Radioactive Testing
The scale of catastrophe in Japan overwhelms the mind. We are so used to watching Hollywood disaster movies that our first thought on seeing buildings tumbling down, walls of water rushing inland, a boat caught in a gigantic whirlpool and a nuclear reactor exploding tends to be "terrific special effects". For me, this photograph of a worried-looking little boy being tested for radioactivity is the most poignant to have emerged from Japan in the last day or so. It brings everything down to a human scale. Is the boy radioactive or not? Will he live or will he die? And what will happen to him if a second nuclear reactor at Fukushima 1 power station explodes? I have no idea. I don't even know who took this photo.
posted by Unknown @ 13.3.11
4 comments
4 Comments:
Please don't be afraid in such a way! That boy must be OK, absolutely. You have to learn much more about nuclear power and radioactive things.
A second reactor has exploded and a third looks like it's in meltdown. A US warship that had come to help is now moving out of range, and the Japanese have asked the Americans for help sorting out their nuclear mess. The exclusion zone round the power station has been doubled. So it's not over yet. Fingers crossed you're right.
I think with all the residents have gone through these last few day, children as well as adults, they need our prayers more than anything else.
Prayer is an expression of helplessness. The living victims need practical help. I posted Google's Person Finder on my blog on the first day of the disaster as my small contribution. The following day I posted the UK helpline. Not much, I agree, but it made me feel slightly less helpless.
In the longer term, we'll all contribute toward the disaster fund in higher insurance premiums, because Lloyds of London will take a big hit when the claims come in. But that's for the future....
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