A World in Pictures (Blog #4)

On Friday, March 11, 2011, over a year and a half ago, at 14:46, off the Oshika Peninsula of Tōhoku, one of the five largest earthquakes in the world occurred. This earthquake, while it caused much damage, was only a precursor to the true destruction that would soon be wrought. While most of America was sleeping, tsunami waves, some reaching heights of 133 feet, ravaged the Sendai (and general Touhoku) area. In a matter of hours, Sendai had been absolutely devastated.

 

This picture captures just how badly this area of Japan had been hit by these disasters. However, yet another threat soon emerged. The Fukushima plants, because of the damage wrought, pumps inside of the plants stopped working, causing reactors to overheat. This led to more problems that eventually resulted in a 12 mile radius evacuation due to radiation leaking from the plant and a ban of food grown in a 50 kilometer radius. This triple disaster resulted in 15,870 deaths, 2,814 people missing, and at least 235 billion dollars in aid. Lastly, it has caused a political divide in Japan between those that still wish to use nuclear energy and those who want to rid Japan of nuclear energy in fear of a similar crisis.

The disaster that Japan endured in March of 2011 was truly a tragic one, but at the same time, it showed the resilience and selflessness of the Japanese people. There were often people who refused medical aid or assistance, claiming that someone else near them needed it more. Since this disaster, the Japanese have worked hard at rebuilding what had been lost. It is truly inspiring to know that in the one year, six months, and thirteen days since this disaster that much of the debris has been cleaned up and that the Japanese government is starting to make efforts to rebuild that which has been lost.