Last week, on March 11th, a massive earthquake ravaged Japan with a magnitude of 9.0. Even though the Japanese prepare for earthquakes of such a magnitude it couldn't prepare them for what was to come. The earthquake flattened buildings as well as caused a tsunami that effected just about every country along the Pacific ocean. But the worst of all is that the electricity shut down to the nuclear power plant and all the backup generators were knocked out during the earthquake. These backup generators are essential to keeping the radioactive rods cool which also prevents them from emitting any radiation into the air. This has posed a huge crisis in Japan on how to keep these rods cool. Many attempts to keep these rods cool have been failing and now they has resorted to using helicopters to get water from the ocean to dump on the rods. At the present moment this is the only solution to keep the rods from overheating and releasing lethal doses of radiation into the air. Many experts believe that there is already a lethal dose of radiation within a 20 mile radius of the power plant. As a result leaders are urging those within 50 miles of the plant to leave their homes and get as far away from the plant as possible but for those within those 20 miles it is recommended for them to stay inside. This situation is just very touch and go and it is expected that the situation will only continue to get worse every day.
This situation is just heartbreaking. First of all Japan was hit with a 9.0 earthquake and an earthquake of this magnitude hasn't happened in the past 150 years. This earthquake then causes a tsunami that basically swept houses and buildings away as well as picking up cars like they were toys and washing them away. This then causes the electricity to shut down all across the country and to the worst place possible: the nuclear power plant. This series of events reminds me of something you might see in a movie with all the bad things that are happening in a row. Each day you hear something else about how this situation is just becoming more and more severe. I just have a feeling that if they can't find a way to cool the rods there could be a huge nuclear disaster, but I'm really hoping that a solution can be found or that the electricity can be restored to the nuclear power plant. However, considering that this country has just been devastated by a huge earthquake I can't see how the electricity can be restored in the near future.
Right now i think outside help needs to go into Japan to help with the reactors. We have multiple nuclear power plants here so we know how to take care of them. Why can't we help them? There are billions of people in the world if we are going to avoid a horrible disaster we need to band together.
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