The second major typhoon in a month hit Japan last week. In fact, Typhoon Talas, which arrived on September 2nd , left Japan with 106 people dead or missing, the worst toll in decades. On Thursday 22nd, the Typhoon Roke also moved away leaving in the country at least 16 dead or missing because of the storm. Most victims swept away by the overflowed rivers in the southern and central regions. The typhoon caused landslides and flooding, bringing new misery to the zone that had also being affected by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Transportation was deeply affected and left Tokyo without subways, commuter and bullet trains and airline service temporarily what made the evacuation measures that were taken for more than one million people across the main island even more difficult. Roke threatened to take over the Fukushima plant, which was deeply affected by the events on March 11th, what would have meant great risk of nuclear contamination but the typhoon finally passed through without major damage.
Even if there were fewer victims than in this year’s two previous events, the whole population was emotionally touched. Japan had already taken measures to try to prevent greater damages from the unfortunate but possible future catastrophes but we can see that it may not be enough. The problem is that it is really difficult to bypass without damages from a natural catastrophe like those ones and the state needs expensive new technologies and international help. Therefore, as Japan is an industrialized country it seems less important than when it happens to poorer countries, where I agree that in those cases the consequences are worse, but we have to keep in mind that Japan has suffered three of those big events in about six months what deeply harms the country and its resources.
Article for the New York Times by Martin Fackler
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