DeKALB | The NIU Women’s Studies Program and the Center for Non-Governmental Organizations Leadership and Development sponsored a “teach-in” Tuesday afternoon titled “Responding to the Human Tragedy in Japan: Challenges and Complexities.”

People in attendance received information about how NGO mobilize in crises, the Japanese cultural response, the nuclear power plant incident and information on tracking earthquakes and tsunamis.

Takako Day was born and raised in Japan and shared stories of how she was affected by the disaster as well as other earthquakes in the past.

“Everyone was confused,” Day said. “It was a mess.”

Paul Stoddard, associate professor of geology, explained where and why earthquakes and tsunamis take place. Geologists look for precursors in an attempt to predict when these natural disasters might take place, he said.

“Some precursors that they look at are water levels in wells and gasses being released from the earth,” Stoddard said.

Patterns can be formed and used to predict the likelihood of an earthquake or tsunami which can then be used to evacuate an area. This can be unreliable and if the earthquake doesn’t occur, an evacuation can be very costly for a city, Stoddard said.    

“Japan has very good emergency plans in place being led by the prime minister,” said Judith Hermanson, Community Leadership and Civic Engagement leader at NIU.

The disaster in Japan has left around 28,000 people dead or missing and has displaced over 245,000 others to evacuation centers, Hermanson said.

“The challenge with helping is how to intervene responsibly and also to respond to the pressing needs in a timely fashion,” Hermanson said.

Hermanson said U.S. NGOs deploy trained personnel, run fundraisers and coordinate with host governments in their efforts.

“The main goals of U.S. NGO in Japan include distributing food, fuel and water, providing medical assistance, providing hygiene and other non-food items, child care, psychological support and nutrition,” Hermanson said. “Basically help in restoring the livelihood and hope of all affected.”

Laurence Lurio, physics chairman and associate professor, discussed the nuclear power plant disaster at Fukushima Dai-Ichi in further detail.

“With an earthquake of this magnitude, the power is immediately turned off, and power switches to back up diesel generators,” Lurio said.

The big problem occurred when the 30 foot tsunami hit the plant and flooded the diesel generators. The plant was then forced to switch over to battery power, Lurio said. The human cost of this incident mainly affects the people working directly at the plant.

“Twenty-three plant and rescue workers have been injured, 20 have been contaminated and two are currently missing,” Lurio said.

It is important to think about the events in Japan because Illinois has more nuclear power than any other state in the U.S., Lurio said.

“It is something to think about,” Lurio said. “We need to take what we can from this and learn from it as well as plan for the future.”