JAPAN’S RESPONSE

WHY JAPAN WAS READY

Nature is unstoppable, as Friday's earthquake demonstrated, but few nations have ever been quite as well prepared

Max Fisher

The Atlantic, March 14, 2011

When 60-year-old Hiromitsu Shinkawa found himself clinging to to the roof of his home, bobbing ten miles from shore in the open Pacific, where he had been swept by the tsunami following Friday's earthquake, he had every reason to expect that his fate, after 48 hours adrift, was probably sealed. So when sailors on a passing Japanese ship spotted Shinkawa, sent about a dozen rescuers to scoop him up, then wrapped him in a heavy yellow blanket and whisked him onto a nearby destroyer, where he was declared to be in good condition, the incident probably looked to many weary Japanese like a small miracle amid a much greater disaster.

Shinkawa, though certainly lucky, owes his life to more than just chance. Japanese naval ships had been crisscrossing the waters off of the country's northeast coast since the earthquake struck, ferrying supplies and workers as part of what has quickly become one of the largest such disaster response efforts on record. Over half a million people have been evacuated. Japan has deployed 100,000 troops, 190 planes, 45 boats, 120,000 blankets, and 110,000 liters of gasoline; they are aided by missions from South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Singapore, Mexico, and the U.S., which is drawing upon its massive military presence in Japan, including two aircraft carrier groups, each staffed with several thousand people. The rapidly growing number of search and rescue dogs shipped in from outside Japan is difficult to track, but they so far represent at least 10 different countries, including Singapore, which sent five dogs, and a Swiss contingent of collies that are described as "highly trained."

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JAPAN AND NUCLEAR ENERGY

CAN QUAKE-PRONE JAPAN REALLY COEXIST WITH NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS?

Keiji Takeuchi

Asahi Shimbun, March 13, 2011

Friday's massive earthquake that ravaged the Tohoku region led to the first-ever state of emergency issued for nuclear plants, including the evacuation of a neighborhood.

The situation is a fresh reminder of the serious latent danger of nuclear power stations and shatters assurances that nuclear power plants are safe because they are carefully designed.

And failures at nuclear plants in the quake raises a fundamental question: How can earthquake-prone Japan coexist with nuclear power plants?

The emergency core cooling system (ECCS), which pours water into the nuclear reactor core to cool it in case of an accident, was deemed a key to the multiple safety systems for those reactors.

When an earthquake hits, reactors automatically shut down. But that alone cannot prevent an accident because the nuclear fuel continues emitting heat. If the core is not properly cooled down, it could melt the fuel and trigger a disastrous explosion.

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JAPAN’S QUAKE (II)

JAPAN'S FEARS MOUNT WITH NUCLEAR PLANT BLAST

The Fukushima power plant's cooling system failed after Friday's massive earthquake. Residents flee the area. Nationwide, the death toll from the quake and tsunami could top 1,600.

Mark Magnier, Barbara Demick and Carol J. Williams

Los Angeles Times, March 12, 2011

Fears of a radiation leak intensified Saturday after an explosion at a nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan that had been damaged a day earlier by a tsunami and earthquake.

The walls of a building at the Fukushima power plant were blown off in the blast, leaving only a skeletal frame. Officials said four workers at the site received non-life-threatening injuries.

At least one reactor at the plant was already showing signs of a partial meltdown. Friday's magnitude 8.9 earthquake had prevented the plant 150 miles north of Tokyo from powering its water cooling system.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano in a press conference shortly after the explosion, which left the facility shrouded in plumes of gray smoke, said experts were still determining what caused the blast.

"We are doing everything to ensure the safety of residents living nearby," said Edano, the government's chief spokesman. "I'm sure residents [living nearby] are feeling unease.

People were reportedly fleeing the surrounding area and Japanese television was urging people to cover their faces with wet towels and not to expose any skin to the potentially contaminated air. An evacuation was ordered for area within a six-mile radius of the plant.

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JAPAN’S EARTHQUAKE

QUAKE WAS BIG EVEN FOR JAPAN

Jonathan Amos

BBC News, March 11, 2011

Another day, another earthquake. Except the Magnitude 8.9 tremor off the coast of Honshu, Japan, will be a standout event for 2011.

Perhaps not in terms of the eventual death toll it brings, but certainly in scale.

There are usually only one or two quakes of this size every year. And even for a country such as Japan, which is very familiar with seismic hazards, this is extraordinary.

The history books show there have been seven quakes rated at 8.0 or greater since 1891 in Japan. And with big tremors come big aftershocks.

Following the initial 8.9 event at 1446 local time (0546 GMT), a sequence of major tremors was initiated - six of them within an hour-and-a-quarter that were all bigger than or all equal to last month's quake in Christchurch, NZ (6.3). The largest of the aftershocks was a 7.1.

Some of the early video footage to emerge from Japan was dramatic - city workers hanging on to their desks as everything rocked around them and buildings on fire being swept across farmland as tsunami waters washed inland.

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INFLATION IN CHINA

INFLATION THREATENS CHINA'S STABILITY

Slower growth in China and a boost in domestic consumption will have lasting consequences for food prices, raising the prospect of social unrest, argues Renaissance Capital's Charles Robertson.

Rupert Walker

FinanceAsia, March 10, 2011

This week at the annual meeting of the National People's Congress in Beijing, attention has been focussed on the intention of China’s policymakers to shift the country’s economy from capital investment and exports towards domestic consumption.

If the emphasis were to shift, then the problem of global imbalances might be partly resolved and income disparities in China reduced. The economy might become more balanced, less prone to property bubbles, less vulnerable to wasteful projects, less susceptible to corruption, and less exposed to social tensions.

Unfortunately, that might not be enough. The problem, says Charles Robertson, global chief economist at Renaissance Capital, is the size not the quality of China’s economic growth.

China’s 12th five-year plan (for 2011 to 2015) targets an annual growth rate of 7%, down from 8% in its previous five-year plan. This compares to the 10.3% actual average growth during 2000 to 2010.

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JAPAN AND IMPORTED ENERGY

JAPAN’S CRISIS OPPORTUNITY

Arab world unrest has prompted countries to again question their dependency on oil. Japan could cash in.

Andy Sharp

The Diplomat, March 9, 2011

Doomsayers will no doubt be pointing out that the insurrections across the Arab world—and the ensuing oil and food price hikes—threaten to knock the global economic recovery off track. So what can Japan do to help stave off such destabilizing uncertainty?

Once the unrest began, Tunisia and Egypt disposed of their brutal dictators relatively quickly. But the delusional Col. Muammar Gaddafi seems determined to maintain his grip over the Libyan people through all means at his disposal. Western powers are mulling military responses such as no-fly zones, but with its hands constitutionally tied, Japan has only been able to join in with the United States and other Western nations in deciding to implement trade and financial sanctions against Tripoli.

But Japanese trade sanctions will have little impact—Libya only exports scraps of seafood to Japan each year (although a Majirox News report states that a fall in imports of blue fin tuna from Libya, Egypt and Tunisia could see the price of sushi spiking), while trade in the opposite direction is about six-times greater and consists mainly of Japanese autos. The Finance Ministry, for its part, said it would freeze any assets belonging to Gaddafi and his family in Japan in the unlikely event any were found.

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WOMEN IN INDIA

WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN POLITICS: INDIA RANKS 98TH

The Hindu, March 8, 2011

As the country celebrates the International Women’s Day on Tuesday, statistics reveal that India lags behind many countries, including its neighbours Pakistan and Nepal, when it comes to women’s participation in politics.

With only 10.8 per cent of women representation in the Lok Sabha and 10.3 per cent in the Rajya Sabha, India ranks 98 in the world, according to the data released by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), an international group that works for promoting democracy, peace and co-operation in the world.

India, the world’s largest democracy, has now only 59 women representatives out of 545 members in Lok Sabha, while there are 25 female MPs in the 242-member Rajya Sabha.

While India shares its position with Benin and Jordan, it is ranked 47 places below Pakistan and 80 places behind Nepal.

With 22.2 per cent women MPs in its Lower House and 17 per cent in the Upper House, Pakistan is placed 51 while Nepal is ranked 18, with 33.3 per cent of female MPs in its parliament, according to the IPU list released on January 31 this year.

Similarly China and Bangladesh also have a much higher representation of women in national politics compared to India.

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