Over the past month and a half, through many forms of media that shrink the globe each day, one key event that shook the world on March 11 towers above every other story. Newspapers have printed thousands of stories covering the event, radio stations have rambled countless hours about the event and news stations have had daily reports updating those who don't know about the earthquake that devastated Japan.
My generation needs a reminder that there are much more important things happening around the world than, “Oh my god! Can you believe what happened on Jersey Shore last night?”
Why do I feel compelled to report this story? Simple. It can affect you directly, and it probably already has.
On March 11th a magnitude 9 earthquake shook all of Japan – in fact the world – on the northeast coast of that country. It was the biggest earthquake Japan has had in 100 years. Aside from the obvious damage to Japan's buildings, homes, cities and towns, the country's nuclear reactors took an unexpected hit. What many people think occurred was that the earthquake crumbled their power plant, which is false. What actually occurred was that due to the earthquake, the power plant's cooling system was affected and the fuel in the nuclear reactor was getting far too hot to be contained. However, Japan made a very intelligent move in making this plant, because thinking that an event like this may happen some day, the reactor's thick steel lining kept the fuel contained. Once the reactor became aware that its cooling system had given way, the backup generators kicked in. All seemed fine.
Then, one hour later, a second disaster hit Japan. A tsunami had taken out more of Japan's civilization as well as the generators and oil storage tanks. The Fukushima plant was designed to withstand a 6-metre tsunami, but the one that struck Japan was a massive, 15-metre tsunami – which proved to be too massive for the plant to hold back. This tsunami killed 10,000-plus people, which left thousands in grief, as well as thousands missing among the wreckage.
Once this occurred, every reactor that was hit went into what is called “cold shutdown,” which cools the hot fuel in the reactors, but keeps the water circulating. However three of Japan's oldest plants weren't so lucky. At these three plants, once the power was lost, the water pressure drastically rose, causing the temperature of the plants to rise into unsafe amounts. The lining of the three plants couldn't sustain the temperatures, and burst. This is the image that captivated television viewers and web surgers.
Once the quake shook, the tsunami hit and the three reactors blew; the number one priority was to evacuate those that were in danger. Thousands were highly recommended to evacuate homes or businesses anywhere near the Fukushima area. Once this news made its way to the United States, the US Air Force assisted by flying emergency coolant to the site to cool the plant's damaged reactors down and ensure safety for civilians who hadn't yet evacuated. However, in a bold move, Japanese declined the Air Force's offer and said that they wanted to handle this problem themselves.
So how can this affect you? Well, we may be temporarily safe here on the East Coast, but those who live on the West Coast face a much scarier reality. Those who live near the coasts of California, Washington and Oregon were ordered to evacuate due to the suspicion of another quake hitting the United States. Or, has it already made its presence?
California has been long overdue for an earthquake much like the recent one in Japan. California is home to the San Andreas Fault. However geologist Mark Johnson recently gave Capitol Weekly some reassuring words on a quake hitting California: “A magnitude 9 earthquake requires rupturing a fault surface thousands of square miles in area. The shallow faults making up most of California’s fault systems, including the San Andreas, simply do not have sufficient area to generate such an earthquake.”
There are many reports and stories out there confirming that California's San Andreas Fault simply cannot produce a magnitude 9 earthquake like the one that struck Japan on March 11th. Others insist that California is a ticking time bomb; the most pessimistic say it is bound to happen within the next five years. However many people are unaware that California has earthquakes daily. While they may not be as massive, they still shake the feet beneath Hollywood and give its inhabitants a good old fashioned “Hello” from mother nature. Nevada had a 4.2 magnitude earthquake in mid-April. But these are nothing like the aftershocks that Japan is still receiving today. On April 12, as we were thinking about April vacation, there was a 6.0 magnitude earthquake in Eastern Honshu, Japan. Nobody knows when they will subside.
By now, hopefully, you are aware of the immense travesty that is occurring overseas for the people of Japan. There are many relief funds to help aid the people who have lost everything, one being the Japan Earthquake Relief Fund, which had rasied $3.6 million as of mid-April. Your donations are most helpful as you can imagine. You can donate to the organization through this link: http://www.japansociety.org/earthquake
Information for this article came from the following sources:
http://articles.cnn.com
http://bbc.com
http://www.huffingtonpost.com
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