Interim Report on Fukushima Accident released

A government panel on Fukushima disaster investigation released an interim report yesterday in Japan. A growing conviction in Japan that I observed in my three visits since last April is that this nuclear disaster was rather man-made disaster rather than subsequent failure caused by the earthquake and tsunami. Disaster warnings in previous years had been ignored, regulatory systems had not been strictly observed, and finally evacuation was poorly managed when the disaster did happen. In short, it is a man-made disaster affecting all aspects of society in Japan, sociopolitical and economic life, and spiritually.


I browsed a couple of prominent Japanese newspapers and provide a few highlights below:

Mainichi Japan has the gist of the interim report including the following notes on December 26, 2011.

The government:
-- failed to communicate well within the prime minister's office.
-- had problems gathering information through channels stipulated in the nuclear disaster response manual.
-- did not use in issuing evacuation orders data from a computer system to predict the dispersal of released radioactive materials.
-- failed to fully use a facility planned to serve as the local headquarters as it was unprepared for a rise in radiation levels.

TEPCO:
-- misunderstood the functioning status of the No. 1 reactor's cooling system called the isolation condenser.
-- had not trained reactor operators sufficiently to handle the isolation condenser.
-- mishandled the No. 3 reactor's emergency cooling system.
-- might have been able to lessen the damage of fuel inside the Nos. 1 and 3 reactors if it acted more appropriately.

The investigation committee:
-- calls for the need to be prepared for low-probability events if the possible consequences could cause extremely huge damage.
-- calls for the need to consider the possibility that a nuclear accident can occur in combination with natural disasters.
-- believes that people involved in considering the country's nuclear disaster measures lacked a broader perspective on the issue.
-- has so far not confirmed that reactor vessels were damaged by the March 11 earthquake, before being hit by ensuing tsunami waves.

In Asahi Shimbun several articles are available including the viewpoints of the panelists as below:

"There are many important weak points in the safety of Japan's nuclear plants so it is implausible that everything would be all right as long as tsunami measures were implemented," said Yoshioka, whose specialty is the history of science. "I feel this is the common understanding of panel members."

The following preliminary conclusions were given at the end of the panel's interim report : 

* Preliminary conclusions
(1) TEPCO did not implement measures based on an assumption of a severe accident caused by tsunami as was the case with this accident. The same thing can be said about the regulatory agencies.
(2) For events in which an extremely large scale of damage is forecast, even if the evaluation is made that the probability of such events is low, there is a need to recognize the risk and implement necessary measures.
(3) Measures to deal with multiple disasters considered unlikely will be an important point in the future review of the safety of nuclear power plants.
(4) There is no denying the weakness in a perspective that took into consideration a much larger picture. The excuse that responses could not be made because of the special nature of the situation, in which a tsunami went beyond expectations, will be unacceptable.
From the above points, there will be a need for a conversion of the framework for the fundamental thinking related to anti-disaster measures for gigantic systems that could lead to serious damage.

Due to the poor communication (in fact hiding of the information) and poor control of evacuation of  local residents out of the 20KM zone, the level of radiation exposure became
higher than necessary (See the map below and read the full article).

In my first trip to Fukushima in early April, my Japanese team and I, through our many listening meetings at local churches, discovered the most critical piece of information for local residents in Fukushima was radiation readings - as accurately as possible we could provide. Se we did (read the entry I wrote that time, Radiation: Fear, Fact and Faith). But more importantly we were convinced through prayers and listening that appropriate action in such a multifaceted disaster like this one must be based not simply on factual information, which wasn't readily available any way, but on wisdom and in community of people who were committed to stay with local people in the long run (read the entry I wrote in my second trip to Fukushima, Radiation: From Fear to Action). And that is the local church.  

Where will hope for rebuilding the future come from for Fukushima and for the whole society in Japan?

Man-made disaster affecting all of Japanese (and our!) society needs wholistic solutions that will bring total transformation of society coming from the changed core of our being and from transformed ways of our action and existence in the world. It will not come from simply providing more efforts to improve science and technology to control energy systems. It will not come from another election that will bring a new set of political leaders to the same systems. It will not come from pouring more money to lend to TEPCO so they could continue their business as usual. 

Memoirs of Tsunami - why I started this blog

It was seven years ago yesterday. I was then living in Bangkok, Thailand, working for an international relief organization. We didn’t even know what to call such magnitude of natural disaster at first. CNN breaking news that afternoon first described it as a tidal wave followed by a seaquake, one of the worst quake recorded in history.  Later that night, it was announced as a massive “tsunami” which hit the Indian Ocean affecting fifteen nations and killing nearly 250,000 lives on a quiet Sunday morning, the day after Christmas.  (See these video clips to learn more about what happened through the eyes of children: Children of Tsunami)

For millions other people, it was a devastating disaster - the world’s deadliest natural disaster in our time – which resulted in losses of loved ones, and livelihoods and communities. It left a significant mark in the course of history.  To that tsunami, I lost a dear friend and colleague in Phuket, Thailand on that day.

Carol, whose body was identified several months after the tsunami through DNA tests, is now laid in a community graveyard near Geneva, Switzerland, just a few miles away from her home village and the primary school where she had spent her childhood. I feel that a full circle is complete now as I went to Switzerland last October to visit Carol’s grave, her elderly mother and her brother, Jean Marc, who survived miraculously in that tsunami. I was finally able to name a chapter of deep pain and grief, which has never been easy to explain to anyone and but bore an amazing gift of silence in a little corner of my heart.  

 

I had an extraordinary blessing this year, through this sad and painful loss of Carol, to be asked to go to Fukushima and offer a little bit of assistance after the earthquake and tsunami and the subsequent nuclear disaster in March. One of the reasons why I started this blog is that I wanted to share stories of tsunami and nuclear disaster victims through the lens of my own experience of that painful loss and grief, and God’s gracious companionship to me throughout these years.

Tsunami is one of the worst forms of natural disaster in my opinion after many years of having worked in humanitarian aid. Within a matter of minutes and hours, the whole world you belong disappears and it never returns. It marks a moment in your life that is filled with incomprehensible and inexplicable pain and, to a degree, awe to the power of nature and its Creator.

Having visited Carol’s grave just few weeks before going back to Fukushima, my eyes and ears were attentive and eager to capture anything God was speaking to my team in Fukushima as we drove around the areas between 20-30 KM zone that was just recently open since the government lifted the stay-indoor order (see my previous blog post on November 20, 2011).

Passage of time, but no sign of progress? 

After visiting the 20KM border area, we went to see a nursing home that was destroyed by the tsunami. All residents, a few dozens of elderly men and women, were killed and the calendar on the wall had water marks and now just collecting dust since March 11. It was a moment of time travel.

The level of tsunami devastation in Fukushima was a lesser degree compared to the other two prefectures, Miyagi and Iwate, that were affected by the same disaster. But because of the nuclear disaster and the risk and fear of radiation, very little recovery action was done so far. Now Fukushima is left far behind the two other prefectures in terms of recovery and rehabilitation. Unlike victims of the nuclear disasters, those who have been displaced from their homes within the 20 KM areas from the Fukushima Dai-chi plant, tsunami victims do not get any compensations from the government other than temporary housing. 

 

Little has changed since March only there was some progress of cleanup, but no signs of recovery or promises of hope yet. Small fishing boats stuck in paddy fields miles away from the coast. 

Photo taken in mid November, 2011

Photo taken in mid April by Rev. Ishiguro in Minami-Soma city

Friends and family members of victims were wandering around looking for any personal belongings which might help them to keep the memories of lost family members and to endure this suffering of loss and pain of inability to identify their loved ones’ whereabouts.

Our eyes have seen much worse graphic images of destructive power of tsunami earlier this year and they do not capture images like these with sadness or grief.  These boring (!) and ordinary autumn scenery of brown barren fields would have not seemed so sad, have these people not had to wait for the last eight months. And they will probably have to spend many more months to come in waiting in uncertainty.  Waiting is a hard work and almost impossible if there is no hope, even if that means saying goodbyes and burying the loved ones after a painful season.