Japan's Earthquake and Fukushima Nuclear Disaster: The Elements at War with Humans?

It has now been 5 years since the terrible earthquake in Japan, which led to the Fukushima nuclear disaster, and, as can be expected, the people of Japan are still coming to terms with the impact of both the nuclear meltdown and the earthquake. Japan has had the misfortune of also being the only country to suffer the dire consequences of having not one, but two nuclear bombs being deliberately dropped on it during the Second World War. 

The Fukushima nuclear disaster might not have been as catastrophic as that of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, but its impact on the people affected by it and the poignancy of the extra brave and courageous workers who have to put their lives at additional risk of imminent self-sacrifice, to contain the danger, would be of similar magnitude.

Before we had Japan earthquake and Fukushima disaster, there was the catastrophic 2004Tsunami in the Indian Ocean, which caused massive damage in lost lives and property to the surrounding affected countries.  These enormous disasters, of course, are in addition to the seasonal disasters which affect low lying countries such as Bangladesh, and many countries all over the world, including the US, Europe and South and Latin America.

It does seem to be the case that people have, probably an almost inexhaustible tolerance for dealing with the natural and - in the case of nuclear accidents - unnatural disasters. When a disaster occurs, it is followed by, it seems to me, the usual symptoms of grief - shock, sense of major loss, sadness or numbness, anger, fear, acceptance, and moving on.  People have to move on from one disaster to the next, and, if, like some countries and people, you have the misfortune of living in a country or region which is affected by earthquake, seasonal drought, flooding, famine, etc, you have to develop the psyche and, where it is practical, the infrastructure to help you to manage and/or mitigate whatever specific natural disaster threatens you.

This kind of approach is what has help people to accommodate and adapt to whatever threats confront them. The only alternative approach would be for people to hold their hands up and passively surrender to these natural attacks from nature, but, that is not in the nature of people, whose ancestors have constantly battled against such forces, and with even less advance knowledge and technological tools.

The people of Japan can therefore look back on the past 5 years with a sense of sadness that they have had to suffer such a massive tragedy, but also with a sense of having won another battle against the relentless challenges which the natural environment uses to attack human habitation.  What they have learnt from this tragic experience will be added to the collective knowledge and skills bases to be used in dealing with future disasters.

OWOHROD