Teach-in examines factors of crisis in Japan

It has been nearly three weeks since the devastating earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis hit Japan.

These three intertwined disasters have been hard to sort out from an explosion of media coverage.

IU students and Bloomington citizens gathered together Wednesday in the Indiana Memorial Union to try to make sense of what has happened, why it has happened and what’s being done now to help.

Japanese music played before the presentation, and Hutton Honors College Dean Matthew Auer opened the event with a moment of silence for those afflicted by the crisis.

“Japan is resilient, even in the face of the violence of the sea and the earth,” Auer said. “The citizens of Japan know their geographical challenges, and they will come back stronger than ever from them.”

Geological sciences professor Gary Pavlis explained that the earthquake radiated seismic waves for nearly three minutes, and the earthquake’s epicenter is meaningless because of its size.

Pavlis discredited foreign criticism about Japan’s preparedness for potential natural disasters.

“There’s no country on earth, hands down, that was better equipped for an earthquake — no question,” Pavlis said.

Physics professor Chuck Horowitz broke down exactly what happened at the Fukushima power plant. One major question Horowitz answered is why the nuclear crisis is taking so long to control.

“It’s extraordinarily hard to work in a radioactive environment,” Horowitz said. “The workers can’t work if the radiation is too high; they have to be sent home. They have to wear protective gear, and their time on the job is limited. Workers always need to be replaced when they reach their limit of radiation exposure.”

Journalism professor Joe Coleman reported in Japan for 11 years for the Associated Press. He attempted to explain why the nuclear crisis, which has killed no one yet, has overridden the devastation of both the earthquake and the tsunami, which have killed thousands, in terms of media coverage.

He cited the unusualness of the nuclear crisis as a major draw for reporters in the United States.

He also discussed unfortunate tendency of the media coverage to air on the side of sensationalism.

“The potential dangers of the nuclear crisis in Japan have made us fearful,” Coleman said. “They’re not happening yet, but they have potential to happen, and the media often acts as a mirror of what readers are thinking and feeling.”

Gregory Kasza, a professor in the Department of Political Science and East Asian Languages and Cultures, addressed the Japanese public’s distrust of its government, which Kasza said was already happening before the March 11 disasters.

Kasza said the Japanese people won’t believe anything their government tells them about nuclear power in the future.

“I can see no way that the Japanese government is going to dodge this bullet,” Kasza said.

Senior Niki Iwasaki, whose family is from Tokyo, will graduate in May and return to Japan in two months. She said she is not afraid to go back.

“As I’m Japanese, I’m glad to,” Iwasaki said. “I’m proud of my heritage, and my concern and my family’s concern is for those in Eastern Japan. I’ll be happy to go back and contribute to the growth of the area.”

Iwasaki said she appreciated the event’s unique attempt to educate.

“It’s not just talking about donations,” Iwasaki said. “It’s about teaching people about the real problems over there.”

The event also included a short performance by four Jacobs School of Music students and a speech by Jacobs student Mikela Asano.

“What you see in the news, it’s just numbers, but they are all human beings just like you,” Asano said. “There are babies still waiting for milk, some of them without their mothers. The people in Tohoku are incredibly patient. In this situation, gratitude is so important. Thank you to all of you who are willing to help Japan.”