tag:dreamwidth.org,2009-09-15:446148shadowsparopen sky / shooting star / nothing else but who we areshadowspar2011-03-16T20:20:35Ztag:dreamwidth.org,2009-09-15:446148:43079地震2011-03-16T18:49:56Z2011-03-16T20:20:35Ztiredpublic1<p>
In my high school days, I was an exchange student;
I lived for a year in
<a href="http://xrl.us/okn5s">Maebashi, Gunma-ken, Japan
(日本群馬県前橋市)</a>.
</p>
<p>
Although for various reasons I haven't kept in touch with anyone
there, I've still been following matters very closely.
Despite how long it's been, Japan still feels like my second home.
My third host family's house is a bit more than a kilometer away
from <a href="http://xrl.us/bim35t">this radioactivity monitoring
point</a>, and they have relatives in Sendai whom we went to visit
while I was there, so this all strikes pretty close to home for me.
</p>
<p>
When it comes to
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_I_nuclear_accidents">the
problems at Fukushima #1</a>, a lot of the foreign news coverage has
been inaccurate, sensationalist, or both. It doesn't help that most
of us don't have an in-depth understanding of nuclear power plants and
ionizing radiation, so we don't have any context to evaluate
what information we're given and try to deduce the scope of the
dangers facing Japan. Moreover, the nuclear plant troubles
<em>may not</em> be the biggest problem in the country right now --
there are still many people in
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C5%8Dhoku_region">Tōhoku</a>
with little or no food, water, gas, power, or heat, going on six
nights now. Logistics are hugely problematic, with fuel being
in short supply.
</p>
<p>
With that being said, here are some of the resources I've been using
to keep up on what's going on:
</p>
<ul>
<li>
<a href="http://twitter.com/makiwi">Maki</a> (of
<a href="http://justbento.com/">JustBento</a> and
<a href="http://www.justhungry.com/">JustHungry</a>
fame) has been
following several Japanese media sources (eg NHK, TBS) and
<a href="http://twitter.com/makiwi">tweeting updates</a>
in English.
Unfortunately, it's not very easy to donate to Japanese charities
from overseas (you need a Japanese bank account or cellphone to
do so) but she's compiled a
<a href="http://www.justhungry.com/japan-earthquake-how-help">list
of other ways to help</a>.
</li>
<li>
The students & faculty of MIT's Nuclear Science and Engineering
department have been <a href="http://mitnse.com/">posting updates
and detailed backgrounders</a> explaining the events at Fukushima.
The nuclear industry backed NEI also has
<a href="http://nei.cachefly.net/newsandevents/information-on-the-japanese-earthquake-and-reactors-in-that-region/">updates</a>;
so too does the <a href="http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/tsunamiupdate01.html">IAEA</a>.
</li>
<li>
Evelyn, a Geology Ph.D student, has been posting
interviews with her dad, a retired nuclear engineeer,
<a href="http://georneys.blogspot.com/">on her blog</a>.
</li>
</ul><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=shadowspar&ditemid=43079" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments