The recent disaster in Japan beginning March 11, 2011 was a confluence of related events, namely earthquake, tsunami, and overheating of the nuclear reactors which could result in meltdown.
The television reporters explained the cause-and-effect relations among these three events. However, their explanations were sometimes unclear. I will try to clarify these causal relations in this essay for laypersons, as well as draw lessons from this disaster.
It should be stated at the outset that Japan is a developed country, the third largest economy in the world, where technology use is at its peak. So we wonder why the nuclear plant was built at a site near the coastline in northern Japan, where the probability of the occurrence of tsunamis is high.
It could not be because the site was near the sea so salt water was available for cooling purposes. I understand that salt water is not a good medium to cool nuclear reactors, and the Japanese know this for sure.
The reason is probably the absence of geologic faults at the site. Japanese scientists must have known that their country is located on top of the subduction zone (Japan Trench), which is 9000 meters at its deepest point. They must have known that this subduction zone is the point where the oceanic and denser Pacific Plate “subducts” (goes under) the lighter but thicker Eurasian Plate producing heat.
My son Moses, a geologist, explains that when stress at the subduction zone was released, the earthquake occurred and earth material in the zone buckled up, displacing ocean water, and caused the tsunami.
If earth material had not buckled, no tsunami probably occurred. So, not all earthquakes originating in oceans produce tsunamis.
The Japanese people also know that their country is visited by earthquakes, being part of the Ring of Fire of the Pacific Ocean, and that tsunamis (which is Japanese in origin) often develop when oceanic lithospheric plates “subduct” the lighter continental plates.
The disastrous Aceh (Sumatra) tsunami in December 2004 occurred in the same way.
The Japanese scientists and technologists had prepared very well in ensuring the safety of their nuclear plant. But they apparently forgot to relate the earthquake and the tsunami to the operation of the nuclear reactor, and they stand to pay dearly for this neglect.
We are very sorry that the disastrous event caused the deaths of several thousands of Japanese people, and the destruction of their communities and infrastructure. We can only pray for the victims at this time. I sent an email to my friends that included Filipinos in the Asia Pacific University in Beppo City in southern Japan, and I am glad to know they were spared by the rampaging waters of the tsunami.
What happened in northern Japan can teach us a valuable lesson: to understand the processes of nature as a guide to our decisions and actions.
Our natural setting is no different from that of Japan; we are also an archipelago in the Ring of Fire. We have at least four areas of active subduction that can result in earthquakes and tsunamis.
One tsunami, which killed some 7,000 people, I think in the early 1990s, occurred in the Cotabato Trench. It can be expected that we will have our own share of natural disasters.
In the Philippines, the majority of us do not have respect for natural laws or even our man-made laws, rules, and regulations. As a simple example, take a look at how Filipinos drive vehicles in cities like Metro Manila, how drivers of buses and jeeps discharge their passengers at the wrong places along highways and streets, and how pedestrians behave recklessly on busy streets and lose their lives for failure to cross at designated pedestrian lanes. And traffic enforcers, paid to enforce traffic rules, are not able to do much about these violations; some of them have even been reported to ask payment for condoning violations. These behaviors are not observed in countries where people are disciplined such as Japan and South Korea.
As somebody in a recent television program stated, we have a damaged culture, akin to what I call a damaged physical environment.