Who's Responsible?

A riveting new miniseries from HBO dramatizes the real-life, historical events surrounding the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl in the 1980s.  The human--technological and political--actions that led to the death and destruction attributed to the event are evident in each episode.  In this case, however, nature was the victim, not the cause.

A recent earthquake off the western shore of Japan, blamed for a brief tsunami warning and the injury of dozens of people, was a stark reminder of how a natural event can cause a disaster; and how decisions made by humans can exacerbate the impact of that natural event well beyond reasonable expectations. 

Photo Source: Daily Telegraph

A major earthquake off the eastern shore of Japan in 2011 resulted in a tsunami that killed thousands and displaced millions. I've addressed Japan's vulnerability to tsunami in prior posts.  In this case, however, the placement of nuclear power plants in the tsunami zone and the actions that were taken in response to the inundation all contributed to a significant radiation release that added to the death toll and, like Chernobyl three decades earlier, meant the evacuation of 100,000 people and the abandonment of entire cities.  A tourist named Bob visiting the area remarked:

"Imagine you have to leave everything behind suddenly and never have the chance to go back. The fact that people left this kind of value behind and never came back to pick anything up in six to seven years, shows us the impact of the disaster."

Even the cash registers are still filled with money.

"It gives you the impression of walking around in a ghost town. The area will never be the same. The government declares the green areas are safe, but most of the inhabitants will never return back home."

The lasting radioactive damage to the area surrounding the nuclear power plant meant the area was uninhabitable for a long time.

Bob's remarks about visiting the dead zone at Fukushima concluded with a sobering observation about human nature:

In contrast to [nuclear exclusion zones] Chernobyl and Pripyat, they want to make the area inhabited again.  His visit to the site has left him worried that we haven't learned from the accidents at nuclear power plants, like in Fukushima.

"It left a big impression on me, even more because the same could happen in the area where I live. I live close to two dangerously old nuclear power stations and they keep on running despite all of their technical troubles.

"People just don't learn from their mistakes. I am sure this stubbornness will cause mankind to become extinct in the future."