On March 11, the world was surprised at a powerful earthquake in Japan. The magnitude 9.0 earthquake happened in Tohoku 373 km away from Tokyo. This earthquake is ranked in the top 4 in history.
The earthquake was accompanied by a tsunami. The tsunami hit the east coast of Japan 10 minutes after the earthquake. The height of the tsunami was over 10 meters. The tsunami covered farmland near the city of Sendai and smashed cars and buildings. It smashed large ships in Kesennuma City, Miyagi Prefecture. Many aftershocks also damaged Japan. As a result of the aftershocks, the situation became worse. The total deaths were 13,013 and 14,608 people are missing.
The earthquake also damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant. The cooling system was stopped by the earthquake. A partial meltdown was caused by the melting of fuel rods in the reactor. As a result, radiation leaked. Radiation was detected in Ibaraki, Tochigi, Kanagawa, and Chiba prefectures. In Tokyo, over twice the permissible amount of radiation was detected in the tap water. The radioactive substances are cesium and iodine. Cesium collects in the human body and causes fatal diseases. Likewise, radioactive iodine causes radiation exposure on the internal organs by emitting beta rays and gamma rays. Fortunately, the radiation cannot blow over to Korea because of the wind.
10,393 tons of contaminated water leaked into the ocean near Fukushima. Radioactivity was detected in the ocean 30 km away from Fukushima nuclear power plant. The ocean currents can circulate the radioactivity. People are worried about radioactivity in the ocean. Korea will check the radioactivity in products including fish and vegetables from Japan.
Japanese calm stood out. Cars waited for a green light without the sound of horns. There was no jumping the queue. Evacuees divided insufficient food, water, and blankets. They didn’t complain about extreme inconvenience.
Korea came to Japan's aid. It dispatched rescue teams to help, and the Korean Red Cross donated 15.5 billion won Also, many Korean stars gave money including Hallyu stars Bae Yong-joon, Song Seung-hun, Choi Ji-woo, Kim Hyun-joong and Jang Geun-seok. In, addition, Keimyung University provided 50 million won for relier efforts and also dispatched a medical team to help.
Korea is not absolutely safe from natural disasters. A disaster like the magnitude 9.0 earthquake can happen on the Korean peninsula. We need to prepare for a disaster by training, and we must keep calm in a disaster like a tsunami or an earthquake.
