One of the major fears in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated the island of Japan just days ago was that the nuclear power plants would be damaged or malfunction and as a result, radiation would spread.
Wednesday morning, more bad news hit Japan as a new fire broke out at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The blaze broke out in the Number 4 reactor building at the plant.
Tuesday, the Number 2 reactor saw a fire of its own that also resulted in an explosion. Radiation levels rose because of the explosion. According to measurements taken on Tuesday, radiation levels in Tokyo were two times the normal level because of the damage done to the nuclear power plants.
The big problem with the current nuclear plant situation is that while the problems are being taken care of, they are not under control. A complete meltdown is still a very realistic problem that may arise soon.
The fears of radiation are growing. So far, a confirmed 3,676 people have been killed, 7,558 are unaccounted for, and nearly two thousand more are in hospitals with serious injuries.
Things are not much better for the survivors. Thousands have lost their homes and are now in rescue shelters. They have no homes to go back to and have lost family members and friends that they can never get back.
Naoto Kan, the Prime Minister of Japan, has already said that the catastrophe that has rocked Japan is the worst thing to happen to the state since World War II when Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed.
The Japanese economy has clearly taken a major hit as well. As a result of the quake and tsunami, Japanese stocks had some of their fastest falls in recorded history. Wednesday, the stocks were showing signs of minor recovery, but the entire world has felt an economic impact from the disaster that hit Japan.
Much like with every other type of natural disaster that occurs, the recovery process is proving to be much more devastating than the actual catastrophe itself.
While the earthquake and tsunami left the country in ruins, now the economy is suffering and there are major threats of a nuclear meltdown and subsequent radiation.
Now the recovery process continues. With workers putting in their best efforts, more survivors are being located and the nuclear power plants are being worked on constantly to decrease the risks of radiation.
Leave a Reply