Disasters, Risks and Implications
[New Zealand] by Steve Matthewman
Translated by Li Yuliang and Wang Li
Published by Beijing United Publishing Company
Disasters have become the syndrome of the times in today's world, which reveals the operation mechanism of society and its shortcomings, tolerance and coping ability, which are the causes of human security and survival anxiety. Combining disaster research and sociology, the book focuses on large-scale accidents and disasters, and analyzes the disastrous consequences of the capitalist mode of production. Matthewman collected various disaster-related data and combined with the latest research results, further analyzed the causes and consequences of disasters, and made suggestions on how to avoid disaster risks in the future.
>> selected readings
Disaster strikes Happiness Island: a place of misfortune
The European Space Agency's Gravity Field and Static Ocean Currents Detection (GOCE) satellite received low-frequency sound waves from large earthquakes. The power transfer effect triggers small earthquakes worldwide. The earthquake-triggered tsunami shook the Suzberg Ice Shelf, which covers the Antarctic continent. Two-meter-high waves crash towards the Chilean coast. Houses along the coast of Indonesia were destroyed. More than 10,000 people in the low-lying areas of Russia's Kuril Islands were evacuated. In Papua New Guinea, Bram Hospital announced losses from the tsunami amounting to $4 million. The whole earth was suddenly surrounded by radioactive isotopes. The remains of an earthquake and tsunami more than 3,000 kilometers long float on the surface of the North Pacific Ocean. On the internet, calls for calm and official denials have been accused of conspiracy theories and cover-ups of facts. There have been reports of a rush to buy potassium iodide tablets in British Columbia, Canada. In the United States, south of the border, sales of gas masks, Geiger counters and survival kits have surged. A truck production plant in Louisiana went out of business. Chicago live bull futures prices hit record highs. Swiss Re shares plummeted. Professional paint pigment Hilary Rick global supply cuts; Aluminum capacitors, bismaleimide-triazine resins, silicon wafers, and critical automotive components are also in short supply. Many European countries have announced radical reforms to their energy policies. Uranium prices on the world market have fallen sharply, while LNG prices have soared. Uranium mining in South Australia was put on hold. In sub-Saharan Africa, some uranium mines have been delayed, and planned uranium mine mergers and acquisition proposals have been cancelled. Britain's gas-fired power generation is in the red. A container shipped from Japan to Guyana was returned by Jamaica Customs on the grounds that the goods inside were radioactive. The UK's first commercial seaweed farm opens.
All of this is media coverage of the consequences of a disaster and its response, and although it takes place in a distant place, its effects affect all continents and beyond. On March 11, 2011, a large thrust zone earthquake of magnitude 9.0 on the Richter scale struck off the northeast coast of Japan. It was the largest earthquake japan has experienced since modern scientific instruments began measuring earthquakes, and later became known as the Great East Japan Earthquake. The earthquake moved the Japanese island of Honshu 2.4 meters eastward, displacing the Earth's axis of rotation. The earthquake triggered a local tsunami of up to 40 meters. The tsunami stirred up a powerful wall of water that swallowed up one of the most complete coastlines in the world for tsunami prevention. In the Sendai area, waves wash inland for 10 kilometers. At the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, waves crashed the seawall, causing an explosion. The plant's cooling system failed and three reactor units melted down. Subsequently, the largest ever radioactive material was discharged into seawater. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has declared that the Fukushima nuclear accident was classified as the most serious nuclear accident with a magnitude of 7 according to the International Nuclear and Radiation Event Classification Scale, which is similar to the classification model used by seismologists to measure moment magnitude.
We sometimes use the term "Fukushima" to represent this series of events. Sometimes we call it "3/11" so that people can relate to the events of 9/11. The events of 9/11 are considered to be events of the 21st century that could affect the world order. The series of events in Fukushima (meaning Island of Happiness and Lucky Land) is quite distinctive. The World Bank identified it as the first "quadruple" disaster on earth: an earthquake, a tsunami, a nuclear reactor accident combined with a worldwide disruption of supply chains. The Events in Fukushima also allowed us to foresee the risks and hazards of the 21st century. Today's risks are characterized by their complexity and exacerbated by our interconnectedness. The uncertainty and potential impact of modern industrial production technologies, including nuclear energy, have increased. Novelist Douglas Kupland wrote: "Radiation is eternal. I think that, as a species, our dialogue with radiation has only just begun. "Radiologist David M. J. Brenner writes in the book: "In addition, although we assessed the health effects of low doses of radiation, there is still a great deal of uncertainty in the assessment. Not understanding the risks means we don't know anything about what a reasonable evacuation area is, who needs to be evacuated, when to evacuate, or when people are allowed to return. ”
The disasters of the 21st century have taken on many new characteristics. The first is the scale of the destruction. They destroy more infrastructure and affect more people. In the Fukushima incident, Japan's Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima prefectures were the most affected, with 20,000 people killed, while 1,000 people were displaced 1,000 times the death toll, and 1 million buildings were destroyed. The cost of cleaning up the site alone is more than $1 billion – and whether radioactive contamination can be "cleaned up" remains a controversial question. The leak is widely regarded as the most complex nuclear accident to date. In addition, "indirect losses from supply chain disruptions can be as serious or worse as direct losses." The Fukushima incident also led to widespread power outages and water outages for millions of people (which is why mentioning only the "quadruple" disaster is likely to underestimate its destructive power). Second, these new disasters are much more complex in distribution. Their range of influence is so wide that it becomes extremely difficult to deal with them. What happened on Happiness Island was not controlled on Happiness Island, but spread out. Neither radioactive waste nor tsunami debris can be controlled within Japan's sovereign territory, and the impact of supply chains is global. Third, these new catastrophes were "unthinkable" before the events. As a Fukushima investigation revealed, the plant operators "fell into a safety fallacy that serious accidents such as core melting were impossible, so they weren't prepared for anything when a crisis really came before them."
Just as Fukushima plays a role in various Earth systems (atmosphere, land, and ocean), it also plays a role in many human systems (communications, economics, energy, health, technology, and politics). Of course, the two systems are closely linked. Structural forces, waves, ocean currents and winds are mixed with settlement patterns, stock prices and business practices. These processes show multiple spatialities: ground zero, 250 km away (the edge of space), 13,000 km away (in Antarctica). They blend all aspects of nature, humanity, and social technology, showing different temporalities. A disaster can be many events that occur at the same time, or it can be many different events that occur at different times. Although the number of tourists in Japan is now comparable to before the disaster, Fukushima is still sparsely populated. Japan's auto industry is now functioning normally, but even if nuclear reactors can be cleaned, the cleanup will last a generation or more, while the evacuation zone will remain off-limits for decades. Some things never return to their original state, and instead, we have to make adjustments to deal with the new normal. The fate and destiny of human beings can also change depending on the environment in which they live and the occupation in which they engage. For those prefectures directly affected, the situation of the Fukushima incident was bad. It put Japan through the worst postwar crisis, pushing the nuclear industry workers to the bottom. But the incident brought life to those engaged in the sale of cancer drugs, shale gas fields and liquefied natural gas. In Britain, it also spawned a new commercial venture, Seaweed Farms.
This makes us have to consider the impact of the Fukushima incident. We must consider the losses in the energy, political and economic spheres. The Fukushima incident undermined the Japanese public's trust in the authorities. Globally, growing pressure to remove nuclear power from the national energy policy mix has also shaken business confidence in "just-in-time" production systems. Sustainability issues are becoming increasingly prominent, mainly the need for greater corporate transparency and political transparency, the need for clean renewable energy, and supply chain security issues.
Author: Steve Mathewman
Edit: Jin Jiuchao