Despite meltdown fears nuclear power is safer than riding a horse

THE fact that I was in Japan the week before last Friday’s tsunami has given the tragedy an extra poignancy for me. How many of those people I was milling around with in Tokyo have lost relatives or their livelihoods, I can’t help but wonder?

Despite meltdown fears nuclear power is safer than riding a horse

In the midst of such human devastation, however, it is worth reminding ourselves that the 2004 Asian tsunami and the earthquake in Haiti last year were smaller in magnitude than last Friday’s events but came at a much higher human cost than in Japan. The depressing truth is that poverty and, with it, poor building standards are a much better indicator of final death tolls when the Earth ruptures than points on the Richter scale. It is a tribute to the Japanese people that, contrary to the image popularised by Hollywood in such situations, there has been little panic, no chaos. Instead of the scenes of anarchy, we have been witnessing orderly queues and cooperation with the emergency services.

Attention has swiftly shifted from the immediate loss of life to the fate of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station. While Japanese experts seek to reassure a shattered nation — and the rest of the world — that the explosions there have released only tiny amounts of radioactivity, their comments are muted by the startling images of the plants blowing apart.

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