By now you're either one of the millions of people who felt the earthquakes in Japan, or one of the billions who heard about them. I'm one of the millions. You have probably seen awful videos of the Magnitude 9 earthquake already (if you haven't, watch this), as well as the ensuing tsunami (see these three videos) and then there was the nuclear threat. The last thing we need here in Japan is something to lower our spirits even further.
With all the pain and horror looming over the North-East prefectures of Japan, the locals are all cooperating, persevering, and generally trying to maintain some semblance of their routine life. Since Monday last week (three days after the massive quake people started returning to work, children were returning to school, and parents were again cooking dinner for their families. Most news broadcasts suggest that life is basically back to normal in Tokyo. However, throughout the Kanto and Tohoku regions, food is off the shelves quickly, and classrooms are not filled with so many students, because parents have to strategically ration their limited gasoline supplies. Trains around Kanto are unreliable, and rolling blackouts make traveling anywhere difficult, if not dangerous. So while it seems that life has somewhat returned to normal in the affected areas, there's still more than a few hints of change. And yet there's always one thing we can count on to remind us that things haven't changed too much: pseudoscience and scams.
Never mind the nonsense on the internet saying that this is all God's way of punishing Japanese people for their transgressions, such as whaling (right, because the tens of millions of people living in North-Eastern Japan are all whalers & did I miss my initiation rite?). The Globe and Mail, Canada’s most widely-circulated newspaper, was one of the sources that mentioned a phenomenon called the "supermoon". They say that it was possible that the earthquakes in Japan were caused by the moon's position in relation to the Earth. "This year’s supermoon has been called an “extreme” supermoon because not only will the moon be full, it will make its closest approach to the earth in 18 years."
There are two major problems with this. Firstly, there is no correlation between the position of the moon and earthquakes. The moon will just be 2% closer than usual, which is meaningless. Secondly, the "Supermoon" hadn’t even happened for over a week after the quakes. Head over to Bad Astronomy, where Phil Plait thoroughly debunks this nonsense, and check out this article by 80Beats if you want a scientific explanation of what actually happened. There’s no need for pseudoscience when you have real science.
Oh, and what's that? Ahh yes, the familiar smell of exploitation.
Just when you think they couldn't get any lower, leave it to the homeopaths to try to capitalize on a catastrophy. Their message is simple: "Don't worry about radiation, there's a pill for that." You can see a very concise explanation of exactly how homeopathy works (and why it doesn't ) on my blog. What’s worse than getting radiation sickness is deluding yourself into thinking that a magic pill will make it all better, meanwhile funding the people who carry on with the sham.
In an advertisement they sent about a day after the earthquake, they say “It was reported that radiation had already leaked from the plant prior to the explosion and Japanese officials now fear a meltdown” which is all true. In fact, it’s good information until they start trying to sell you something: “For all concerned, there are protective steps that can be taken with homeopathy”. Later, they say “If radiation sickness has developed, your homeopath can also advise on treatment dosages”. Let’s first just ignore the fact that they are basically saying: ‘If it so happens that you became radioactively ill even after taking these pills, then “oops!” just trust me on this next one’. Even if you wanted to entertain the thought that homeopathy is more than just an expensive placebo, one of the problems here is that when you follow their links, they irresponsibly assume that the side-effects of chemotherapy are the same as those of radioactive contamination from a nuclear power plant. They’re not.
It's disturbing enough to see people so readily exploit the vulnerable, which is a familiar theme of scam artists. But what’s even worse is that some scammers steal from charitable people who are trying to help such victims, by soliciting money for fake organizations. Obviously this isn't a new idea, and it happened most recently in the New Zealand earthquake last month. Now, over the last week, about half a million people have evacuated from their homes in North-Eastern Japan, and millions are struggling with blackouts and resource shortages; so it’s disconcerting to have to warn people about donating to scammers, but that’s the reality of the situation. The FBI produced a good article about scams for Japan, and how to spot & avoid them.
Another foul act perpetrated soon after the earthquake was a hoax that temporarily led to panic in numerous nations, because of the idea that radiation from Japan would spread to Asia. This especially caused distress in the Philippines, and even a professional-looking map was distributed to cause panic during this awful time. Another hoax came about stating that certain people had died from the tsunami, when they hadn't. For example, some families were told that their kids were confirmed to be dead, listing their names and the name of a real hospital, but with a fake doctor's name.
Now, many of the survivors need medicine, and the shelters and hospitals in which they now reside are understaffed and short of supplies, including food. Elderly survivors of the tsunami have been hit the hardest. TV in Japan last week showed elderly people with illnesses like diabetes and heart problems, and there is now more fear among older people whose medicines were swept away by the tsunami. Some bed-ridden or otherwise elderly survivors don’t even make it off the bus to a shelter, and some that do end up dying shortly after ariving. Since there is such a gasoline shortage, the most desperate shelters aren’t even able to receive the food and other aid that have become available for distribution. On Thursday, there were reports of another 30,000 more people leaving the area around Fukushima Daiichi ( the#1) nuclear power plant. Elderly people don’t need magic pills, they need real help.
The situation was looking bad after a third explosion happened at the Fukushima's damaged power plant (I wrote about my account already). However, since the weekend, the reports coming in show gradual but steady improvement. It does seem as though they now have the situation under control. Yet one of the more concerning things regarding the radiation exposure, now that hundreds of thousands of people have evacuated, is of the brave plant workers who took turns trying to cool the overheated reactors in the power plants. Cancer expert John Boice, out of Vandbilt University in Nashville, says that working under last week's conditions raises the chances that plant workers will die of cancer by a full percentage point which is why the nearly 200 workers are being lauded as heroes. One of the workers daughters had her email read out on Japanese television: “My father is still working at the plant - they are running out of food ... we think conditions are really tough. He says he's accepted his fate” much like a death sentence.
With the improvement of the power plants, and now the news of the horrible situation in Libya, I fear that the world may soon forget about Japan's current hardships. Even if you want to call the situation at Fukushima a “success”, Japan has already been violently battered and bruised. For the sake of conserving energy, I have been typing on my laptop in an otherwise pitch-black room since last week. Most people here feel utterly powerless, but I know that living in darkness is one of the best things I can do for the victims of this disaster. Not that this is always my choice, mind you. Massive blackouts have been implemented in Kanto and ToMhoku regions since last week. So all I can do is restrict my energy consumption, warn people of scams, tell my story, and try to help.
Donations
If you want to help, please donate to a group that you trust<https://american.redcross.org/site/Donation2?idb=0&5052.donation=form1&df_id=5052>. Phil Plait has a good list of organizations<http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/03/11/japan-earthquake-info/> on his blog, and the University of California at Berkeley has a more extensive list<http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/03/15/how-to-help-relief-organizations-aiding-japan-quake-and-tsunami-victims/>. There are many other ways to donate as well<http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/digital-culture/trending-tech/your-online-guide-to-helping-japan/article1942696/>, such as by text message<http://www.news1130.com/news/local/article/197752--the-power-of-a-5-bill> (if you re in Canada<http://www.redcross.ca/article.asp?id=38438&tid=001>), or by using iTunes<http://mashable.com/2011/03/13/apple-microsoft-japan/>.
Ryo writes out of Tokyo, Japan, on the new blog skeptikai.com. Skeptikai is a platform for promoting science and critical thinking in a place where skepticism is limited, and superstitions are a part of the culture. Ryo writes about developments that go unnoticed outside of Japan, while trying to spread the word of reason throughout the country.
See what others are saying on the forums:
Person Accurately predicts Japan Earthquake on Forum - http://forums.randi.org/
Psychics and Missing People - http://forums.randi.org/
General discussions re: Japan disaster: http://forums.randi.org/tags.
http://forums.randi.org/tags.