Heartbreak for the Rising Sun

Catastrophic natural disaster is never new. I for one, have seen plenty of typhoons yearly here in my fatherland. They destroy, they kill. Frank, the strongest that hit my province Iloilo killed tens, and the aftermath is just woeful. But then, it isn't as shattering as what happened recently off the Philippine coast. It isn't as grim and heartbreaking as the massive earthquake and tsunamis that hit Japan.

Truth be told, I didn't give a damn when the situation first came up at the news. There's bloodshed in Libya, places in Africa and elsewhere so what's so special about it? is the initial thought. I didn't care as long as I'm in a virtual adventure in a fictional post-apocalyptic Mojave. And so one night, everyone's watching the news and this computer set's right next to the television. I turned, and saw a chilling scene: an aerial footage showing murky, heavily littered seawater engulfing a town and surrounding farmlands in Japan.

I can't recall where it is. The scene is simply staggering and you'll be asking yourself a few questions. What if there's a family trapped in that house, or inside that car on the washed out road? What if someone's standing on that plowed field that day for some reason? What if I was there, with that dark wave coming right at me? Why does this have to happen? Et cetera.

Recent estimates of those killed by the tsunami in Japan is 10,000 in Miyagi prefecture alone and authorities say Japan's lucky with that number, given that Indonesia in 2004 took the toll of about 230,000. The world is sure effed up.

Tonight, I've decided to check on my mail. I've been using Yahoo!'s e-mail service so first thing I saw after the What's New tab has loaded is a news article that reported about a thousand bodies washed up on Japanese shores. Grim. Staggering. I just can't imagine that happening flipside. Sure Frank killed more than a hundred, Typhoon Ondoy up north murdered hundreds more; but a thousand is just a lot, and that's just like a tenth of all the dead.

Then there's the issue of a nuke reactor that blew up in Fukushima. The world is safe from it for now, but it has the potential. It can dangerously up the rads of the residents in its 12 km radius or spread radioactive clouds like Chernobyl once did which is quite unlikely. At this point though, anything can happen.

Anyway, if you're reading this blog, please do pray for Japan. Pray that the Japanese recover. At least that's what gaijin who aren't able to give concrete help like me can do. Pray for yourselves too, and for the world. God listens.

These times sure are uncertain.


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"BBC FLASHNEWS: Japan govt confirms radiation leak" Text Message is a Hoax!

Today around 10:AM GMT+8, I began receiving a circulated message with the following content:

BBC FLASHNEWS: Japan govt confirms radiation leak at fukushima nuclear plants. Asian countries should take necessary precautions. Remain indoors first 24hr at starting 4pm 2day.

If you're a Filipino living here in the Philippines, you probably got this too. You've also sent this to all your contacts perhaps. Who else won't be concerned with this? It quite disturbed me really, but I got my doubts. I don't think I should believe it just because it has BBC stamped at the first line. But then it could probably happen.

So I Googled a little in the hopes that the whole thing is just a hoax some anti-nuke activist or introverted paranoid crackpot with a cellphone cooked up. I used the first sentence in the SMS message as keywords and I ended up with this article. If you're too lazy to click, here's an excerpt:

From www.bloggedphilippines.com

- Although there has been two explosions in the Fukushima nuclear plant and a possible meltdown might occur, there has been no radiation leak yet that can reach other countries. In fact, only those inside the 12 mile radius from the plant are susceptible to current partial radiation leakage.
See also the report from BBC:

Experts say a disaster on the scale of Chernobyl in the 1980s is highly unlikely because the reactors are built to a much higher standard and have much more rigorous safety measures.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12729138

- The Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI) issued a statement saying that radiation levels in the Philippine environment are all normal.
Here's the actual copy of their statement:

The DOST-PNRI routinely undertakes daily radioactivity monitoring in the environment. Based on DOST-PNRI monitoring, there has been no increase in the levels of radioactivity since the time of the Fukushima event.

A plume trajectory study from the Fukushima site by the World Meteorological Organization based in Melbourne, Australia showed that the plume from the site of the incident will not pass the Philippine territory as of March 14, 2011.

Source: http://www.pnri.dost.gov.ph/index.php

DOST advised the public not to believe this hoax.

Bingo! NOT TRUE as the article boldly proclaims and I'm pretty glad it isn't. Like everyone else, I ain't that ready for a few rads and cancer cells. Now concerning that fraudulent text message, I'll rephrase that blogger's statements: neither believe nor forward it as it will just cause some panic and confusion.

Well, some folks got bored.


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