Triple tragedy strikes Japan

IT IS difficult to grasp the scale of the disaster that has engulfed Japan. An earthquake so strong that it has moved Japan’s main island and shifted the world on its axis has been followed first by a tsunami that may have killed tens of thousands of people and now by an explosion at a nuclear power station.

As the nation faces up to its gravest crisis since the Second World War, the onus is clearly on the rest of the world to rally round. Japan is not a country accustomed to asking the outside world for help, but then nor is it accustomed to a disaster of Biblical proportions.

Few countries in the world can have been as well prepared for adversities of this type. Japan’s buildings are constructed to withstand earthquakes, a tsunami warning system is in place and the country’s nuclear industry is considered one of the world’s safest. However, when an earthquake measures nine on the Richter scale, all this counts for very little.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Given the resourcefulness of the Japanese people, so well demonstrated by the country’s rebirth after the destruction and defeat of 1945, no one can doubt that Japan will recover. But there is a long road ahead and Britain, along with the rest of the world, must be ready to offer whatever assistance is needed.

The forces of nature can be terrible indeed, but so too can the machinations of mankind and Japan’s potential nuclear disaster falls firmly into the latter category.

This is why it is imperative that Tokyo responds to the world’s assistance by being open about what is going on at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. For, with so many countries, including Britain, preparing to invest heavily in nuclear power, it is vital that as much as possible is learned from the terrible events in Japan.

Related topics: