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ecently, one of our neighboring countries-- Japan, has been struck by a catastrophic 9.0 magnitude earthquake. You may think that the earthquake is horrifying enough, but that’s not the end. Its shockwave caused a large tsunami that severely damaged Japan’s northeast coast. High levees were considered useless as sea water burst from the top, and terrified people can only watch their homes being washed away. A death toll of over 11000 has been estimated. When the tide recedes, a new disaster emerged -- the Fukushima nuclear disaster. The diesel generators of the Fukushima Daiichi Power Plant were shut down when sea water flooded them, causing the fuel rods inside the reactor core to ignite and eventually make the reactor no longer capable of sustaining heat; thus, the engineers had to open the coolant circulating valve in order to release the excessive pressure from within. In doing so, the steam released from the reactor core created a powerful hydrogen explosion that destroyed much of the secondary containment structure. Radioactive fuels then sprung into the air. As of now, the authority have enlarged the quarantined areas to 50km radius, a 20km
While we look at all of the events unfolding, we may ask ourselves: “What have we learn from all these events?” “What should we do to prevent the same tragedies from happening to us?”
First of all, the mega earthquake occurred in Japan is just an evidence of what might happen in the upcoming decades. Scientists have indicated that big earthquakes – such as the ones in Japan and Chile – will be just “the norm” in the future. This means that the current earthquake-proof standard of buildings will be obsolete. Take Taiwan for example, a building must withstand a 6 magnitude earthquake, but, as mentioned above, earthquakes over 8 magnitude are becoming increasingly common. Thus, new shock-proof technologies must be enhanced to all buildings -- whether old or new -- if possible. Moreover, legislators should revise the laws to force new buildings be capable of surmounting the impact of an 8+ magnitude if the builder wants a construction permit.
Secondly, the tsunami discovered something that the designers of Fukushima Daiichi plants failed to take into account. For safety, every reactor in the plant is equipped with 2 diesel generators to pump cold water into the reactor core to cool down the fuel undergoing nuclear fission. Although they are also shock-proof alongside with the reactor, however, they are put underground in a basement – a place where the engineers didn’t think would be inundated with tsunami water. When the tsunami arrived, their oil depots were destroyed by the waves and the chamber of generators were flooded with water, making them useless at the time when they were the most needed. Therefore, the temperature in the reactor core kept rising, eventually causing the pressure inside the reactor to become unsustainable. So, when building a nuclear power plant, the builders must take into account of all the possibilities of harm in order not to make the same mistake happen again.
Thirdly, having encountered various earthquakes, Japan has developed an early warning system of earthquakes – in fact, it has the best system in the whole world. It is able to give warnings 30 seconds before the shock arrives. On the day when the earthquake struck, countless people were saved when they heard the warning and ran out of their house which some may collapse later (sadly some of them didn’t know the oncoming tsunami). If the other countries around the Pacific rim of fire have this kind of technology, more lives can be saved in the future.
Lastly, when the reporters rushed into local shelters, they found out that the refugees were claim, organized and still law-biding. They have volunteers who managed the operation of the shelter; they even organized a list of the victims and the missing. Indeed this national characteristic of Japan is not only the envy of the civilized world, but because of that, the rescue missions could be carried out with much greater efficiency.
There’s a saying: “Past experience, if not forgotten, is a guide for the future.” If we don’t forget what happened to Japan on 3/11, we would help make this world a better and safer place in this troubled age.
