Today’s class was very informative even know it was my shortest class this year. I had class during the first part of the class so I only was able to make the last fifty minutes. First and foremost, happy Halloween everyone. In today’s class we watched a documentary about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. This documentary really had me shaking my head in disgust and sorrow. It showed numerous home videos of people filming the earthquake and tsunami as it was happening. It showed people running away from the buildings and homes. It also showed people driving out of the city and into the inland in order to get away from the shoreline where the tsunami was going to crash into. This earthquake caused this tsunami by the plates in the ocean moving and causing the plates to shift up a few meters and pushing up the water forming the giant waves that would come crashing into the mainland of Japan. It was unbelievable to see the people and how they reacted in the time of pure devastation. They showed one clip that stuck out in my mind. This was the tsunami as it was rushing into the mainland. After it came rushing over the shore, the water would just keep rushing inland because Japan is so flat. This water wiped away everything in its path including houses, cars, people, trees, and everything imaginable. The one thing that I was surprised at was the fact that the water was black. This surprised me because growing up all the floods and water disasters that I have seen; the water has always been brown and muddy. So this was the first time that I saw water look like this. Turns out that it is like that because it is just picked up so much debris that it just changes the water to be black and extremely toxic. Another clip they showed was compassion of the landscapes, before and after the tsunami. It was left barren and devastated. Everything that was unfortunate enough to be in the path of the tsunami was wiped away with no time to react and no chance of survival. The tsunami took no prisoners. Another fact that was very interesting to me was the fact that after this earthquake Japan as moved two meters out into the Pacific Ocean. In fact, earthquakes actually change the shape of the earth. So, the earth is not the same shape that it was three years ago which is unbelievable to me. Furthermore, since the earth is a different shape, it rotates differently, meaning that our days have actually become shorter then they once were. Fortunately for Japan, we had good disaster relief organizations in place and were able to get to Japan on a moments notice to help in the relief efforts. We had our military there instantaneously because we have a base on Okinawa, Japan. Hopefully we have learned new techniques in disaster response and we can incorporate them into future disasters. I give out my deepest sympathy to the Japanese victims and their family’s along with everyone involved.
The one scene I also vividly remember from the video is the big, black wave consuming the Japanese mainland. At this point, one of the most important things we can do now is focus on how the tsunami warning system and other disaster warning systems can be improved in hopes that more lives will be saved. First of all, improvements need to start with systems that generate accurate data that can quickly be disseminated to the public. In an article entitled “Japan’s Tsunami Warning System Retreats,” by David Cyranoski, on Nature.com, a variety of issues regarding the warning system are addressed. For example, Japan Meteorological Agency “warned that a 3-metere-plus tsunami would hit northeastern Japan. In fact, the wave that wave that came ashore stood more than 10 meters high – reaching 50 meters in some places […]” (Cryanoski). This substantial lack of accuracy must not be something that is overlooked. Fortunately, action is being taken. The system is being revised. “The revised system is still quick, issuing a warning within 3 minutes. But it sacrifices precision in an attempt to avoid misunderstanding, cutting the number of wave categories from eight to five” (Cryanoski). So, according to Cyranoski, instead of trying to forecast a tsunami wave’s height after an earthquake of magnitude eight or above, the agency will instead warn of the “possibility of a huge tsunami”. This is only the first of many improvements that Japan is looking to implement. Issuing warnings “with precise maps on computers, televisions or mobile phones” are other things that are being discussed (Cryanoski). However, as I discussed in my blog post entitled “Technology Won’t Replace Training,” improving technology should not be the only goal. Fumihiko Imamura, a tsunami specialist at the Disaster Control Research Center of Tohoku University explains, “‘What we do is natural science. But how people read these numbers is a difficult problem that requires human science. We need more research on that’” (Cryanoski).
ReplyDeleteWorks Cited:
Cyranoski, David. "Japan's Tsunami Warning System Retreats." Nature.com. N.p., 11 Aug. 2011. Web. 5 Nov. 2011. .