IPhone Versus Soviet Subterfuge Make Fukushima No Chernobyl
IPhone Apps Versus Soviet Subterfuge
Haruyoshi Yamaguchi/Bloomberg
Evacuees from Fukushima prefecture use computers and telephones at an evacuation area at Saitama Super Arena, in Saitama City, Japan.
Evacuees from Fukushima prefecture use computers and telephones at an evacuation area at Saitama Super Arena, in Saitama City, Japan. Photographer: Haruyoshi Yamaguchi/Bloomberg
March 28 (Bloomberg) -- Lake Barrett, former deputy director of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management at the U.S. Department of Energy, discusses Japan's nuclear crisis. Radiation levels that can prove fatal were detected outside reactor buildings at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant. A magnitude-9 earthquake and ensuing tsunami knocked out power and disabled the cooling systems on March 11. Barrett speaks with Erik Schatzker on Bloomberg Television's "InsideTrack." (Source: Bloomberg)
IPhone Apps Versus Soviet Subterfuge
Zufarovz/AFP/Getty Images
Chernobyl, seen here in October of 1986, was the only accident to be ranked a 7 as 1,200 tons of graphite and radioactive matter were ejected into the air, polluting land and increasing cancer rates, according to the World Nuclear Association.
Chernobyl, seen here in October of 1986, was the only accident to be ranked a 7 as 1,200 tons of graphite and radioactive matter were ejected into the air, polluting land and increasing cancer rates, according to the World Nuclear Association. Source: Zufarovz/AFP/Getty Images
Tamara Kruglikova waited days for Soviet officials to announce the Chernobyl nuclear disaster about 140 kilometers (87 miles) from her home. Hiroshi Ishikawa posts radiation levels every 30 seconds online to supplement Japanese government reports on the fallout from Fukushima.
On April 26, 1986, as Chernobyl’s ruptured reactor spewed radiation into the air, children in Kruglikova’s city of Gomel played outdoors and adults prepared for May 1 rallies. The one curiosity was why the mud turned an orange-yellow color after it drizzled, she said in a telephone interview from Gomel.
“The Japanese cannot even imagine what ignorance we lived in,” said Kruglikova, a 60-year-old literature teacher. “Everything we knew at first was basically just rumor, but many people trusted the official line.”
The participation of people like Ishikawa makes Japan’s handling of what Prime Minister Naoto Kan called the biggest crisis since World War II that much more challenging due to public scrutiny. No sooner had Kan declared a nuclear state of emergency, five hours after the quake, than websites such as Twitter and Facebook were offering alternative information.
“Social media pushes the government to act more quickly,” said Laura Roeder, a social media marketing consultant based in Los Angeles. “Governments can’t hide information anymore. It can spread too quickly to too many people.”
Chernobyl Comparison
The March 11 magnitude-9 quake and 7-meter tsunami that followed disabled cooling systems at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant. The build-up of pressure caused hydrogen explosions that damaged at least three reactors, leaking radiation.
The United Nation’s International Atomic Energy Agency measured the disaster at 5 out of 7. Chernobyl was the only accident to be ranked a 7 as 1,200 tons of graphite and radioactive matter were ejected into the air, polluting land and increasing cancer rates, according to the World Nuclear Association.
Unlike their Soviet counterparts, Japanese residents have followed the drama via non-stop media coverage including briefings by the government, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. and nuclear agency. Officials are pushed to publish everything from the status of each reactor to the level of radiation found in local spinach.
The words “millisievert” and “Becquerel” --measurements of radiation -- have entered the daily vernacular, and the anonymous 50 nuclear workers who initially tackled the disaster became a blog phenomenon.
Monopolize Information
Ishikawa, a former researcher at Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. (9432), uses data from a Geiger counter he bought six years ago for $200. His website has attracted more than 300,000 visitors, up from 1,000 before the quake, he said.
“Governments and institutions that might have sought to monopolize information in the old days now face an era when almost anyone has the ability to publicize,” Ishikawa, 68, said by phone in Tokyo. “The tools are completely different from 25 years ago, the level of knowledge and comprehension of people receiving the data has risen considerably.”
Twitter Inc., a social-networking site, set up a special page in English and Japanese with information on rescue efforts, evacuation, medical advice and how to donate money. It also advised users to create special tags for their messages related to the crisis.
Social Networks
Hitomi Ito, a 37-year-old manager at a food store in Fukushima city, uses Mixi Inc. (2121)’s online network to hunt down scarce gasoline and food stuffs. Following a lead from Mixi postings, Ito, who has been using the service for five years, arrived at a local gas station to find herself 89th in line.
“I rely on this for everything, how else are you supposed to get this kind of information,” she said.
Kruglikova said she heard news of an accident at Chernobyl by word of mouth and from reports on Radio Liberty, a U.S. station set up to broadcast into communist countries. Even after the Soviet government acknowledged the accident, the propaganda machine downplayed the radiation impact, she said.
The Kremlin suppressed reports about the accident until April 28 and delayed evacuation of the town of Pripyat near the site for 40 hours, according to “The Long Road to Recovery,” a book published by the United Nations in 1996. The authorities pushed Chernobyl stories to back pages of newspapers, it said.
Radiation Trackers
Kruglikova’s school had no Geiger counters and little idea what effects radiation could have. Speculation that iodine might be an antidote resulted in several poisonings as people mixed it with milk without caring for the dose, she said.
More than 60 Japanese sites post radiation levels from around the country, while private companies have set up their own monitoring to keep employees and the public updated. Readings in Tokyo soared 21-fold to as much as 0.809 microsieverts an hour on March 15, compared with 0.0338 microsieverts before the quake, according to the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Public Health. That’s still less than 1/100th of the radiation dose from a single chest X-ray.
Radioactive Iodine-131 was detected at 210 becquerel per kilogram at a water purification plant in Tokyo, more than double the limit for infants, the city’s water department said on March 23. The report triggered bulk buying of bottled water at supermarkets and convenience stores even as the government said the health risks are minimal.
Apps to the Rescue
Japan’s population has flocked to download reference software and set up blogs. Medical reference, navigation and transportation software for the iPhone topped application downloads at Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s iTunes Store in Japan after the quake, according to PositionApp.
“Yurekuru Call for iPhone,” an early warning earthquake notification service, “Flashlight-4,” which uses the screen as a light source, and a location app for the nearest hospitals and convenience stores, were among the top downloads, it said.
Radiation fears are especially poignant in Japan because of the fallout from the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 by the U.S. to end the war, Ishikawa said.
“People are frightened by radiation because you can’t touch or smell it, can’t confirm it with your five senses,” he said.
Still, one danger with the wealth of information, public and private, is its sheer volume, he said.
“It increases the amount of noise, false, ungrounded and manipulative information that may cause panic.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Yuriy Humber in Tokyo at yhumber@bloomberg.net; Pavel Alpeyev in Tokyo at palpeyev@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Young-Sam Cho at ycho2@bloomberg.net; Andrew Hobbs at ahobbs4@bloomberg.net
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