2 thoughts on “Big Quake and Tsunami in Japan”

1. After this,after the horrid images flowing in from Japan, I hope this picture would be removed from this article. The reality is so far from a masquerade that it may seem in poor taste to have this picture used.What has happened in Japan is a disaster on par with the Haitian earthquake, the Chilean Earthquake and the slightly lesser one in New Zealand. The “big one” has been talked about by seismologists for a long time, with a sense of inevitability. The nuclear implications of this disaster are enormous. After Chernobyl, it was found that milk from cows grazing in Holland contained higher than normal levels of radiation.Western Europe has the ability to test for this. We Caribbean islanders can only wait and hope, and pray. Man does not control the wind, so when once radioactive gases have ben released into the atmosphere, we are at the mercy of the wind.A radiation leak due to carelessness must be roundly condemned by all humans, but one caused by a natural disster leaves at the mercy of forces we cannt control. We puny humas are humbled by forces that can reduce the number of hours in a day by nanoseconds, change the shape of coastlines forever, and so inundate farms with sea water that for thirty years they may not be able to grow food there.The world’s stock markets are recording the rise and fall of prices and profits based on this disaster- as ghoulish a concept as raiding the bodies of the 1000 dead who washed up on one beach, before reporting the find to authorities.
   We who live on the Caribbean Rim of Fire, need to plan cordinated efforts to face what may come to us one day.While Haiti’s earthquake did not trigger a tsunami, it does not mean that another one won’t, or that a volcanic explosion on any one of the islands- Martinique, St. Vincent, Dominica orMonserrat, would not trigger a far bigger disaster than we have ever coped with.
   Governments must not only educate the people on what to do, but also on what NOT to do. One does not go to the beach to watch a hurricane, nor organize Hurricane Parties that would leave you too drunk to function if you have to evecuate. One does not rush into the disastr area to take pictures of the event.No one should have to risk their own lives to rescue idiotic peole who ignore warnings.
   One luxury boat that headed out to sea durng a Central American hurricane,a few years back, was never fould; crew and 32 passengers all gone, but one local Hunduran woman, swept out to sea on a rush of water, clung to a floating raft of debris for more than a week, and was found by US planes looking for the luxury boat! What makes for survival in the face of disaster is a strange brew. I believe that faith in a power bigger than man, is an essential part of that mix.

2. Monitoring the news from the major centers of the world, it is obvious that the world has a full scale disaster(nuclear) on our hands.If the radiation flowing from Japan comes to us across the Atlantic, we in TnT may only be mildly affected, as some major mountains are between us and them, including the Himalayan range and the East African massif, where the land is on average, 4000 feet above sea level.If the wind comes to us from the the west however, across the Pacific, all that stands between us and Japan is the Isthmus of Panama and a bit of the mountains of Mexico. Radioactive fallout can affect the water supply, all plants and all animals that feed on plants, as well as fish. Should we be concerned, or should we make a calypso or chutney song from this?
   When Krakatoa, the mountain in Java, exploded more than a hundred years ago, its dust cloud went around the world three times!
   What should the government tell the people?

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