Residents relied on TV for earthquake details

Wednesday, 20 February 2008

Almost everyone in the Tokyo region of Japan relied on television for information about the July 2007 earthquake and its effects on the Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear power plant, a survey has found.

TV pictures of Kashiwazaki Kariwa went around the world (Image: YouTube)

According to a report by Atoms in Japan, the survey was conducted by the executive office of the investigation into the revitalization of the Kashiwazaki area, part of the Japan Productivity Centre for Socio-Economic Development (JPC-SED). The survey, conducted over the internet in November through the polling organization iResearch, was aimed at seeking ways to help the recovery and revitalization of the area. A total of 1000 people - men and women aged between 20 and 60 - in the Kanto region were questioned.

The results found that 97% of people had relied on television as one of the main sources of information about the earthquake. Newspapers were another main source for 56% of respondents, while 36% looked at the internet. Radio was used by 10%, while 6% relied on talking to friends and acquaintances and 2% relied on information given in magazines. The survey found that the use of the internet to find information about the quake was highest amongst men in their 20s and 30s.

The survey indicated that 29% of those questioned said that before the earthquake they were aware that Tokyo Electric Power Co's (Tepco's) Kashiwazaki Kariwa plant normally supplies some 20% of the Tokyo metropolitan area's electricity. 44% of people said that they only became aware of this fact following the quake, while 27% said they were not aware of the fact at all. The results showed that women in their 20s and 30s were most ignorant of this fact.

When asked about the future operation of the Kashiwazaki Kariwa plant, 60% of those questioned said that safety at the nuclear power plant needed to be secured before operation resumes, even if it takes time. A further 24% thought that seismic assumptions and aseismic standards of nuclear power plants needs to be reviewed. The plant should be restarted as soon as possible, according to 15% of respondents.

All seven boiling water reactors at the plant remained in safe states when the earthquake of magnitude 6.8 struck at 10.13am on 16 July. However, water containing trace amounts of radioactivity was shaken from cooling pools of all the units and some of this drained away to be discharged to sea. In addition, many barrels of solid radioactive waste were knocked over and an external electrical transformer failed and caught fire. An inspection of the plant in August by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) concluded that "damage appears less than expected."

Nobody was seriously hurt at the plant, although ten people in the surrounding area were killed, over 1000 injured, and 35,000 forced from their homes.