digitalnirvana 646 Report post Posted March 17, 2011 15:44 The Singapore-based Straits Times has done some solid digging and translated a blog by what appears to be a Fukushima worker. Michiko Otsuki's words put a human face on those doing perhaps the world's least envied job. She was working at the reactor in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake last Friday:In the midst of the tsunami alarm, at 3am in the night when we couldn't even see where we going, we carried on working to restore the reactors from where we were, right by the sea, with the realisation that this could be certain death. "The machine that cools the reactor is just by the ocean, and it was wrecked by the tsunami. Everyone worked desperately to try and restore it. Fighting fatigue and empty stomachs, we dragged ourselves back to work. "There are many who haven't gotten in touch with their family members, but are facing the present situation and working hard." "Please remember that. I want this message to reach even just one more person. Everyone at the power plant is battling on, without running away. "To all the residents (around the plant) who have been alarmed and worried, I am truly, deeply sorry. "I am writing my name down, knowing I will be abused and hurt because of this. There are people working to protect all of you, even in exchange for their own lives. 15:30 A spokesman for Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco), which runs Fukushima, has warned the situation at the plant is still severe, with no indication that radiation levels are falling: We have vented and used seawater as cooling, followed the accident management plan but this is a very severe operation. We have to keep cooling the fuel so it doesn't reach criticality. 15:11 The 180 workers at Fukushima have been likened to a suicide team, with speculation that the radiation could kill them outright or leave them with life-long illness. They've been described as the Fukushima 50, because they work in shift patterns of 50 at a time. Keiichi Nakagawa, associate professor of the Department of Radiology at University of Tokyo Hospital, said: I don't know any other way to say it, but this is like suicide fighters in a war. Japanese television has interviewed relatives of the workers, who are being kept anonymous. One daughter said her father had accepted his fate "like a death sentence". Another woman said her husband was fully aware he was being bombarded with potentially deadly radiation. He sent her an email saying: "Please continue to live well, I cannot be home for a while." 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ravi_patent 28 Report post Posted March 17, 2011 dipan excellent find indeed.these ppl are real heros and are paying for the stupidness of others Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chandannasta 4 Report post Posted March 18, 2011 Radiation is going to be soon in California also. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
digitalnirvana 646 Report post Posted March 18, 2011 ^ With extremely low radiation levels, most of the news is scaremongering, any effect of meltdown will be local. The bigger problem for affected people right now is shortage of essential supplies. Google has pitched in with this informative page which accepts donations and information http://www.google.com/crisisresponse/japanquake2011.html Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sougatadc 358 Report post Posted March 22, 2011 In a bid to fulfill social responsibilities, telcos have come up with reduction in ISD tariff for calls to Japan. MTS has slashed its ISD Call charges to Japan by approx 78% from existing tariff.Now ISD Calls to Japan from MTS Mobile and Land line phones will be Rs.1.99 per minute. For MTNL, the tariff reduction is around 75%. It will cost Rs.1.25 per minute to any Fixed line phone and Rs.4 per minute to call Mobile Phone network in Japan. Aircel was first to reduce the ISD tariff for Japan calls. It costs Rs. 1.50 per min to Fixed line and Rs. 6 per min To Mobile from Aircel. These are very commendable moves. Although mobile network in tsunami hit Japan is badly hit. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KumaarShah 143 Report post Posted March 25, 2011 (edited) GAMAAN THE elderly and exhausted Japanese survivor was carried by piggyback into the medical centre and gently placed in a chair. As her rescuer left the room, she struggled to her feet and bowed. Alongside the chaos and destruction wrought by the terrible earthquake and tsunami have been scenes of heart-breaking orderliness and self-control.Japan is prostrate and fearful, but there are no reports of widespread looting, panic or hoarding. There is, as yet, very little anger directed at the government.Western news crews search the wreckage for images of fear and anguish, for outrage and despair, but the Japanese survivors avert their faces and cover their eyes if they weep. This extraordinary stoicism can be summed up by the Japanese word Gamaan, a concept that defies easy translation but broadly means calm forbearance, perseverance and poise in the face of events beyond one's control. Gamaan reflects a distinctively Japanese mentality, the direct consequence of geography and history in a country where the cycle of destruction and renewal is embedded in the national psyche. The Japanese are not earthquake-proof but, like their buildings and bridges, resilience has become inbuilt in a nation adapted to sway and bend under shocks that would shatter other societies. Japan has known devastation before, and the horror of nuclear fallout, but its recovery after 1945, and the ensuing economic miracle, owed much to this uncomplaining tenacity, a collective pride in endurance, survival and reconstruction. When Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan described last Friday's earthquake as "our worst crisis since the war", he was deliberately invoking Gamaan. "In the past we have overcome all kinds of hardships," he said. "Each of you should accept the responsibility to overcome this crisis and try to create a new Japan." Gamaan is part of the glue that holds Japanese society together, a way of thought instilled from an early age. It implies self-restraint, suffering in silence, denying oneself gratification and self-expression to fit in with the greater good. Originally a Buddhist term, it has come to signify self-denial, solidarity and a certain patient fatalism. This hardiness and social cohesion enabled Japan to emerge from the devastation of world war and thrive. But the rigid order and self-abnegation that it implies are also what keeps the beleaguered "salaryman" at his desk, toiling away with grim determination. That rigid conformity, obedience and sense of national purpose helped to propel Japan recklessly into World War II. Some in the West find the Japanese unfeeling in their reaction to disaster, and assume that "normal" human emotions are being suppressed. There is some evidence to support that view. The Kobe earthquake in 1995 that killed 6400 people and wiped out about 2.5 per cent of Japanese GDP was greeted with determination to rebuild the city. Only later did the psychological aftershocks hit, with higher rates of suicide and mental illness. But to see this response merely as evidence of a bottled-up culture is to misunderstand how Japanese society is founded on a shared pride in recovery, and how risk and response to adversity are bound up with being Japanese. Japan lives on a psychological as well as a seismic fault line. Its founding gods were foul-tempered and ferocious. Successive earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons and volcanic eruptions have left this land with an acute sense of vulnerability, but a corresponding mental sturdiness. Every Japanese child is brought up to expect upheaval. Disaster Preparedness Day falls on September 1, the anniversary of the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 that killed 140,000. The importance of persevering and rebuilding in an uncertain natural world is reflected in traditional architecture, art and popular culture. The cult television show Endurance (Za Gaman in Japanese), in which contestants try to win by withstanding unpleasant experiences, is a target of mockery in the West, but it is more than entertainment in Japan, where physical and mental endurance are so highly prized. In the West, we look for reasons for natural disasters: we blame global warming, government failure or God. The Japanese relationship to nature is different: humanity is neither battling nature nor at its mercy, but part of it. Japan is braced for nature's violence like no other country. Every bullet train has an automatic shutdown switch that activates when an earthquake strikes. But as events at Japan's nuclear power plants show, safety technology has its limits. Disaster cannot always be prevented; it can only be coped with. The Japanese are coping in ways that some find hard to relate to: with deep sadness, but without breast-beating, complaint or recrimination. It is hard to imagine any other people who, when the Earth buckles and their world collapses, form an orderly queue. The contrast is illustrated by the way the tragedy has been covered. Western reporters stand before a backdrop of utter desolation; Japanese reporters tend to find a wider view, with a standing building. They do not thrust microphones towards the homeless and bereaved, demanding to know how they "feel". At a moment of acute national pain, the Japanese audience does not want to intrude. We like to think understated resilience in a crisis is a peculiarly British trait, but today the stiff upper lip is Japanese. Courtesy: An email received from my friend. Edited March 25, 2011 by KumaarShah Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Greatest 55 Report post Posted March 25, 2011 I bow down to the Japanese... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
digitalnirvana 646 Report post Posted March 25, 2011 Kumaar thank you for sharing, respect and reverence for how the Japanese are handling this situation. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KumaarShah 143 Report post Posted March 30, 2011 Some more from Japan 10 things to learn from Japan 1. THE CALM Not a single visual of chest-beating or wild grief. Sorrow itself has been elevated. 2. THE DIGNITY Disciplined queues for water and groceries. Not a rough word or a crude gesture. 3. THE ABILITY The incredible architects, for instance. Buildings swayed but didn’t fall. 4. THE GRACE People bought only what they needed for the present, so everybody could get something. 5. THE ORDER No looting in shops. No honking and no overtaking on the roads. Just understanding. 6. THE SACRIFICE Fifty workers stayed back to pump sea water in the N-reactors. How will they ever be repaid? 7. THE TENDERNESS Restaurants cut prices. An unguarded ATM is left alone. The strong cared for the weak. 8. THE TRAINING The old and the children, everyone knew exactly what to do. And they did just that. 9. THE MEDIA They showed magnificent restraint in the bulletins. No sensationalizing. Only calm reportage. 10. THE CONSCIENCE When the power went off in a store, people put things back on the shelves and left quietly This makes the nation great. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dkaile 1,051 Report post Posted March 30, 2011 ^ Corruption is amongst the lowest levels in Japan and the highest in India... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thilak.kmb 19 Report post Posted March 31, 2011 (edited) ^ Corruption is amongst the lowest levels in Japan and the highest in India... Please read http://factsanddetails.com/japan.php?itemid=799&catid=22&subcatid=146. Very interesting. Nevertheless I have high regards for the Japs. Edited March 31, 2011 by thilak.kmb Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KumaarShah 143 Report post Posted March 31, 2011 I would say corruption is universal, thats all... BTW, interesting reading in the above link, esp the 'panties' one Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
digitalnirvana 646 Report post Posted April 7, 2011 Bad news comes in hordes. Japan earthquake: 7.4 magnitude quake hits devastated region Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
aalok 442 Report post Posted April 8, 2011 (edited) It is really wonderful to see the attitude and hopes of the Japanese people even after such a destructive and massive earthquake and Tsunami. Edited April 8, 2011 by aalok Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
digitalnirvana 646 Report post Posted May 12, 2011 Nuclear meltdown at Fukushima plant. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
