Impact of Japan Tsunami of Business Environment

Impact of Japan Tsunami of Business Environment

Introduction

On March 11, 2011, an earthquake off the coast of northeastern Japan measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale generated a tsunami that wiped out entire towns in the prefectures (provinces) of Iwate, Fukushima and Miyagi along the country's coast and severely damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The quake struck in the Pacific Ocean 80 miles (130 km) off the coast of northeastern Japan, and 230 miles northeast of Tokyo, the capital. At the Fukushima plant, about 170 miles north of Tokyo, the tsunami caused four explosions and a fire, threatening the stability of at least three of the plant's six reactors. The damage also incapacitated the generators needed to operate systems that cooled the reactors by flowing water around the uranium fuel rods, thereby preventing a meltdown (Dun & Bradstreet, 2011, 1-2).

Such a disaster, in which molten uranium would flow out of the reactor, would expose the surrounding area to dangerous radiation. Plant workers the following day pumped sea water, mixed with the element boron, into the reactors in an attempt to keep the rods from overheating. On March 15, government officials said the primary container of one of the plant's reactors was damaged, raising the possibility of an extensive escape of radiation, and the outlook worsened the next day, when a second reactor's container was said to have possibly ruptured (Dun & Bradstreet, 2011, 1-2).

Meanwhile, steam was deliberately vented from the reactors to relieve the pressure that built up as the water around the rods evaporated. That allowed some radioactive material to escape, but at levels the government generally insisted were low. Radioactive isotopes of cesium and iodine were detected in the area, indications that the fuel rods had been damaged to some extent, but had not necessarily melted. After a series of widening evacuation orders, residents living within 20 kilometers (48 miles) of the plant March 15 were ordered to leave the area, and those within the next 10 kilometers to remain inside sealed buildings (Dun & Bradstreet, 2011, 1-2).

Discussion

As at March 11, 2011 shook the earth off the Japanese coast, the economic impact on the country and the economy were not yet in sight. In economically developed Japan, the population made little thought in the first seconds, because earthquakes are not uncommon in Japan. To the inhabitants quickly became clear that this time was a very strong earthquake. As rehearsed in years of practice, they quickly secured and preserved the peace. Since the current and the water failed, the mobile phone networks no longer worked, sound trucks, and the Internet were one of the last opportunities to learn quickly that the earthquake a magnitude of 8.9 on the open-ended Richter scale. Thus, using loudspeakers was facing a tsunami warning; the coast has a few minutes later rolled over (Kass, 2011).

Japan was for many years the second most powerful economy in the world and fell in 2010, back to third place in the ...