Issue Guide: Japan's Triple Crisis

Updated: March 18, 2011

Author:

Toni Johnson, Senior Staff Writer

A woman cries while in the destroyed city of Natori in northern Japan. (Ho New/Courtesy Reuters)

On March 11, the largest earthquake on record struck Japan and generated a thirty-foot tsunami that inundated the country’s northeast coast. The death toll is estimated in the thousands, and the country is grappling with power shortages, search and rescue efforts, and the need to provide shelter and other services for victims. The disaster also caused a set of catastrophic events at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Thousands of people have been evacuated in the area surrounding the plant; some are already suffering from radiation exposure. And officials have yet to bring the nuclear situation under control. The triple-fold crisis has ignited debate over the prospects for the Japanese economy and has significant implications for the future of nuclear power in Japan and around the world.

Overview of the Disaster

• Transcript: Michael Levi and Sheila Smith: The Implications of Japan’s Quake
• Analysis Brief: Japan’s Nuclear Tremors
• Interactive: New York Times: Map of the Damage from the Japanese Earthquake
• Must Read: Telegraph: Disaster by the Numbers
• Must Read: MSNBC: Millions in Japan Without Electricity, Heat
• Must Read: Reuters: Japan’s Humanitarian Crisis Unfolds
• Op-Ed: David S. Abraham: Bad Communication Undermining Japan’s Crisis Response
• Blog: Sheila A. Smith: A Stunned Japan Turns to Its Military
• Must Read: Economist: Can Japan Endure This Hydra-Headed Disaster?
• Must Read: VOA: One Week After Quake and Tsunami, Japan Ponders Future
• Expert Brief: Joshua Kurlantzick: Lessons for Japan in 2004 Tsunami

Nuclear Crisis

• Interview: Charles Ferguson: Japan’s Crisis for Nuclear Power
• Expert Brief: Laurie Garrett: Chernobyl’s Lessons for Japan
• Analysis Brief: Clouds Over Japan’s Nuclear Response
• Op-Ed: Laurie Garrett: Don’t Panic the People
• Must Read: Reuters Timeline: Japan’s Unfolding Nuclear Crisis
• Must Read: Union of Concerned Scientists: ABCs of Nuclear Reactor Disaster
• Interactive: New York Times: How a Reactor Shuts Down and What Happens in a Meltdown
• Must Read: Wall Street Journal: Radiation Fears Threaten Relief Effort
• Must Read: Economist: Radiation Leak, Threat Made Real
• Must Read: CNN: Radiation: When to Worry
• Must Read: Clive Cookson: Nuclear Power: Hell and High Water
• Must Read: Cristine Russell: A Japanese Three Mile Island?

Energy Policy Impact

• First Take: Michael Levi: Japan’s Impact on U.S. Nuclear Power
• Interactive: CFR Nuclear Energy Guide
• Blog: Elizabeth Economy: Japan and China’s New Nuclear Accountability
• Must Read: Huffington Post: Japan and the Looming Global Energy Crisis
• Must Read: Brookings: Fukushima and the Global ‘Nuclear Renaissance’
• Must Read: Telegraph: Nuclear Power Under Fire
• Must Read: Washington Post: Japan Crisis Revives Global Nuclear Debate
• Must Read: Nick Butler: Nuclear Power Halted in Its Tracks
• Must Read: Foreign Policy: Nuclear Power Is Worth the Risk
• Must Read: LA Times: Nuclear Fails the Test
• Must Read: Nation: A Warning from Japan
• Must Read: Foreign Policy: Atomic Dogs
• Op-Ed: Michael A. Levi: Five Myths About Nuclear Energy

Economic Impact

• Interview: Sebastian Mallaby: Japan’s Economic Aftershocks
• First Take: Sheila Smith: The Costs of Japan’s Tsunami
• Op-Ed: Amity Shlaes: Four Ways the U.S. Can Help Japan and Itself
• Must Read: Financial Times: How Japan’s Economy Will Eventually Rebound
• Must Read: Sam Chanlan: Economic Consequences of Japan’s Disaster
• Must Read: U.S. News and World Reports: How the Quake Will Rattle World Economy
• Must Read: Nouriel Roubini: Earthquake Is ‘Worst Thing’ at Worst Time for Japan Economy
• Must Read: Guardian: Japan Needs Leadership, but Can Naoto Kan Deliver?
• Must Read: Telegraph: Mountainous Public Debt Won’t Constrain Japan’s Recovery
• Must Read: New York Times: Radiation Fears Add to Japan’s Economic Woes
• Must Read: Financial Times: G7 Intervenes to Weaken Yen

Read more: http://tinyurl.com/6kbzl6q

Related Articles

• How Japan’s nuclear crisis works (holykaw.alltop.com)
• Latest on Fukushima: Nuclear Industry Worried About PR (pamil-visions.net)
• Your comments: Japan crisis forces rethinking of nuclear energy’s viability (pennlive.com)
• “Japan nuclear plant power ‘close’” and related posts (rocketnews.com)
• Ongoing Crisis at Japan’s Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant (treehugger.com)
• Nuclear power: private vs state (rt.com)
• Japan nuclear power plant updates: get all the data (guardian.co.uk)
• Japan tragedy seared into the world’s imagination (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Japan raises nuclear alert level (theworld.org)
• Japan quake, tsunami, nuke news 05 [Greg Laden's Blog] (scienceblogs.com)

About these ads