Japanese Earthquake and Nuclear Crisis

 

Last Updated: November 16, 2011

 

I know that we are all trying to grasp the cruel magnitude of the multiple disasters that have killed and injured so many people, demolished cities, towns and villages, and horrifically altered familiar landscapes. The emotional and psychological toll is heartbreaking to imagine.


It is clear from all the emails that many Easianthers want to help in some way. That is the issue: wanting to help and knowing how and when to help are sometimes two different things. What has not been clear, to me at least, is who is actually asking those who need help the most about how those not directly affected by the multiple disasters can most productively offer assistance? What are their priorities?


The Japanese media (notably much less hyperventilated and fear-mongering than their American counterparts) has many able reporters and rescue personnel on the ground who are asking just such questions, and real world, real time priorities have been set. So what can those of us far away do, especially for a resilient people who are pragmatically assessing and sorting out what's absolutely necessary and what can wait for the time being?


We could do some ethnography, not in the sense of fieldwork in dangerous places, but in the sense of collecting and archiving media from all over the Easianth regions on how these multiple disasters in Japan have been reported on, illustrated, analyzed, spun in disturbing ways, and so forth. Those of us who are teachers and mentors can devote class time to exploring different subjects that are relevant to this terrible disaster but not limited to Japan, from the pros and cons of nuclear energy to disaster preparedness; from modalities of crisis management to the psychology of resilience and hope. And so forth. The SEAA website would be one possible site for both a media archive, and also for posting ideas and strategies for teaching. Our web manager Ms. Nikki Nabozny stands ready to create the necessary folders and links.


These are but a few activities on our part that do not assume apriori what is best for Japanese survivors, including university students, without first finding out first hand what are the real priorities of those most affected for the short and long term.


The SEAA website has posted below, a list of important links to services and search engines that will provide a variety of information related to the multiple disasters. Thank you very much to all on Easianth who have contributed useful, constructive, and credible information, reports, and suggestions.


Jennifer Robertson (SEAA President)

 

 

 

Upcoming Events

 

The Lessons of Fukushima, Willamette University – Feb 24-25, 2012
http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=H-Asia&month=1111&week=a&msg=dwuPqWRn5ymoMqucJeAy0Q&user=&pw=

 

The Atomic Age Symposium, University of Chicago – Spring 2012 (date to be announced)
http://lucian.uchicago.edu/blogs/atomicage/

 

Teaching the Crisis: Materials, Pedagogy and Research for 3.11 (late June or early July, 2012)

http://teach311.wordpress.com/
From David Slater (via EASIANTH)

We are organizing a workshop maybe in Tokyo (but maybe in Sendai; but Ishinomaki would be a good site) for the end of June or early July, 2012. The tentative title is: Teaching the Crisis: Materials, Pedagogy and Research for 3.11. The goal is to bring those of us who are teaching on 3.11 together to share perspectives, approaches and methods. Those teaching abroad and those teaching here in Japan will of course have
some different priorities and possibilities, so we thought it made sense to bring them together. Less common or contested ground and more complementary trajectories that lead up to Tohoku and beyond (we hope).

 

 

 

Useful Links

 

The following links may be helpful resources to SEAA family and friends in gaining information on the earthquake, the tsunami, and relief efforts. (Adapted from the Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan website and members' input.)

 

News Sites in Japan
Go to http://www.ustream.tv/ to watch live news reports in Japanese from NHK, TBS, FUJI TV, and TV ASAHI. (Type in the name of the station in the ustream search box.)
Frequently updated news from Japan in English: http://www.timeout.jp/en/tokyo/feature/2530/Japan-earthquake-live-report.
NHK World live broadcast (includes English and other languages): http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nhk-world-tv.
News from Japan in English: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/yokosonews

For up-to-date Japanese news: http://www.fnn-news.com/en/index.html


U.S. Embassy in Japan (Tokyo)
http://japan.usembassy.gov/


Consulate-General of Japan in Detroit
http://www.detroit.us.emb-japan.go.jp/en/bilateral/NEmsgboards.htm


Travel Information
From the State Department (includes travel alerts/warnings, & U.S. Embassy communications to U.S. citizens in Japan): http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1148.html


Japan Sendai Earthquake Data Portal
In response to the earthquake, the Center for Geographic Analysis at Harvard University has launched the Japan Sendai Earthquake Data Portal (http://cegrp.cga.harvard.edu/japan/) to support the exchange of geospatial datasets for relief and reconstruction efforts. The portal works best with a Firefox browser.

 

Japan Quake Map

An animation of the seismic events in Japan: http://www.japanquakemap.com/

UMass Amherst Libraries' Guide to Earthquakes information:http://guides.library.umass.edu/jpnearthquake. 

The Associated Press’s Interactive Map
http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_international/japan-earthquake-2011/

 

World Health Organization's Fukushima assesmenthttp://www.who.int/hac/crises/jpn/faqs/en/index.html

 

Donations
Japanese Red Cross (http://www.jrc.or.jp/).
At present, the easiest way to send donations to the Japanese Red Cross is online through Google Response, a website that also offers numerous links to informational sources: http://www.google.com/crisisresponse/japanquake2011.html.
It is also possible to donate through the International Red Cross/Red Crescent website: http://www.ifrc.org/en/what-we-do/disaster-management/responding/ongoing-operations/japan-earthquake/about-the-donations-to-japan/.

 

The Great Tohoku, Japan Earthquake & Tsunami: Facts, Engineering, News & Maps

http://mceer.buffalo.edu/infoservice/disasters/Honshu-Japan-Earthquake-Tsunami-2011.asp

 

The Atomic Age, University of Chicago
http://lucian.uchicago.edu/blogs/atomicage/

 

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

(not limited to Fukushima/Japan, but it has many articles on Fukushima/Japan, as well as other nuclear energy related issues.)
http://www.thebulletin.org/

 

Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center (CNIC) 原子力資料情報室
http://www.cnic.jp/english/
http://cnic.jp/

 

Digital Archive, Reischauer Institute, Harvard University

http://www.jdarchive.org/?la=en

 

Earthquake Research Institute, University of Tokyo　東京大学地震研究所
http://outreach.eri.u-tokyo.ac.jp/eqvolc/201103_tohoku/eng/
http://outreach.eri.u-tokyo.ac.jp/eqvolc/201103_tohoku/

 

Japan-Fissures in the Planetary Apparatus
http://www.jfissures.org/

 

Japan Focus.  Japan’s 3.11 Earthquake, Tsunami, Atomic Meltdown
http://www.japanfocus.org/Japans-3.11-Earthquake-Tsunami-Atomic-Meltdown

 

Teach 3.11
http://teach311.wordpress.com/

 

福島大学放射線計測チーム　
http://www.sss.fukushima-u.ac.jp/FURAD/FURAD/top.html

 

みちのく震録伝　東北大学防災科学研究拠点
http://www.dcrc.tohoku.ac.jp/archive/

 

U for Japan
http://uforjapan.org/ja/

 

MEXT – Great Japan Earthquake
http://www.mext.go.jp/english/incident/index.htm

 

Measures taken against the Great East Japan Earthquake by Global 30 Universities
http://www.uni.international.mext.go.jp/2011/311.html

 

福島大学原発災害支援フォーラム（FGF）
http://fukugenken.e-contents.biz/index

 

「東京大学環境放射線情報」を問う東大教員有志のページ
https://sites.google.com/site/utokyoradiation/

 

 

 

NPOs, Activist Organizations, Volunteer Opportunities

 

Peace Philosophy Centre
http://peacephilosophy.blogspot.com/

 

ハイロアクション福島原発40年
http://hairoaction.com/

 

さようなら原発1000万人アクション　“Goodbye to Nuclear Power Plants” Action
http://sayonara-nukes.org/shomei/

 

原発いらない全国の女たちアクション
http://d.hatena.ne.jp/onna_suwarikomi/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/134678913300091/

 

Huge list of disaster relief/volunteer opportunities! (via “What Can I do with a B.A. in Japanese Studies?” blog)
http://shinpaideshou.wordpress.com/2011/04/07/huge-list-of-disaster-reliefvolunteer- opportunities/

 

 

 

Facebook Pages and Groups


One World No Nukes
http://www.facebook.com/groups/oneworldnonukes/

 

Dialogue on Nukes
http://www.facebook.com/groups/dianuke/279889822050624/

 

 

 

Pray for Japan T-Shirt - Designed by the SEAA website designer

 

Dear all,

Thank you for thinking of the Japanese people as we confront the current difficult situation. I designed this T-shirt as part of my relief effort:

 

tshirt


All royalties donated plus a matching contribution from Zazzle. Please forward this to others who you feel might be interested. Thank you for your consideration.

Seiko Semones
S Squared Design
seikojs@yahoo.com

 

 

 

For "foreign" and Japanese volunteers in Japan:  details on how to volunteer for Peace Boat's work in Ishinomaki, and how to donate money and supplies to the relief effort, can be found at www.peaceboat.org/ or by e-mailing pbglobal@peaceboat.gr.jp

 

 

 

Food for Life Global – US based organisation. FLG are calling for volunteers in order to help them with food handling, transportation, medical supplies. www.ffl.org/2011/calling-for-volunteers-for-japan-relief/