Risk Communication - Japan

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The Risk Communication Working Group is focused on providing risk communication to decision-makers and the public

The mission of the Risk Communication Working Group is to provide risk communication to decision-makers and the public.

Working Group email address:  ***@***.***

Members

AlMac99 bevcorwin Kathy Gilbeaux mdmcdonald

Email address for group

risk-communication-japan@m.resiliencesystem.org

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Excellent resource for environmental information regarding radiation

http://www.epa.gov/radiation/

Japanese Nuclear Emergency:  Radiation Monitoring - from the EPA

http://www.epa.gov/radiation/rert/radnet-sampling-data.html

RadNet Laboratory Analysis - from the EPA

http://opendata.socrata.com/Government/RadNet-Laboratory-Analysis/cf4r-dfwe

Radiation risk is only within the evacuation zones, says WHO, as of March 19

According to The World Health Organization (WHO), as of March 19 info sharing, it seems unlikely that significant amounts of radiation will affect areas outside of Japan. Rumours are circulating about radiation drifting to other countries. Based on available information, this does not appear to be the case. Exposure to radioactive material released from the affected facilities will be largely limited to the evacuation zone within Japan.

There is therefore currently very little risk for Pacific island countries and territories due to the considerable distances involved, even for the Pacific countries and territories nearest to Japan.

 

As such, WHO does not currently recommend any measures for persons outside of Japan (including the Pacific island countries and territories) where residents should continue with their normal activities.

Elderly, Infants, Handicapped = more vulnerable

In the Haiti disaster, we identified some population groups at severe risk.

Tsunami Debris

Here's a lesson from Haiti.

A disaster debris pile can contain all sorts of broken parts of the civilization which got devasted.

Japan Radiation Map

Map in English and in Japanese.  Choose the Prefecture whose map you want to see.  You might start with one whose color code is other than "normal."

Realtime radiation data collected via the System for Prediction of Environment Emergency Dose Information(SPEEDI).

To make sense of this, you need to view some of the posts about the levels of radiation, because there is huge hype.

No one has got radiation sickness yet. 

You could eat the "contaminated" food for a year & get less radiation than one cat scan.

Japan Weather

Japan Weather, Climate, and current crisis links:

  • Weather Forecasts
  • Weather Maps
  • Earthquake info
  • Volcanoes and Volcanic Ash
  • Portal for info about recent disasters

Bad wintry weather for areas impacted by earthquakes and tsunamis

Bad weather returns to the worst affected areas affecting the distribution of goods.  See  United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Relief Web 

Summary Link to March 21 # 10 update attached.

The report also quotes World Bank saying it will take Japan 5 years to rebuild what was destroyed by the big quakes and tsunamis.

It also adds to our growing directory of useful links:

Fukushima Nuclear Maps - Stay out - no fly - no people

Attached # 1 is not all that great a map, but it is a starting perspective.

Attached # 2 has not that much more detail, but may be good enough.

Attached # 3 I called "unknown" because it is not obvious from the context if the map is of Fukushima Dai-ichi which has most serious problems, or Fukushima Dai-ni which also has serious nuclear accident issues.

Attached # 4 shows what changed, thanks to comparing images from two satelites, to see what changed one picture to later one.

Winds from Japan won't endanger Californians, state experts say

 

Winds passing over Japan's stricken nuclear power plant are reaching California and moving inland, but health experts say the plumes pose no danger to the public.

There is mounting alarm in the public's mind as news continues of explosions and loss of reactor cooling water at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, and its intensely radioactive fuel rods.

But winds from Japan have been blowing eastward across the Pacific at altitudes four to five miles high, and are "continually mixing with the upper atmosphere," said Kenneth Bowman, a noted atmospheric physicist at Texas A&M University and an expert on computer-based modeling of wind behavior.

 

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/03/18/MNGU1IDTMQ.DTL

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