The Great Japan Earthquake, Tsunami, And Nuclear Radiation

THE JAPAN EARTHQUAKE, TSUNAMI, AND NUCLEAR RADIATION 1

The Great Japan Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Radiation

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation

THE JAPAN EARTHQUAKE, TSUNAMI, AND NUCLEAR RADIATION 2

The Great Japan Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Radiation

Several past events in the world required urgent medical management. Some of the

disasters had large-scale effects while the others went unrecognized by the whole world. On

account of the natural disasters that struck them, the nationals of the concerned countries are still

struggling to recuperate mentally, politically, or emotionally. Taking the case of Japan, it

suffered from a great earthquake that occurred in March 2011 triggering a nuclear catastrophe

and a tsunami that hit its coastal area. It was one of the biggest of its types measuring a

magnitude of 9 on the Richter scale.

However, it is the tsunami which caused most of the destruction in the case. The

northeast of Japan was badly shattered leaving many people dead or missing. People who

survived remained homeless and were evacuated from that area (Matanle, 2011). The disaster

caused failure of several power generators. A nuclear power station risked meltdown that led to

explosions and the leakage of radioactive material. The engineers worked day and night to try to

control the leakage but it was already too late; the radioactive material had been detected in

several places including the seawater.

Literature Review

The Japan earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear emissions accident took place on 11th March

2011 at the local time 14:46 (Matanle, 2011). The earthquake had a magnitude size of 9 and it

covered 100 kilometers distance; in the northwestern part of the Pacific Ocean, the Pacific and

American tectonic plates had collided, thereby causing the earthquake. The natural disaster was

recorded as one of the most powerful hazardous phenomena that hit Japan. In fact, it was one of

the greatest to ever have occurred in the world. Due to the earthquake’s upthrust, a tsunami was

THE JAPAN EARTHQUAKE, TSUNAMI, AND NUCLEAR RADIATION 3

generated with a height of about 17 meters. The tsunami swept over the lowland areas that

resulted in flooding of large areas of land. In its wake, it left about 26 million tons of debris. By

June, several agencies had noted down 15,000 deaths, 8,200 missing people, and 5,364 injured

victims. Moreover, around 111,000 buildings got destroyed. The regions that were worst hit were

Miyagi, Fukushima, and Iwate with 9,184, 1,592, and 4524 deaths respectively. The aerial

television displayed the whole town being swept down with serious damages to fishing ports,

commercial zones, residential areas, and industrial areas (Bird & Grossman, 2011).

The tsunami broke the fence of the Okuma nuclear power factory. This led to the knock

out of the power supply and backup generator that was supplying the cooling system. The breach

in the cooling systems led to the nuclear fuel reaction that resulted in pressure build up in

vessels, melt through, and the hydrogen explosion that tore apart the three reactors in the nuclear

plant. The leakage of the radioactive materials was uncontrollable, and it had spread beyond the

plant vicinity (Matsuoka et al., 2012). An evacuation area was marked; later, it was increased by

20 km radius, and the nearby residents were asked to remain indoors. By April, 59,000 people

had moved away from the area, and 39 died during the evacuation process (Yabe et al., 2014).

On 21 April, the 20 km area was declared a no-go zone (World Health Organization [WHO],

2013).

Public Health Involvement

The earthquake, tsunami, and the nuclear explosion are estimated to have inflicted a loss

of over $300 billion. This was the world’s greatest and most expensive natural disaster that has

been recorded since 1900. There were also global economic consequences because of Japan’s

significant position in the world’s economy (Bird & Grossman, 2011).

THE JAPAN EARTHQUAKE, TSUNAMI, AND NUCLEAR RADIATION 4

The Ministry of Health participated in the disaster management. Their role was to secure

medical and nursing care. They provided public health services and ensured that the casualties

got safe food and water supplies. The disaster medical assistance teams deployed their medical

team to the disaster-hit areas within 48 hours. The first thing to note is that Japan was ready for

the eventuality because they had learned a lesson from the earthquake that took place in 1993. In

2005, they established a rescue group that would help in disaster management. The response of

the rescue team was prompt, and within 2 days, 15,000 professions were dispatched to Tohoku

zone. Forty-five other medical teams were dispatched to help in the early stages rescue. Despite

the rescue team having promptly arrived, their coordination with the local healthcare staff was

reported to be poor.

Communication and Surveillance

Communication was a major challenge because of the power lines disruption. It caused

confusion in the operations and the handover by the medical team minimizing the effectiveness

of transfer of resources. The medical team concentrated much on providing emergency care

despite some people needing primary and immediate care. The tasks of the medical team were

also limited, and they had no chances of prescribing. Responding to this condition, 678 primary

care medics were dispatched who had no task limitations (WHO, 2013).

Role of Federal Agencies

The Japanese government was dealing with the search and rescue, and they worked

closely with the local leaders whose areas had been affected. Other agencies also committed

resources to help the victims, to assess the destruction, and evacuate residents for providing first

aid to the victims (Bird & Grossman, 2011). However, it was not easy for the federal agencies to

THE JAPAN EARTHQUAKE, TSUNAMI, AND NUCLEAR RADIATION 5

cater to the medical needs of the affected areas. The scientists were responsible for monitoring

the radiations amounts on the daycare center.

Disabilities

A number of people were left disabled by the disaster. During the dispatching of medical

care, these people were neglected. These people were two times likely to lose their lives

compared to those who were healthy (WHO, 2013). A few disabled people were dependent on

home oxygen and therapy; but due to the power disruptions, they suffered for long. In some

affected regions, there was a registration of the disabled people who needed relief in disaster

times. The staff that was in charge was not able to make contact with these people for unknown

reasons.

Environmental Health Issues

The disaster affected the environment which was the major source of food for the people.

The engineers were not able to contain the leakages from the nuclear plant, and it took them

months to halt the emissions. Radiation showed up in foods, such as vegetables and local milk. It

also appeared in Tokyo’s drinking water. The continuous leakage of the radioactive material into

ocean raised its level above the permissible limit. People who relied on special foods were

exposed to getting more complications; for example the diabetic, hypertensive, and those who

had chronic illnesses. The enforced diet in the camps had high levels of potassium and sodium

that worsened their condition. Diabetic patients were at risk of getting hypoglycemia because

they were given meals at only a few intervals.

THE JAPAN EARTHQUAKE, TSUNAMI, AND NUCLEAR RADIATION 6

Many children suffered from allergy by consuming food provided in the evacuation

camps. In these camps, people were sleeping on the floor, which increased their risk of acquiring

disuse syndrome.

Psychosocial Impact

The people affected by the natural disaster suffered from trauma-related distress. The

younger children and their parents were particularly vulnerable to the onset of mental

disturbances. The psychological problems were influenced by ‘before, during, and after the

event’ factors. Other non-personal factors were social and cultural. The Japan disaster was

complex, and it created mental trauma to the victims and the rescue team. The number of

published journals indicates that there was an increase in the number of people suffering from

psychological trauma as a result of the disaster (Yabe et al., 2014).

Ethical Considerations

The nuclear disaster raised several issues; one of them being the ethicality of using

nuclear energy. Nuclear energy is a significant energy source that is environmentally friendly

since it does not lead to the greenhouse gasses emission, unlike other conventional energy

sources. On the other hand, nuclear energy is fraught with the danger of high levels of radiations

that are extremely harmful (Matsuoka et al., 2012). As a result, it poses threat to the health of

living beings apart from causing environmental degradation. The ethical principles require

humankind to take a stringent approach to the use of nuclear programs. Strategies that need to be

taken are improving the safety of the nuclear programs, possessing the ability to manage risks,

and fully disclosing the facts by open communication to the public.

THE JAPAN EARTHQUAKE, TSUNAMI, AND NUCLEAR RADIATION 7

Evaluation

In recent years, Japan was rated among the top 30 countries with good governance. The

governance level in Japan is commendable, and with such a model, they can easily prepare to

alleviate the disastrous effects of disasters. It will not be easy to avoid having casualties in

earthquake-hit areas; however, the death toll can be minimized by having a system that is well

governed.

THE JAPAN EARTHQUAKE, TSUNAMI, AND NUCLEAR RADIATION 8

References

Bird, W. A., & Grossman, E. (2011). Chemical Aftermath: Contamination and cleanup following

the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. Environmental Health Perspectives, 119(7), a290.

doi: 10.1289/ehp.119-a290

Matanle, P. (2011). The Great East Japan earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown: Towards

the (re) construction of a safe, sustainable, and compassionate society in Japan's

shrinking regions. Local Environment, 16(9), 823-847.

https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2011.607160

Matsuoka, Y., Nishi, D., Nakaya, N., Sone, T., Noguchi, H., Hamazaki, K., ...Koido, Y. (2012).

Concern over radiation exposure and psychological distress among rescue workers

following the Great East Japan Earthquake Concern over radiation exposure and

distress. BMC Public Health, 12(1), 249. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-12-249

World Health Organization. (2013). Health risk assessment from the nuclear accident after the

2011 Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami, based on a preliminary dose estimation.

Geneva: World Health Organization.

Yabe, H., Suzuki, Y., Mashiko, H., Nakayama, Y., Hisata, M., Niwa, S. I., ...Abe, M. (2014).

Psychological distress after the Great East Japan Earthquake and Fukushima Daiichi

nuclear power plant accident: Results of a mental health and lifestyle survey through the

Fukushima Health Management Survey in FY2011 and FY2012. Fukushima Journal of

Medical Science, 60(1), 57-67.

http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2016/ph241/khaliq1/docs/yabe.pdf

Place new order. It's free, fast and safe

Paper type

Deadline

Page count

550 words

Total price: $ 15.00

Our customers say

Jeff Curtis

USA, Student

"I'm fully satisfied with the essay I've just received. When I read it, I felt like it was exactly what I wanted to say, but couldn’t find the necessary words. Thank you!"

Ian McGregor

UK, Student

"I don’t know what I would do without your assistance! With your help, I met my deadline just in time and the work was very professional. I will be back in several days with another assignment!"

Shannon Williams

Canada, Student

"It was the perfect experience! I enjoyed working with my writer, he delivered my work on time and followed all the guidelines about the referencing and contents."