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TRANSCRIPT
At 2:46pm on March 11, 2011 a magnitude 9 earthquake struck Japan off the northeastern coast of Honshu - Japan's main island.
What followed one of the largest quakes ever recorded, was a series of huge tsunami waves which destroyed many coastal areas of the country, raging at speeds of up to 800 kilometres an hour, and reaching heights of up to 17 metres.
Around 19,500 people died and several thousand were unaccounted for, as a result of the disaster and its aftermath.
“When the earthquake and tsunami happened in 2011, I was live in Perth and a friend contacted me and said something terrible happened in Fukushima, so I rushed home and turned on the TV and the images I saw were so shocking that I could hardly believe they were real. I felt like I was watching a movie, rather than reality.”
Akiko Stockton is president of the Fukushima Society in Perth, and recalls the horror of witnessing the news from afar, and fearing for her family's safety in Fukushima.
“Oh it was terrible because I couldn't contact my family for a couple days, I would keep calling, calling, but no one answered. And later I learnt that many people in Fukushima were actually unable to see those images at the time, and did not know what was happening.”
Akiko's family were thankfully safe, but it was only the start of what was to come.
The natural disaster also triggered a nuclear accident in Fukushima, regarded as one of the worst in history.
While the reactors at three nuclear plants closest to the epicentre of the disaster were automatically shut down, the tsunami waves damaged backup generators at some of those plants, most notably the Fukushima plant.
In the absence of power, the cooling systems failed, leading to overheating of their cores and the partial meltdown of the fuel rods.
This triggered explosions and the significant release of nuclear radiation.
Akiko says there was a lot of unclear information from the Japanese government and other communication channels at the time, regarding the reality of the situation.
“There was a lot of confusing information at the time, and like many people living overseas, I did not know what to believe. So because of that fear, I was hesitant to return to Japan for a while because of my little daughters, my daughters were four at the time. Looking back now, I think it shows how important transparent communication and information are during that crisis.”
There was widespread panic and fear in Fukushima over the health concerns relating to radiation exposure, with many fearing similar consequences to those witnessed in the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.
While radiation showed up in milk, vegetables and other food sources, numerous reports suggest the radiation exposure in Fukushima was much lower than that in Chernobyl.
A United Nations 2021 report confirmed findings from an earlier report in 2013 which found no adverse health effects documented among Fukushima residents that could be directly attributed to radiation exposure from the incident.
However, there was a lot of psychological trauma following the earthquake, tsunami and subsequent displacement of at least 160,000 people following the nuclear accident.
The Fukushima prefectural government estimate over 2000 [[2,313]] people died indirectly as a result of the mental and physical stress of evacuation.
Dr Trevor Findlay is Honorary Professor at the University of Melbourne, specialising in nuclear governance, and says the early reports failed to consider psychological trauma following the disaster.
“I think what many people feel is that it didn't take into account the psychological impact of, I think it was a hundred thousand people being moved out of the way subsequent to the Fukushima accident. So that has an enormous impact. And in a country like Japan, which experienced the first nuclear weapon detonations, that impact is obviously redoubled because there's been, despite the extent of nuclear power generation in Japan, a nuclear phobia amongst the general population.”
He says there were unclear lines of communication in Japan following the nuclear accident, leading to even further confusion and panic, worsened by failures of the energy regulator to separate itself from industry interests.
“Part of the problem in Japan was what we call regulatory capture. So there was a great interchange between TEPCO and other nuclear companies and the regulator so that after a while, it was difficult to tell what the interests of the industry were and what the interests of government regulators were. That is a continuing problem probably in all countries because regulators need to talk to industry and have a close relationship with them. So all industries are in danger of this capture in terms of the regulator.”
Michiyo Miyake was in Tokyo when the earthquake struck.
“I was at the basement of the department store in the middle of Tokyo, it was in Shinjuku, and I was with my Mum, and suddenly there was a huge quake and immediately I knew something was wrong. Because as Tokyo residents, earthquakes are very common, but this was clearly something different. It wasn't anxiety, but feeling of emergency. And a lot of people, when I tell this story, a lot of people can relate to me thinking of the COVID time, because everything is unprecedented, and you know, no one has experienced this before, kind of feeling.”
While emphasising the vast difference in experience between Tokyo residents and those closest to the epicentre, Michiyo says she was still traumatised by the events, particularly with regards to what she described as the government misinformation about the effects of nuclear radiation.
Michiyo says she kept a small notebook recording events in the immediate aftermath, because she felt she couldn't trust the government's information.
“And so I thought like I should record what I was witnessing so I didn't want to forget number one, and number two I thought those who were responsible for this terrible accident, they want us to forget about this. But when I came here in 2016, so five years after the accident, I was still deeply traumatised by this event, I thought after this nuclear disaster, and witnessing how the government or how the society reacted to this.”
Michiyo recalls protests on the streets of Tokyo in the aftermath of the incident, particularly as nuclear plants began to reopen.
This lingering trauma, and the notes she collected, inspired her book 'Green Metal', published in 2024.
“I think like the language played a really big part in terms of how this potential risk was undervalued. Like in Japanese language we use a lot of euphemism and indirect language and we're kind of genius at saying things in a really indirect way. It was driving me nuts, seeing how this denial of the potential risks when the people's lives are at stake. And there was a government, I'll give you an example, there was a government saying 'there is no immediate harm to the body'. They, that's a really subtle way of saying what about, you know, the long term harm to our body?”
The question now is whether the world is more prepared for any potential future nuclear accidents.
Dr Trevor Findlay believes most countries with nuclear energy are better equipped following Fukushima, but says the concern primarily lies with countries new to adopting nuclear energy.
He explains how there are over 90 designs of new forms of nuclear energy, particularly small modular reactors, which countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America are planning to adopt - posing a new challenge for nuclear regulation.
So after Fukushima, many countries did so-called stress tests on their nuclear reactors to take into account the sort of multiple emergencies that occurred in the Japanese case and many adopted changes that would take account of that. So the countries that are new to nuclear energy, they are considering adopting new types of nuclear reactors, which are called small modular reactors. And so the whole idea of safety and security changes when you think about multiple units and remoteness and the possibility there won't even be personnel on site for these small reactors. So we really need to reconsider safety and security and nuclear safeguards to stop weapons development in the light of this new technology, these SMRs.”
There's also concern around nuclear power proliferation, particularly in the current geopolitical landscape.
Recent justifications touted by the United States and Israel for their attacks on Iran are around preventing the state from possessing a nuclear weapon.
But Dr Findlay says this could actually have the opposite intended effect when it comes to nuclear disarmament.
“The danger, of course, is that other countries will assume that if Iran already had nuclear weapons, this attack wouldn't have been happening, and they may figure that they also need nuclear weapons as the ultimate deterrent to this sort of treatment. I'm sure the North Koreans have looked at this and reinforced their view that they should never give up nuclear weapons because of what has happened to Iran.”
He also warns a similar nuclear accident to Fukushima could occur in Iran if the US and Israel attack nuclear reactors or Iran's stockpiles of uranium enrichment.
“In the case of Iran, it's a peaceful nuclear reactor that they used to generate electricity. They don't have nuclear weapons yet. They have stockpiles of highly enriched uranium, which is nuclear material. So you certainly don't want to bomb that and have that being pushed into the atmosphere. The reactor is, in some senses, even more dangerous, so it could produce a Chernobyl effect if attacked.”
For those like Akiko who still call Fukushima home, there's lessons to be learnt from the tragic accident.
“I just really hope that people have listened to the voices from the local people or the people in Fukushima, rather than just listen to the voice from the government, the people who went through tough time and then moving forward and then recovering very well. But after the disaster, I really wish that the government people would listen to the voices from the people who have been through tough times.”
And calls to reclaim the beauty of her home.
“Some people around the world still associate the Fukushima only with the disaster, but Fukushima is also a place of beautiful nature, rich culture, and incredibly resilient people. So even after 15 years, the people of Fukushima continue to move forward with strength and hope.”
