Update to the Situation in Japan as of March 25th, 2011

Here is an update of the current situation in Japan as of March 25^th, 2011.

 

RECOVERY & REPAIR EFFORTS

·   Crime in the areas is up, looting continues, so police are stepping up number and frequency of patrols by sending more officers into the area.

·   There are 660,000 households without water and 209,000 households with no power.

·   Two weeks after the earthquake/tsunami, Japan has confirmed that the known death count has exceeded 10,000 and the total number of dead or missing is over 27,000.

·   56 patients in the area have died after being transported to hospitals. The general consensus among doctors is that these deaths are due to insufficient treatment caused by power outages.

·   Support from many countries, businesses and individuals around the world continues to pour in.

·   The Japanese government is preparing special legislation to assist the victims of the tragedy. An example may be exempting survivors from taxes.

·   People’s lives in the affected areas have somewhat stabilized (I use that term loosely) so now they are starting to turn toward thinking of cleaning up, and starting their lives over again.

·   The Tohoku expressway is reopened to all traffic now so fuel, aid and assistance should increase dramatically over land to the affected areas.

·   More food is reaching the areas so people are not surviving on one rice ball per day.

·   The damaged seaports in the area are once again functional so we should see a pickup in recovery and restoration efforts moving forward.

·   General reconstruction is estimated to take over five years and cost about $309 billion USD, the most costly disaster on record.

·   The size of the tsunami has been reassessed at 23m (76ft) instead of the original estimate of 10-15m.

 

RADIATION LEVELS

·   Tokyo has lifted the advice on the water ban for infants in Tokyo as radiation levels have dropped to below the maximum limit for children (100 Becquerel/L)

·   At the same time, levels in five other prefectures and a total of 18 purification plants have risen above the safe level for infants under one year of age. People in those areas have been recommended not to use tap water for their infants.

·   It is important to understand that radiation levels are much more strictly regulated in Japan than the international standard. For example, The Japanese limits radioactive Iodine in drinking water at 300 Becquerel/KG for adults, while the internationally accepted levels are 3,000, or 10X that of the Japanese standard.

·   Several Electric Companies around the country are re-assessing their nuclear policies and either suspending booting up reactors for a while, or putting the production of new reactors on the backburner until more information and government stance is better understood.

·   Public trust in nuclear energy has definitely been shaken.

 

AROUND TOKYO

·   TEPCO has announced that they will continue with their planned power outages until April 3^rd, and then conduct a review as to how they should move forward at that point.

·   A large amount of the escalators that go far down to the train lines in Tokyo are shut down to conserve energy.

·   Many of the ubiquitous drink machines around the city are turned off as well.

·   Retail and entertainment stores continue to close early in order to conserve energy.

·   The flashing lights, neon signs, wall-sized billboard TVs, and internal lighting to many commercial businesses are turned off, or dramatically reduced; The busy parts of Tokyo (e.g. Shibuya, Shinjuku, etc.) seem much darker and quieter than usual.

·   Businesses seem to be doing their best to help keep energy use to a minimum.

·   Supermarket shelves in Tokyo are still devoid of basic staples like bread, rice, milk, noodles, eggs, etc.

·   Bottled water is nearly impossible to find. Many supermarkets have signs outside apologizing for not being able to supply water. (Anecdote: after visiting four supermarkets in my neighbourhood, I could not find a single one with water.)

·   The radiation levels in vegetables from the Tohoku region have already affected shoppers in Tokyo who now are digging through bins looking at details for location of production.

 

PRODUCTS FROM JAPAN

·   Radiation in foods from the four affected prefectures is high, which has caused the Japanese government to put a stop to sales of some products (including milk products) from the Tohoku area.

·   Many countries around the world have placed restrictions or outright bans on Japanese products from that region.

·   The USA, Hong Kong and several other countries have implemented outright bans on many food products from the affected area.

·   The EU has decided to place the onus of responsibility upon the Japanese government for proving thorough documentation and proper labeling to guarantee that the radiation levels are acceptable under EU guidelines. Producers are also required to label their origin of product.

·   Taiwan has been testing food products from Japan since 3/15 and now they have started testing mail, packages, electric appliances and household utensils for excessive amounts of radiation.

·   Canada’s reaction to the situation is entirely reasonable, placing the onus of safety upon the importers to provide documentation from the Japanese government that the products they import are in fact, safe. It makes more sense than an outright ban.

·   Japan’s share of Canadian food imports is only 0.03% of the total. Canada imports over 20X more food from China than it does from Japan, or less than one half of one percent of that coming in from China.

·   Today (3/15) radiation exceeding the legal limit has been found in a vegetable grown in a Tokyo research facility. It is not for sale on the market. This is the first time vegetables from Tokyo have shown excess levels of radioisotopes.

 

RADIATION LEVELS

·   The IAEA, WHO, and Food & Agriculture Organization all agree that the Japanese government is following the correct procedures by measuring the radiation and reporting the results publicly.

·   Pressure at Reactor #1 is still high, so the workers have been pumping more water into the buildings, hoping to keep the temperatures down (while the pressure from water turning to steam goes up). It’s a balancing act because when they stopped sending in water on the 24^th, the internal pressure dropped BELOW the acceptable safe limit.

·   Three workers were exposed to extreme amounts of radiation in water when they where working at the plant. It seems to have seeped through their boots. Two are now hospitalized.

·   Electricity has been restored to Reactor #1 control room and the lights have been turned on.

·   It is currently believed that Reactor #3 may actually be damaged, leading to a leakage of high levels of radiation, says Japan’s Nuclear Safety Agency as of 12:07 on 3/25.

·   Results of radiation counts after 3-4 days have been shown to be about 10-20% of that which was emitted from Chernobyl over a total of 10 days cumulative.

·   The large majority of the radioactivity was dispersed over the Pacific Ocean, diluting it dramatically.

·   Because of the radiation levels in the ocean being elevated, the Japanese authorities will continue to monitor the fish and seafood populations to determine the effects on the marine life.

·   The Norwegian Radiation Protection Authorities say that the peak of radiation emission occurred a few days ago, but has since decreased. “Radiation measurements from around Japan are not very elevated.” claimed the spokesperson. (3/23)

 

 

Cameron Switzer, Tokyo Japan

2011/03/25