March can be described in one word…. Change. Here in Switzerland, the seasons are doing that… changing. And yet, after all of my complaining, I finally had the chance to hit the slopes. But by now, the snow is quickly melting ushering in springtime conditions. In Geneva, as people put away their dark and depressing winter fashion, and pull out their bikes, hiking shoes, and sun glasses, change is in the air. I already get a sense that the city changes personality completely when the sun is out and summer is just around the corner.
Internationally, who would’ve guessed that the whole world is changing by the devastating 9.0 earthquake and massive tsunami that rocked the northeast coast of Japan. So far around 10,000 people have been killed with hundreds of thousands living in shelters. And the extent of the radiation from the damaged nuclear power plants in Fukushima etc. still isn’t clear… abnormally high rates of radiation have been detected in places far from Japan. Governments around the world are now reassessing their nuclear policy and seeing if a future disaster could lead to a nuclear crisis that’s unfolding in Japan. Even the world’s most developed countries aren’t immune to the devastating effects of mother nature.
Now, that’s scary stuff.
The more we develop technologically and the more we rely on things like electricity, internet, and infrastructure like buildings, houses, hospitals and schools, the more they become basic necessities in the way we live and work. And the more likely we are to suffer if we lose them to a disaster or crisis. But at the same time, we can do something about it… for example, take earthquake drills seriously, be prepared and reduce your risk by having emergency kits and plans ready, know your risk… it’s all common sense, really.
Yet, risk-taking is a personal choice based on our own perceptions of danger. For example, when the tsunami from the Japan earthquake reached places like Canada and the USA, people were ready with their surf boards. How can education play a role in making sure that, for example, a tsunami warning/siren triggers people to run to safety rather than run to the beach to see the waves coming or even go surfing? This also reminds me of the video during the Japan earthquake of a women in a supermarket attempting to keep products on a shelf from falling while the whole building was shaking. Is it more important for her to run to safety or to hold up the food and shelves??
With all this technology and development, are we better off? Are we more resilient when we get a shock to the system? The Japanese people have shown that in tough times, maybe it’s not technology, but our social relationships and “contracts” that will eventually save us and get us through tough times. A communal vs. independent state of mind could be what we ultimately mean by “resilience”. Here are a couple of stories that illustrate this:
The earthquake that hit Fukushima was below six – 9 was a hundred miles away? So it didn’t even stand up to a tenth of what it was allegedly designed for (Richter is a logarithmic scale).
You may also be interested in how to treat radioactively contaminated drinking water:
http://crisismaven.wordpress.com/2011/03/22/dangers-properties-possible-uses-and-methods-of-purification-of-radioactively-contaminated-drinking-water-e-g-in-japan/
Maybe someone wants to help with Japanese and other languages?
There are changes beyond our control and there are some we create. But those changes we create are only good if we can keep the “value”.