By Elijah Mckenzie

On the afternoon of Friday, March 11, Japan was shaken by the most powerful earthquake in the history of the island nation. According to the United States Geological Survey, the epicenter was located near Miyagi Prefecture, a few hundred miles north of Tokyo, and triggered subsequent aftershocks.

The following tsunami enveloped large areas of Japan and laid waste to homes, hospitals and vital areas of infrastructure, resulting in the displacement of thousands and the death of hundreds.

When the tsunami hit, nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi power station shut down, as the backup generators drowned under water and rendered the facility’s cooling mechanisms useless. These events have caused the outer buildings of the reactors to explode, which led to a sudden spike in radioactivity across Japan.

Though many news reports have compared the reactor explosion at the Fukushima Daiichi power station to the nuclear disasters in Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, some local experts have said that the comparisons are not entirely accurate.

“People want to compare this to Chernobyl or Three Mile Island, but it’s not even on the same level,” said David Tollerud, a professor in the University of Louisville School of Public Health and Information Sciences. “What made Chernobyl so dangerous were the tremendous amounts of radiation that poured into the atmosphere, which eventually carried over and rained out on other parts of the globe.”

According to Tollerud, the disasters at the Chernobyl power plant in Ukraine and the Three Mile Island generating station in Pennsylvania were meltdowns on a nuclear scale. In Japan, however, the explosions were caused by a buildup of heat and an accumulation of hydrogen gas.

Tollerud has studied worker health at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Kentucky’s only uranium enrichment facility. As an expert in the field, he said that the explosions in Fukushima Daiichi don’t pose a threat to those living in the U.S.

“Prevailing winds have carried some detectable amounts of radiation across the Pacific and into North America, but all the reports I’ve read have said that there is no danger to the health of anyone living in the United States,” said Tollerud. “That includes Hawaii and Alaska.”

However, the risk of operating in a radiation-exposed area is likely to delay aid agencies from helping people in Japan who have been displaced from their homes.

Julie Peteet, a professor of anthropology at U of L, said that getting food, water, medical care and shelter to those stricken by the crisis will be delayed due to the immensity of the disaster.

“This is going to have a major impact on the world economy because Japan supplies the world with major automotive and computer parts,” said Peteet. “Depending on how the situation unfolds, these areas may not be inhabitable for hundreds of years because of the potential for radiation contamination, which would affect the soil and groundwater. If this becomes the case, then the people may be permanently displaced.”

The crisis in Japan has created conditions that carry the potential for an outbreak of sickness and disease. In response to the emergency situation in Japan, several nations have boosted their capabilities for confronting medical needs in the event of a natural disaster. Locally, the Kentucky Department for Public Health and the Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness sponsored an emergency preparedness workshop at the Kentucky International Convention Center on Saturday, March 19.

The training exercises were led by Ruth Carrico, a professor in U of L’s School of Public Health and Information Sciences.

“These sorts of exercises are made to increase our local community’s capabilities, in case we face a similar challenge like that of Japan,” said Carrico. “In Kentucky, we’ve seen the effects of floods, ice storms and even hurricanes, instances where people were left without power and in need of immediate attention.”

Although the Japanese government has worked to evacuate people from endangered areas and combat the spread of disease, the extent of the damage to Japan’s electrical grid and infrastructure may take months or even years to repair.

According to Elizabeth Davis-Sramek, a marketing professor in U of L’s College of Business, the challenges presented by the earthquake, tsunami and reactor explosion will delay the movement of Japanese products into the global market and further prolong the global recession.

“The biggest impact this will have on Kentucky is in the auto industry,” said Davis-Sramek, referring to the Toyota manufacturing plant in Georgetown, Ky. “Right now, the Georgetown plant has a backup inventory of parts, but they rely on imports from Japan. So if Japan halts manufacturing, then the plant won’t receive parts, which can result in a delayed manufacturing schedule. The whole situation obviously has long-lasting effects on the U.S. economy.”

Davis-Sramek said that even though the situation in Japan could result in problems around the world, it has also sparked lively conversations among U of L students about the importance of being globally-minded in the modern world.

“What we’ve seen in Japan is a reminder that, one way or another, we’re all in this together,” said Davis-Sramek. “I know that professors and students of political science, anthropology, business or other fields will all have something to discuss as a result of this event.”