Perspective

Muhammad Rezwan

Environmental concerns have been a big alarm for human civilization after 1950s. The industrialized world was so indifferent about it that they did not feel the necessity of taking measures to care for nature. From the last decade of the last century, natural disasters have been frequent visitors in this world. The last earthquake and tsunami that hit a big part of Japan clearly indicates how crude nature has become nowadays. Those who have seen the immediate scenario of Japan at television channels were simply shocked seeing the high tide of sea water washing away each and every thing in few moments. Thousands of cars were turned into floating vehicles, big ships from sea marched inside city with the wave of water, massive buildings and factories collapsed like huts and all these took place in few seconds. Japan is an earthquake-prone country and for her geographical location natural disaster is a common phenomenon there. But 8.9 magnitude earthquake and the tsunami created out of that was too much to handle by Japan despite having one of the best disaster management systems. The after-math of that incident became more horrible when Fukushima nuclear power plant of Japan got affected and dangerous radiation spread in nearby areas. The issue therefore attracted a good attention of the world community especially in Asia. It can be mentioned in this connection that Bangladesh has undertaken a plan to build nuclear power plant by2018 and Japan’s incident has added fuel to some concerns regarding the construction of that power plant.

Japan is situated near the Pacific Ring of Fire, which is the most active earthquake belt in the world. This is the reason why the country and the region are often hit by earthquakes and by tsunamis. The exact location where the earthquake took place is 373 kilometers (231 miles) northeast of Tokyo, and 130 km (80 miles) east of Sendai, Honshu which is located in the Pacific Ocean. The devastating earthquake occurred at a depth of 24.4 kilometers (15.2 miles). This is the place where the Pacific Plate is located. The earthquake that struck off the northeastern shore ranked as the fifth-largest earthquake in the world since 1900 and was nearly 8,000 times stronger than one that devastated Christchurch, New Zealand, last month, scientists said. The disastrous earthquake that took place on March 11 has been ranked as the most devastating calamity for them after the Second World War. The earthquake that stroke Japan in 1923 snatched away the lives of almost one lakh people. The reason behind such a big death toll was fire and weak buildings. But tsunami did not take place at that time. According to the government of Japan, 27000 people are found nowhere and 11000 dead bodies were found. It was really unbelievable for a country like Japan. The initial loss has been estimated as 30000 crore US dollars. This will let them face a decrease of 0.5% in annual GDP which is giving a signal of their economic catastrophe. World Bank reported that the four percent of Japan’s domestic production will be hampered and it will have adverse impact for them in 2011. The World Bank says the rebuilding will cost US$ 232 billion and it will take Japan at least five years to reconstruct its affected regions. The Government of Japan has received 128 offers of assistance from countries as well as 33 offers from international organizations. It has accepted relief items from 14 countries.  Access to water is still a concern however and 1 million households (2.4 million people) remain without water across 11 Prefectures.

Already the productivity of Japan has been threatened. The motor car industries, the biggest industrial sectors of Japan were kept closed for few days. Their motor car industry’s future has been more threatened by the accident of nuclear power plant as many factories locating near 30 kilometers have been declared closed. 10 out of 54 nuclear power plants have been kept closed after the accident caused in Fukushima power plant. One-third of Japan’s electricity is supplied from nuclear energy and consequently the electricity system has been collapsed. Many industries are yet to reopen for electricity crisis and many residential areas are not being supplied with electricity regularly. Infrastructure of Japan is known as one of the soundest ones of the world. But those were severely affected. Around the northern coastal region of Tohoku, the Government reported that 2,852 buildings were destroyed and over 40,000 damaged either by earthquakes, tsunami or fire. The tsunami waves caused the greatest destruction; and an estimated 5,000 houses remain inundated with water in Iwate. In Sendai city of Miyagi 2,700 houses have been washed away, and 1,800 houses destroyed in Fukushima. The number of houses destroyed is also expected to increase as Government assessment teams gain access. The National Police Agency’s latest assessment reports 827 roads, 47 bridges, and seven railways damaged. Transportation systems remain paralyzed. Communication is down for more than 20,000 people in the affected areas.

Japan’s nuclear energy has been questioned recently. Electricity has been restored to three reactors at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant; however, the cooling systems are not yet operating. Some workers at the facility were temporarily evacuated after smoke was seen rising from reactor no 3. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says there have been positive developments at the site. The IAEA said smoke or vapor rising from one of the overheating reactors at the damaged Fukushima power plant had become less intense. But it said the overall situation remained very serious.

Authorities report that the reactor core is still intact. There are also concerns for a third reactor at the plant which has lost its cooling system. The Government stated that 177,503 people living within a 20 km radius surrounding the Nuclear Power Plant no. 1 have been evacuated as a preventative measure and is urging calm. An additional 32,426 people living in the 10 km radius of Power Plant No.2 have been evacuated. There are 109 evacuation centers in Ibaraki Prefecture and 72 evacuation centers in Tochigi Prefecture, each with a capacity for 18,000 and 10,000 people, respectively.

Japan’s nuclear disaster is not as bad as Chernobyl, but it’s the worst since. The recent 8.9-magnitude earthquake and tsunami that followed have severely damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. It has suffered two explosions, with warnings of a third possible, and fuel rods are exposed. Over 20,000 people have been evacuated from the area. This crisis raises important questions about the future of nuclear power and our failures not just to prepare for natural disasters but also possible failures in nuclear security. Bangladesh needs more production of electricity and therefore looking for nuclear energy.  Bangladesh is facing a severe power shortage in all productive sectors. The country’s energy requirements have been far greater than the energy supplied having daily power shortfalls of 2,000 MW. During rush-hour, the electricity demand reaches at about 5,500 MW. Though the country possesses nearly 60 power plants, but most of them are decades old and fueled by either gas or coal. Despite its optimal efforts, it can generate only 3000 MW. This energy deficit is discouraging investment both domestic and FDI levels. Entrepreneurs in Bangladesh are concerned that this power shortage is hampering production in factories and significantly reducing total national output. The World Bank and the ADB alarmed that if Bangladesh fails to generate adequate electricity to support its industrial production and irrigation schemes, the economy will suffer a negative growth turn and will fail to maintain its 5% annual GDP growth rate. But important fact is that, operating a nuclear power plant requires a very different form of skills and efficiency unlike the operation of any other kind of power-generating plant. Any mismanagement may involve devastating consequences on thousands of people of this densely populated country. Japan’s case is in front of our eyes. Hence, the question of how safe a nuclear power plant would be for a country like Bangladesh where other typical gas or coal-based power plants are tripping down on a regular basis due to faulty in installation, lack of proper maintenance and week infrastructural support. It is true that nuclear power has far lower routine emissions than energy from burning fossil fuels and Bangladesh is in a crying need of electricity. Therefore, installation of a nuclear power plant must take other respective considerations such as its environmental impacts, risk of nuclear accidents, and burden of funding into serious account.

Global community must have new realization from Japan’s disaster. Climate change may not be responsible for the tsunami, but it is shrinking our margin of safety. It is time to shrink back ourselves. What the events reveal is the thinness of the margin on which modernity lives. There’s not a country in the world more modern and civilized than Japan; its building codes and engineering prowess kept its great buildings from collapsing when the much milder quake in Haiti last year flattened everything. But clearly it’s not enough. That thin edge on which we live, and which at most moments we barely notice, provided nowhere near enough buffer against the power of the natural world.

We’re steadily narrowing the margin. Global warming didn’t cause the earthquake and tsunami that devastated the Miyagi coast, but global warming daily is shrinking the leeway on which civilization everywhere depends.  We should try to build down a little: to focus on resilience, on safety. And to do that – here’s the controversial part – instead of focusing on growth. We might decide that the human enterprise (at least in the west) has got big enough, that our appetites need not to grow, but to shrink a little, in order to provide us more margin.