Earthquakes, Tsunami's & Radiation

What a crazy world we live in right now.

Uprisings in African countries are popping up day after day it seems. Dictators continue to think they're untouchable. While all of the chaos in Egypt, Libya and other locales are happening and would make watching the evening news interesting, none of it compares to the catastrophe in Japan.

The land of "Hello Kitty" and Karaoke has been left with nothing happy to sing about. The 9.0 magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami that struck on Friday March 11, 2011 killed thousands and left thousands more missing.

A natural disaster on this scale would be bad enough but who could have imagined it would get even worse? Shockingly it has gotten worse as the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant suffered major damage resulting in not one but four reactors going on the fritz. So while people in Japan are searching for survivors and recovering the dead, they remain on edge with a seemingly never ending number of aftershocks and the fear that a nuclear meltdown is in the process and they could be glowing in the dark before too long. What a mess.

You don't need me to give you details as I'm sure you've heard it all on the news and with the story that is constantly changing I couldn't possibly keep up to speed with it all.

The one thing that has been inspiring with all of this has been the reactions of the Japanese people. Of course they are frightened, shocked and questioning what to do next but they're also freakishly calm.

Being in Canada I can't really draw on any personal experience or history that would compare to what the people of Japan are going through but I have a hard time imagining Canadians being as calm. Lets face it, if this had happened in Montreal, there would be looting and rioting in the streets because...well, that's what they do every chance they get it seems.

Sure Canadians are a respectful, peaceful and courteous bunch who have proven in the past that when called upon to stand and fight, we do it better than any other country in the world. History has shown that in past wars. So, I'd like to think we would react similar to the Japanese. I certainly know we would do what we could for our friends and neighbours.

I can only speculate but I'm guessing mayhem would ensue south of the border in the U.S. While they may be very patriotic or seem to be by how vocal they are about it, I still think they'd lose their minds. Heck, even with the minute and harmless traces of radiation that are finding their way to the shores of the Home of the Brave, people are panicking to the point that anti-radiation pills are selling out. One can only imagine the pandemonium that would ensue should something similar happen in North America.

My hope is that we'll never find out what would actually happen in that scenario. In the meantime we'll continue to send aid and assist our friends in the land of the rising sun and hope for the best.