3/26/2011
Is it bravery or stupidity?
Some foreigners including Singaporeans are staying put in the Fukushima Prefecture. They claimed that they were not fair weather residents who would run at the first sign of trouble. They sneered at those foreigners fleeing Tokyo/Japan. There was a sense of pride, bravery and commitment, that they will not abandon Japan just because they were foreigners.
The issue is whether the place is safe. The Japanese authority has been repeatedly trying to calm nerves with statements that the radiation fear is low. Tokyo is safe, water level is also safe now, amidst more cases of radiation spreading in food and vegetables to harmful levels in Tokyo itself. PM Naoto Kan in his grim message also acknowledged that the situation in Fukushima is grave. What is the difference between safe and grave?
Evacuation order was given to those staying within the 20 km radius of the ailing nuclear power plants. The Americans ordered their citizens to stay clear of 80 km. Between these two safety limits there must be something not told or said. Or the Americans are just plain chicken and the Japanese have a higher tolerance for radiation? The cases of severe radiation levels on the Fukushima workers are surfacing. Japanese travelling abroad are also found to have unsafe level of radiation.
How safe is Fukushima and Tokyo and the surrounding areas? Key point to note, no high govt officials are seen visiting the area. Today’s ST headlined, ‘Signs of breach raise radiation fears.’ The 3rd reactor, the most dangerous one, is apparently found to be leaking. How much and how severe will this leakage be as time goes on? What are the consequences of those exposed to the radiation continuously by choosing to stay in Fukushima when they don’t have to?
Many things are not told for sure. Many things are better not said for fear of creating panic. Is it responsible or irresponsibility to try to calm nerves and allow people to continue to be exposed to the radiation hazard in the surrounding area? Is it grave or safe?
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10 comments:
All this talk about how unsafe Fukushima is, is just media hype.
The fact of the matter is that because of the tsunami, the Japanese could not cover up the damage to the nuclear power station and hence world attention is focused on Fukushima. With so many nuclear reactors around the world reacting to feed the energy hungry world, you bet your bottom dollar that somewhere, somehow, some plants are leaking radiation and no one is wiser about it. Cancer is on the rise and a large part of it is attributable to radiation around us. So you don't need a Fukushima to hasten one to the happy hunting ground.
The Japanese did not do a Chernobyl on the Fukushima plant by burying it in concrete suggests that the situation is far from dire and can be overcome with time.
It is not bravery or stupidity that some foreigners are staying put.
It is about understanding the situation with depth and applying common sense.
Fools react to media hype. The thinking man separates the grain from the chaff.
Hehe. :o)
"If you believe, no proof is necessary. If you do not believe, no proof is possible" - David Rossi
Acutally the Yanks are right. The Jap government made a dangerous mess even messier by their stance in the media -- which was more about trying to save face rather than tell the truth.
The situation is uncertain, but so far they're coping, as thoroughly explained by Mark Mevine -- one of the US nuclear scientitsts working on FuckTheShitta -- in an interview here. mp3, 25MB. Interview occurs about half way through the program.
Uprooting your home and your life is not easy -- even when other people might think it is "better to be sage than sorry".
Either which way, evey decision has both OPPORTUNITY COST, and CONSEQUENCES.
Humans are not natural staisticians, and at the end of the day, life is largely "probabalistic". Sorry to bust the bubbles of all those "self-help" and religious junkies out there.
Hi Brother Bean;
eating too much is dangerous and so is drinking too much. Philandering is equally slippery and the war zones are a no no to be around. BUT no all will want to avoid or are able to find safety all the time.
Humans are guided by their spirits in their existences, some value affinities to places, people and cultures. They rather die to be around them than to move to else safe but not to their likings.
Some rather enjoy the food, drink and joy and die rather than worry to death.
Some die die will choose the people they are with, be it friends or leaders although these people maybe scums and despots.
Shall i say, let everybody enjoy their freedoms, the most valuable asset any man can have.
patriot
Sorry Readers;
seems that the flu is affecting me quite badly, so two mistakes in one simple post.
'BUT no all will' should read 'BUT NOT all will' and 'to move to else safe but not to their likings' should read 'to move to ELSEWHERE safe but not to their likings'.
patriot
So much contradictions, so much assurances competing with so much fear mongering. who can we believe?
Nothing seems to be right or wrong now. Is the situation better or worse? No one wants to tell the truth.
You can't blame those who left. Just admire those who stay.
Everything is in controlled, and the situation is stable, not getting worst. That is what the Japanese govt is saying. In the meantime more countries are banning food from Japan as more radioactive contamination are discovered.
REUTER's latest report, contamination of water in the number 2 reactor is 100,000 the normal level, the water in the surrounding sea is 1,850 times. An expert, Najmedin Meskati from Uni of Southern California said, 'I think the situaion is much more serious than we were led to believe.' He said the crisis is beyond what Japan can control and needs the UN to intervene and international participation.
Greenpeace did their own monitoring at 35km from Fukushima and recommended evacuation of people at that radius. They are more transparent as least on such matters.
Oh, maybe the evacuation may ultimately have to include the neighbouring countries(of Japan) follow by wholesale ban of Japanese products.
Another way is to adopt a bravado attitude like the Japanese and live in the 'threat' and damages. Take everything in stride stoically and submit to the fate that one is not able to escape from.
patriot
Wow, now Greenpeace is doing the monitoring themselves. I think they have lost confidence in the monitoring done by the other monitors.
The should now form a world nuclear monitoring body to monitor the monitors doing the monitoring of nuclear mishaps. This will ensure no cover ups. In theory that we must trust.
As Wally said, we really do not know how many nuclear reactors have already been leaking radiation over the years, without anybody being the wiser, since no one bothered to do the monitoring, or just covering up after monitoring radiation leaking.
Now that this incident happened, everybody is monitoring everything in sight, on land sea and air and each other. Without this incident happening, we would probably still be living the life of 'ignorance is bliss' while getting all the radiation we do not need.
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