The Fukushima Fifty

Posted March 25th, 2011 in Japan 2 Comments »

Did you know that there were 50 people left at the Fukushima nuclear plant who have battled to cool down the overheating reactors since the disaster on March 11?  They are a band of lower and mid-level managers at the plant, and they were, of course, aware of the danger and the outcome of being exposed to radiation – death.

Although the heat from the damaged reactors were sweltering, they had to wear protective bodysuits to protect their skin from the poisonous radioactive particles – … but radiation seeped into the atmosphere minute by minute.  They did this, sacrificing themselves, because someone had to.  They left families behind… telling them that they won’t be home for a while.  One girl tweeted in a message translated by ABC: “My dad went to the nuclear plant, I’ve never seen my mother cry so hard. People at the plant are struggling, sacrificing themselves to protect you. Please dad come back alive.”

Later, 150 colleagues joined the original 50 and rotated in teams to limit their exposure to the radiation.  But by now, 5 out of 50 are believed to have already died and 15 are injured while others have said they know the radiation will kill them.

Tokyo Water Bureau officials said levels of radioactive iodine in some city tap water contained two times the recommended limit for infants, and the government have issued a warning to all mothers urging them not to let babies drink the tap water.   The U.S. have halted all dairy imports from Japan and will screen all other foods before allowing entry.

www.dailymail.co.uk


2 Comments on “The Fukushima Fifty”

  1. 1 Megan said at 12:38 pm on March 25th, 2011:

    So sad! There is still so much going on over there and now we hardly see any news about it.

  2. 2 umepontarou said at 7:43 am on March 27th, 2011:

    Megan,

    I feel the exact same way…

    But people over there seem to be more supportive each other and try to manage this situation by helping others. Reading my friends’ voices on Twitter makes me realise that how much we are depending on electricity!

    Really really hope things will get better… but according to the friends who live in Tokyo and just came back to Perth for holiday few days ago, the controlled black-out will continue until the end of this year in Japan.


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