![]() On a more positive note, the Triple Disaster also revealed Japan’s most valuable asset: the strength of its civil society. The enactment of more exacting safety standards and the development of new patterns of government regulation and monitoring of the nuclear industry have emerged as key topics in the national political debate. A large citizen movement calling for the abolition of nuclear power in Japan developed in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster. The social and political aftereffects of 3/11 are also formidable. Consequently, since 3/11 Japan has experienced record trade deficits, in the order of $78 billion in 2012. Since 3/11 only two nuclear reactors have restarted operations, and the Japanese government has had to resort to large increases in oil imports to make for the gap in electricity supply. While Japanese companies creatively restored the supply chains in just a few months, the shutdown of the nuclear reactors has had far more damaging long-term economic consequences. ![]() These in turn caused dramatic drops in industrial production that imposed a toll not only on Japan’s economy, but also on the many other countries linked through these production networks. The uprooting of entire communities and the large infrastructural losses produced immediate disruptions in Japan’s extensive supply networks. The economic, political, and social consequences of the Triple Disaster have changed Japan in fundamental ways. The Triple Disaster had effects on Japan and on the world. But it was the meltdowns at the Fukushima nuclear plant – the world’s worst global nuclear crisis since Chernobyl in 1986 – which caused the most fear and provoked the greatest criticism of the Japanese government’s response. Some 465,000 people were evacuated after the disaster. Japanese response to the earthquake and tsunami was rapid, effective and life-saving. This was the most expensive disaster in human history. ![]() ![]() The economic destruction of the “Triple Disaster” was massive: 138,000 buildings were destroyed and $360 billion in economic losses were incurred. Japan’s legendary investment in earthquake-resistant design meant that only about 100 people died in the earthquake itself although almost 20,000 people lost their lives in the tsunami. Two years ago today, a devastating 9.0 earthquake struck Japan’s east coast, followed minutes later by a massive tsunami with 100 foot waves. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |