It couldn’t have been any more disastrous than the past week for the Japanese, an earthquake measuring 8.9 on the Richter followed by more tremors, a Tsunami which pushed walls of sea water as high as 3 meters inland, consuming towns and cities, Nuclear power generation plants exploding due to overheating thus exposing the remaining population to a generation of life threatening radiations. And not to mention, severe cold and snow hampering rescue operations. In no time, one of the most advanced countries in the world, a tech-superpower has had to spend many more days without food, water not even mention electricity.
And as I write this, my emotional bandwidth already on a low partly because the anti nuke lobby world-over would now press for a complete ban on ‘clean’ energy thus taking away whatever little hope we as Indians had about overcoming the great energy crisis that we have endured since Independence (with all due respect to Dr Homi Bhabha's visionary three stage energy strategy that managed to light our lives in the past 6 decades) A Volcano erupted adding to the misery of victims and survivors from the catastrophe on Friday, 11th March. This seems like a prelude to the actual event in 2012 as famously predicted by Lawrence E. Joseph in his bestseller book Apocalypse 2012 where he predicts the likelihood of a planet-wide catastrophe in the year 2012 with some scientific evidence too. Fortunately science and human spirit is bigger than a work of fiction, something that the Japanese proudly showed the world after their unforgettable nuclear disaster 65 years ago. A nation that prides itself on technology, precision and passion in every sphere of life is today, having to depend on governmental aid and help from rescue workers to search for their loved ones, many of whom are missing. There have been miracle stories of survivors as in any calamity thus bringing in hope to many. There have been instances of survivors being pulled out of rubble days after the tsunami struck and equally unbelievable stories of miracles and divine intervention\ when a man was found floating in high seas about 12 kilometers away from the shore with his house. The Japanese have traditionally been a nation prepared for earthquakes and Tsunamis, but this time, nature was even more unforgiving to this wonderful nation. And, as many would have expected, shortages and rationing of essential supplies including petrol soon showed up and began causing hoarding, Super markets displayed ‘no stock’ signages everywhere and where ever there was a little food available, edibility came only after radiation exposure tests as common food items like Spinach and Milk were found to contain traces of radiation exposure.. The story of dogged resilience and reconstruction began alongside rescue. While it will take possibly years of reconstruction to bring back normalcy into the lives of the Japanese populace – The Japanese will, am sure and hope will steadily rebuild their nation – Something, they have done with aplomb a few times now.
Meanwhile, I skeptically wait the fate of the Jaitapur nuclear power plant in coastal Maharashtra in western India and pray that good sense prevails upon our policy makers to continue with the project with full cognizance of the security issues. Fossil fuels (coal, gas, oil) are the main energy source in India but it will soon become insignificant given our burgeoning population and rising energy needs. Energy experts have already pegged India’s energy deficit by Y2050 at 400 Gigawatts India needs a good multipronged energy strategy with an ability to harness all available forms of energy. And the best part about India is that a large majority of us believe in our scientists and technologists – but will they deliver?
