Ten years after the Fukushima disaster in Japan
Last Thursday marked ten years since the Great East Japan Earthquake. The magnitude 9.1 earthquake, the strongest in Japanese history, triggered a massive tsunami that reached as high as 16.7 meters, and their combined power devastated Japan’s northeast Tohoku region. The tsunami struck the inadequately protected Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, leading to meltdowns in three out of six reactors and the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986. The devastation that followed the March 11 triple disaster is ultimately an indictment of capitalism, which subordinates safety and human life to the drive for profit.