I think Reverend Mr. Kiyoshi Tanimoto has been the most interesting character before the disaster he was the moving things from his church to a building two miles from the center of town. After the disaster he ran to the center of it all and found his wife. I find it impressive that after the bomb he pretty much immediately rushed to where it happened and decided to start helping others. "Mr. Tanimoto came back and excitedly asked the remaining priests to help him rescue two children he had seen standing up to their shoulders in the river." (Hersey 44) he said he felt guilty for being unharmed so he must feel he has to help those who weren't as lucky as him.
Part 2
workers near the storage tanks for the radioactive waste
In 2011 Fukushima suffered from an earthquake and a tsunami that caused three nuclear reactors to meltdown. In 2014 they carefully removed 1500 fuel rods that had been spent during the disaster which caused the local radiation to drop a lot. The cleanup however is expected to take around 40 years just to cleanup the site. Citizens have signed up to help clean the disaster and so far around 7000 workers are on the job. Most of these people had nothing to do with the plant to begin with but just needed the work. Drones are used to check what areas are safe and to map out what can't be worked on yet by people.
I had heard about this incident on the news, but never paid much attention to it. This is very interesting and sounds similar to the Chernobyl accident. Although, Chernobyl could have never happened is they had personnel that knew what they were doing.
ReplyDeleteWow, it really sounds like there is still a lot of work left to do to clean up the disaster site. I wonder if someday they will find a way to clean up the area quickly and without endangering human lives to the radiation. Perhaps some lead encased androids that can clean up the area for us.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to believe that the cleanup will take 40! That really shows how dangerous nuclear radiation is. I think it is interesting how they are using are advancements in technology, drones, to check if the area is safe before sending people in.
ReplyDeleteI also though Mr. Tanimoto was one of the most interesting characters. He was very selfless for helping those who were injured, even when people had criticized him for having contact with the Americans.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that Reverend Tanimoto is the most interesting character thus far. He really is inspiring to me throughout the book. He is very caring and defintly someone people would and did look up to in the time of tragedy.
ReplyDeleteI herd about this also on the news. It was really sad because I am such an advocate for the environment and taking care of our planet in as many ways as I can. But I love that people are willing to help with the clean up process.
Wil,
ReplyDeleteI also love Mr. Tanimoto. He is, in my opinion, the most heroic of the characters. I like that you mentioned his guilt because I think that it must have fueled him, at least a little bit, to help so many people. He is the embodiment of compassion and morality and I just love him.
Reading what you wrote about Fukushima was bittersweet for me. It's great that the community is coming together and showing impressive growth since the tragedy, but knowing that they still have forty years of hard work is sort of heart wrenching.