Panel discusses causes, effects of Japan earthquake, tsunami

It has been more than two weeks since an 8.9-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami devastated northern Japan, and the world is still scrambling to comprehend the crisis the disaster left in its wake.

A panel discussion held Thursday at the FedEx Global Education Center offered a comprehensive view of the crisis, with experts on anthropology, epidemiology and geology offering their insights.

“This is likely to be the most costly natural disaster we’ve seen,” said Kevin Hewison, director of the Carolina Asia Center. The center sponsored the event.

Hewison said the latest death toll stands at about 9,500, nearly half a million Japanese are homeless, and the cost of the disaster could total between $300 billion and $400 billion.

Professor Jonathan Lees and associate professors David Richardson and Chris Nelson led the discussion.

Lees, a professor in the department of geological sciences, explained how the triple junction of tectonic plates near Tokyo caused the earthquakes.

He said earthquakes in that area are not unusual, but earthquakes of this magnitude rarely occur.

The earthquake was the fifth-most severe worldwide in the past 100 years.

Lees also said the likelihood of an earthquake of this magnitude happening in North Carolina is very low. He added that small earthquakes occur in the western part of the state, but few happen in Chapel Hill and the surrounding area.

Richardson said radiation also poses a threat to thousands of Japanese workers. Some people have been exposed to radiation levels equivalent to that of 300 x-rays per day, he said.

And in many places, workers can’t work outside for more than a few minutes without being affected by radiation exposure, he said. Symptoms range from nausea and headaches to hemorrhaging and death.

Richardson said repairing the nuclear reactors will be a difficult and dangerous process.

“I didn’t realize how dangerous a lot of the work going on over there is,” said freshman Julia Cedarholm, who attended the event.

“The people doing the rescue missions in the radioactive areas and working on repairing the nuclear plants are really putting themselves in a lot of danger.”

Nelson said the disaster will impact Japanese citizens for generations to come.

He said it will be interesting to see how this disaster effects Japanese culture. The atomic bombs America dropped on Japan during World War II and other disasters have altered cultures in the past, and some areas never recovered, he said.

The presenters said Japan’s nuclear disasters have brought nuclear power under greater scrutiny in America.

Richardson said there are 104 plants in the U.S. — and an audience member pointed out that one of those is only 20 miles from Chapel Hill.

All three presenters said the crisis displays the drawbacks of nuclear plants, but they still have advantages as a power source.

“When you build a nuclear plant, there’s a risk you take of a nuclear disaster like this occurring,” Lees said.

“But if you dam up all the rivers for energy, there is 100 percent chance of an environmental impact,” he said.

Students who want more information or ways to help can visit UNC’s Japan Disaster Relief response web page, Hewison said.

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