It’s hard to fathom that five years have gone by since life changed so abruptly for the 20,000 people killed in eastern Japan when an earthquake and tsunami slammed its coastline. The entire nuclear industry, its government and regulators shook when the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station was affected triggering disabled cooling systems and subsequent fuel meltdowns.
Says the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, “After Fukushima, it became clear that we are in a new era in which technology and natural disasters can combine to create danger on a previously unimaginable scale. Our dependence on technology is a double-edged sword, if we do not reduce our exposure to natural hazards.” “The Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami helped shape the Sendia Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, which was adopted at the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction a year ago.” “The Framework extends the remit of disaster risk management to include both man-made and natural hazards, as well as related environmental, technological and biological hazards and risks.” (See: “World Has Much to Learn from Japan…”)
The Secretary General encourages the world to learn from Japan for our very future and sustainability. He says, “Acting for the common good is a frequent theme in Japanese culture and it infuses the country’s approach to disaster preparedness and risk reduction.”
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