures. As a result of those failures the pressure build-up and exploded. The officials warned that small amounts of radioactive material were likely to leak from the plants. Finally, the scientist sorted out the problem, but the whole world asked itself about the consequences and if it was worth using nuclear power, especially in prone quake lands.

2.- Earth Axis shifted due to quake

Recent studies have showed us that the earthquake moved the main island of Japan about 2.4 meters and shifted the Earth rotation axis by about 25 centimeters. Isn’t it amazing?

Learning from Japan’s disaster

I have no doubt that everybody in the world should learn from Japan’s reaction to this disaster. For example, within a month, Senday airport, flooded by the tsunami, reopened. In some areas people went to work only two days after the earthquake.

How long do you think Spanish authorities would have taken to sort out  a disaster of this magnitude?

We have to recognize that Japan has one of the most effective emergency response services in the world.

Japan’s early warning system is believed to have saved a lot of businesses, hospitals and transportation networks because it service was able to shut down all the running processes thirty to sixty seconds prior to the earthquake.

What happened to Japan was such an enormous tragedy, in particular for a country that is so well prepared. Everyone in this country takes personal responsibility for their own preparation.

We have to understand that four tragedies confluence at the same time: the 9.0 earthquake, the tsunami, the nuclear explosion, and a snowstorm. These four disasters happened within 24 hours.

In those 24 hours we could see wrenching stories, which really struck a chord, but we have to learn a lot of Japanese people, how they were able to deal with those four tragedies at the same time and what incredible society it is in terms of how they came together and helped each other. They are simply extraordinary people.

It’s a reality that nuclear power is the most efficient source of energy that it’s ever been developed, because we can get a big amount of energy with a little amount of uranium but, on the other hand it’s the most dangerous energy too, so …..

Why do human beings have to take so many risks?

Could we live without using nuclear power?

Are human beings unable to produce a less dangerous but efficient energy?

I think that the answer to these questions is YES, but while we’re trying to find an answer, the politicians are busy, thinking about money and trying not to lose their best position in the picture, while the whole world is being polluted.