in/compatible publics

Norifumi Ogawa

Japan is an island nation surrounded by ocean, and on the edge of some continental plates.

This means that natural disasters such as earthquakes or tsunamis often occur, therefore there are many and strict standards to keep buildings and infrastructures safe. It is enable to satisfy an energy demand by domestic resources, so we Japanese chose to operate nuclear power plants. Currently the percentage of generation capacity of nuclear power plants comes up to 30%. 11th of March 2011, a huge earthquake (magnitude 9) occurred in Japan.

The tsunami caused by an earthquake struck the northeastern coastal town and harbor, killing a large number of people. The height of the tsunami amounted to the fifth floor of the building in the large place. Then, the tsunami also struck nuclear power plants at the coastal area. The tsunami, which had exceeded safety standards, destroyed the power supply system of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. As a result, even now we are facing the serious situation because the nuclear power plant couldn’t be stopped. In the aftermath of the accident, government's action and announcement were so slow that an anxiety for radioactivity had gradually spread among citizens. Many parents with young children left Fukushima to protect them. Some people have begun to measure radiation dose because human beings couldn’t recognize it directly. As a father of two daughters, I also bought an instrument to measure radiation dose at Tokyo, and launched a website to share the information. What would have people done after this huge disaster? In this presentation, I’d like to talk about the movement in a disaster. It happened on a social web site, which have put citizens in contact with other citizens.