Today, as an IAEA team of investigators was due to arrive in Japan, TEPCO finally announced to the world that they have 3 reactors in meltdown, and not just reactor no. 1, and that these meltdowns have all been going on since the first week. TEPCO said they had covered up the true extent of the situation so as not to cause panic.
well Gwilym, that's just my opinion about governance when a disater strikes...
there's no point releasing the tsunami of information or misinformation causing common people to panic. Remember the 9/11 when the TV channels only released one shot of the building burning and very limited information about the whole tragedy - US administration must have had their reasons, but we often quote that as an example when our media makes unsolicited hue and cry over every disaster, small and big -- it seldom helps, more than them earning a few bucks extra in commercials,
The point about TEPCO is that they have a long history of releasing false information and it is often just for commercial reasons and also to protect the directors. TEPCO simply cannot be trusted. They have proved this over and over again.
I think it is possible to release information in an orderly and intelligent way so as not to cause panic.
Have you read Hershey's book about Hiroshima? I'm sorry I forget the title just now. It's very informative and illuminating.
No, no negating or debating a point about which i have no much corroborative information, Gwilym i haven't been following the Tepco controversies except in bits and pieces i read --Hiroshima -- no i haven't read,
To me, no business enterprise, including the media (nor the government) can be trusted -- they all have their vicious interests -- Japan or elsewhere
I agree with you about release of information -- Not that information is unnecessary, but releasing it in a fashion that causes more to panic -- there government and the fourth estate ought to practice restraint,
i was talking of the media, which makes a disaster a commercialised entertainment of sorts -- there is a strange mix happening -- could it be that it's unavoidable?
I think we have to differentiate between natural disasters such as Haiti, Christchurch, Honshu and Joplin and manmade disasters such as Chernobyl and Fukushima where vested interests and politicians in receipt of backhanders and their journalistic pals attempt to cover-up the true scale of the problem, although in the case Chernobyl the Russian president Gorbachev (a rare example of an honest politician, I'd compare him with Jimmy Carter) quickly realised this way would be a gross error and quickly changed the policy; the Japanese have still to do this.
in these times...the interests -- national and international, as well between bsuiness and governments -- are so linked - governments and politicians cannot affort to be so candid and transparent,perhaps,
Perhaps, you can't expect a Carter or a Gorbachev in politics anymore, Gwilym - or may be we can :)
Devika, even as we discuss this the Jaanese/TEPCO are in the process 'coming clean'. It's only taken them 2months and 2weeks for them to to admit, in a fashion, that they have spread the plutonium from their nuclear explosion (which wasn't a hydrogen explosion as they previously said it was) over the whole northern hemisphere of the planet and that millions will die in the next 25 years from unseen cancers born in them now, and this that after first assuring the people of Fukushima that the 6 reactors they were building on their coastline were 100% safe.
It remains to be seen if the "hand of God" will send now a devastating typhoon to complete the job of total destruction during the current typhoon season or if an earthquake and tsunami were sufficient "punishment".
A religious figure, no less than a bishop here in Austria, said that God had punished the 250,000 in Haiti with an earthquake for following the cult of Voodoo, after previously having said almost similar things about God and the 300,000 killed by the Indonesian tsunami...so we can only wonder about the high religo-politico in this world and what their true agenda is....but we mustn't be surprised because these kind of sentiments and have been expressed since time immemorial by people in authority claiming to be to servants of God and to have God's confidence...for the purpose of controlling the thoughts of the masses.
Hand of God -- yea, i knew this was coming...The Austrain fugure reminds of Father Paneloux in Camus' The Plague -- You can find such characters everywhere...
Never cared a damn about these religio-polical bodies- another flourishing business,
and yes, all remains to be seen, Gwilym....only hope its all for good...if not so, may be not meant to be so :)
Religion and connection with God is one's personal matter belief...not a matter of public discourse...though at times one can't help thinking loud...it was only in that sense i did, Gwilym :)
Good Gwilym...if i'm getting it right, formally it is only the bad guys that are left behind...that makes the world all the more a difficult place? :)
ReplyDeletewishes,
devika
again i was just joking Gwilym...because the picture was kind of terrifying :)
ReplyDeletewishes,
devika
It used to be said "the race belongs to the swift" but unfortunately in these times "the swift" are not what they were...or maybe they are :)
ReplyDeleteThe picture was taken at a memorial demonstration to remember that it's now 25 years since Chernobyl.
The "race" refers as you have correctly deduced also refers to the "human race".
nice one Gwilym
ReplyDeletejohn
Cheers, John!
ReplyDeleteyes, can't say anything about anything in this world Gwilym :)...Chernobyl - the name still sends shivers,
ReplyDeletewishes,
devika
Devika, I forgot to say that the 2011 Tokyo Marathon is in fact really cancelled. But obviously that's the point of the message.
ReplyDeleteI mean NOT the point of the message.
ReplyDeleteyes, i got that, Gwilym :)
ReplyDeletewishes,
devika
oh! but not about Tokyo Marathon...marathons even other keep happening and this cancellation i took as some in the context of rapture day :)
ReplyDeletewishes
devika
Well yes, the so-called 'rapture day' was also cancelled I'm happy to say :)
ReplyDelete:)
ReplyDeletewishes,
devika
Anonymous comment deleted.
ReplyDeleteStrange coincidence?
Today, as an IAEA team of investigators was due to arrive in Japan, TEPCO finally announced to the world that they have 3 reactors in meltdown, and not just reactor no. 1, and that these meltdowns have all been going on since the first week. TEPCO said they had covered up the true extent of the situation so as not to cause panic.
yes, a much needed caution that was...the right to information is secondary, though media and sometimes public too scream for it,
ReplyDeletewishes,
devika
well Gwilym, that's just my opinion about governance when a disater strikes...
ReplyDeletethere's no point releasing the tsunami of information or misinformation causing common people to panic. Remember the 9/11 when the TV channels only released one shot of the building burning and very limited information about the whole tragedy - US administration must have had their reasons, but we often quote that as an example when our media makes unsolicited hue and cry over every disaster, small and big -- it seldom helps, more than them earning a few bucks extra in commercials,
wishes,
devika
The point about TEPCO is that they have a long history of releasing false information and it is often just for commercial reasons and also to protect the directors. TEPCO simply cannot be trusted. They have proved this over and over again.
ReplyDeleteI think it is possible to release information in an orderly and intelligent way so as not to cause panic.
Have you read Hershey's book about Hiroshima? I'm sorry I forget the title just now. It's very informative and illuminating.
No, no negating or debating a point about which i have no much corroborative information, Gwilym i haven't been following the Tepco controversies except in bits and pieces i read --Hiroshima -- no i haven't read,
ReplyDeleteTo me, no business enterprise, including the media (nor the government) can be trusted -- they all have their vicious interests -- Japan or elsewhere
I agree with you about release of information -- Not that information is unnecessary, but releasing it in a fashion that causes more to panic -- there government and the fourth estate ought to practice restraint,
i was talking of the media, which makes a disaster a commercialised entertainment of sorts -- there is a strange mix happening -- could it be that it's unavoidable?
wishes,
devika
in short what i had in mind was the need for virtuous choices over vicious interests -
ReplyDeleteagain a far cry perhaps :)
wishes,
devika
I think we have to differentiate between natural disasters such as Haiti, Christchurch, Honshu and Joplin
ReplyDeleteand manmade disasters such as Chernobyl and Fukushima where vested interests and politicians in receipt of backhanders and their journalistic pals attempt to cover-up the true scale of the problem, although in the case Chernobyl the Russian president Gorbachev (a rare example of an honest politician, I'd compare him with Jimmy Carter) quickly realised this way would be a gross error and quickly changed the policy; the Japanese have still to do this.
in these times...the interests -- national and international, as well between bsuiness and governments -- are so linked - governments and politicians cannot affort to be so candid and transparent,perhaps,
ReplyDeletePerhaps, you can't expect a Carter or a Gorbachev in politics anymore, Gwilym - or may be we can :)
wishes,
devvika
and yes, Gwilym...true about the nexus(es) when its human caused than natural,
ReplyDeletewishes
devika
Devika, even as we discuss this the Jaanese/TEPCO are in the process 'coming clean'. It's only taken them 2months and 2weeks for them to to admit, in a fashion, that they have spread the plutonium from their nuclear explosion (which wasn't a hydrogen explosion as they previously said it was) over the whole northern hemisphere of the planet and that millions will die in the next 25 years from unseen cancers born in them now, and this that after first assuring the people of Fukushima that the 6 reactors they were building on their coastline were 100% safe.
ReplyDeleteokay, Gwilym...any idea/project by man suits that definition of poem by Frost -- begins in delight and ends in wisdom - be this be so too,
ReplyDeleteand pray human lives are more in the hands of God than Science and Technology,
wishes,
devika
It remains to be seen if the "hand of God" will send now a devastating typhoon to complete the job of total destruction during the current typhoon season or if an earthquake and tsunami were sufficient "punishment".
ReplyDeleteA religious figure, no less than a bishop here in Austria, said that God had punished the 250,000 in Haiti with an earthquake for following the cult of Voodoo, after previously having said almost similar things about God and the 300,000 killed by the Indonesian tsunami...so we can only wonder about the high religo-politico in this world and what their true agenda is....but we mustn't be surprised because these kind of sentiments and have been expressed since time immemorial by people in authority claiming to be to servants of God and to have God's confidence...for the purpose of controlling the thoughts of the masses.
Hand of God -- yea, i knew this was coming...The Austrain fugure reminds of Father Paneloux in Camus' The Plague -- You can find such characters everywhere...
ReplyDeleteNever cared a damn about these religio-polical bodies- another flourishing business,
and yes, all remains to be seen, Gwilym....only hope its all for good...if not so, may be not meant to be so :)
wishes,
devika
Religion and connection with God is one's personal matter belief...not a matter of public discourse...though at times one can't help thinking loud...it was only in that sense i did, Gwilym :)
ReplyDeletewishes,
devika
I completely agree with your last comment :)
ReplyDeletethanks Gwilym :)
ReplyDeletewishes,
devika