What Lessons Has Fukushima Taught Us about the Nuclear Age - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages The recent Tsunami in Japan and the Fukushima nuclear reactor blast do qualify to be labeled as one of the most moving disasters of this century. The media houses affiliated with varied nations covered this disaster in a variety of ways. However, if one attempts to generalize the trends accompanying the media coverage at the Fukushima blast, the standard conclusion will be that the world media did not let this crisis go to waste. In the context of the nuclear reactor blast at Fukushima, the media certainly had two options at its disposal. Either they could have used this disaster to enhance the public awareness regarding radiation and the hazards of Nuclear energy, or they could have cashed on this opportunity to augment their viewership and readers.
As these two objectives were contrary to each other, so sadly speaking, a big chunk of the media coverage was predominantly and in the case of some channels, was exclusively dedicated to shooting up the existing viewership. This was more than true in the case of the Asian media companies. Many times the media tried to hype every big and small incident related to radiation leakage. Some of them even went ahead to compare the magnitude of the Fukushima blast with the Chernobyl disaster in a sensational and gripping tone. This was certainly a sorry trend on the part of media, when in this age of connectivity; it had access to all the relevant facts.
Luckily speaking, some media houses do succeed in using the Fukushima disaster to educate the masses about the hazards of nuclear energy and to nudge the competent stakeholders to do something to avoid such tragedies in the future. Not to say, NHK, which happens to be Japan’s national broadcaster, was conclusively a voice of poise and calm amidst this catastrophe.
The other thing was that this line of approach on the part of the world media died down after a few days when it realized that the alarming and sensational coverage of this human catastrophe could not be sustained for long. It was only then that the media started to focus on the plight of the people who suffered from the Tsunami and Fukushima blast.
The Fukushima blast is a disaster that would not only find a place in the annals of history but is also a phenomenon that left many lessons for the contemporary generations. The first and foremost lesson of this tragedy is that the modern economies running on electricity do need a reliable backup arrangement (Inskeep: Online). One impact of Fukushima was that it immediately led to a power shut in the customer businesses, localities and concerns. Not only this, in the absence of the power supply, the rescue workers were not able to do their work at an optimal level. The businesses and factories came down on their knees and the failure to restore power simply did not allow them to rescue and restart their operations in time. This not only jeopardized the Japanese economy but also gravely affected the economy of the nations doing business with Japanese companies. So, in the future, the concerned experts should take care that there always exists a reliable backup to meet the situations posed by such disasters. ...Download file to see next pages Read More