Disaster Commodity Donation to Alabama from Japan
Report from the Field: Maxwell AFB, ISB, Alabama Tornado Disaster, DR – 1971
japan quake & tsunami
Radiation Exposure Explained: Putting Japan in Context
This is a very good, easy-to-understand discussion of how much radiation we are typically exposed to and what the regulatory limits are, to help put into context the radiation levels being reported in Japan and even now in the US.
Updated Estimates for 2011 Tohoku Earthquake
Based on official information from March 22, 2011, showing an increasingly dire situation in Japan, we are revising the damage cost and fatality estimates published in an earlier post (The Estimated Costs of the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake).
Estimated Costs of Japan’s 2011 Tohoku Earthquake
The March 11, 2011, earthquake off the coast of Japan caused a tsunami with catastrophic impacts. Due to the scale of this combined disaster, we estimate damage costs of $150 billion (12 trillion yen).
50 Mile Evacuation of Japan Nuclear Plant: Making Sense of Evacuation Distances
Since the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission recommended on March 16 that US residents who are within 50 miles of the damaged Japanese nuclear power plants should evacuate, there has been a lot of speculation as to why the NRC would recommend such a large evacuation zone when the guidance for the plume exposure pathway emergency planning zone in the United States is for an area approximately 10 miles in radius.
How Much of a Difference is there between Three Mile Island and the Fukushima Disaster?
In March/April 1979, I was part of a field team working for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in Pennsylvania gathering information on the emergency response effort in the area around the Three Mile Island (TMI) nuclear power station as a result of the accident that occurred there.
Japan’s radioactive worry: Is a pill for our prevention equal to a pound of cure?
Once again, the evening news has me scratching my head and wondering if it is time to call my healthcare provider to secure a prescription for Potassium Iodide or even Prussian Blue?
Transportation Around Evacuation Areas of Fukushima Nuclear Plants
I have participated in over a dozen evacuation studies over the last several years, many of them focused on nuclear plants, so I have been closely following the protective actions being taken around the Fukushima nuclear power plants in Japan.
Transportation Infrastructure Damage in Japan
The damage inflicted on infrastructure by an earthquake or tsunami is is fundamentally different than that caused by a hurricane. In particular, while transportation following a hurricane is primarily inhibited by debris resulting from wind damage, an earthquake or tsunami causes substantial damage to infrastructure, including highways, railroads, airports and ferry terminals.
What will we in the U.S. learn from the events in Japan?
I’ve been asked the question a couple of times over the past few days by family and friends, some who know I work in homeland security and emergency management, some who know I spent more than 12 years as an engineer at a nuclear power plant.
