Reading Comprehension- Disaster In Japan

NY Times online March 13, 2011

Death Toll Estimate in Japan Soars as Relief Efforts Intensify

By MARTIN FACKLER and MARK McDONALD

1.
SENDAI, Japan — Japan reeled from a rapidly unfolding disaster of epic scale on Sunday, pummeled by the death toll, destruction and homelessness caused by the earthquake and tsunami and new hazards from damaged nuclear reactors that were leaking radiation. The prime minister called it Japan’s worst crisis since World War II.
2.
Japan’s $5 trillion economy, was threatened with severe disruptions and partial paralysis as many industries shut down and the armed forces and volunteers mobilized for the far more urgent effort of finding survivors, evacuating residents near the stricken power plants and caring for the victims of the 8.9 magnitude quake that struck on Friday.
3.
The disaster has left more than 10,000 people dead, many thousands homeless and millions without water, power, heat or transportation.
4.
Worried about the severe strains on the banking and financial systems, the Bank of Japan pumped about $86 billion into the economy on Monday, and the government was discussing an emergency tax increase to help finance relief and recovery work.
5.

The death toll was certain to climb as searchers began to reach coastal villages that essentially vanished under the first muddy surge of the tsunami, which struck the nation’s northern Pacific coast near the port city of Sendai. In one town alone, the port of Minamisanriku, a senior police official said the number of dead would “certainly be more than 10,000.” That is more than half the town’s population of 17,000.

7.
Tourism was also bound to plummet, as the United States, France and other nations urged citizens to avoid traveling to Japan.

8.
Amid the despair and the worry over an unrelenting series of strong aftershocks, there was one bright moment when the Japanese Navy rescued a 60-year-old man who had been floating at sea for two days. The man clung to the roof of his tiny home in the town of after it was torn from its foundations by the first wave of the tsunami. He saw his wife slip away in the deluge, but he hung on as the house drifted away. He was discovered late Sunday morning, still on his roof, nine miles south of the town and nine miles out to sea.

9. The trade minister, Banri Kaieda, asked businesses to limit their power usage with nighttime cutbacks of lights and heating blackouts that would affect three million customers, including homes and factories. Railways cut operations at six of its commuter’s lines and two bullet trains to 20 percent of normal to conserve electricity.




Answer the following questions and post them on your blog:

WHAT mounting humanitarian, nuclear and economic emergencies is Japan facing now, in the wake of Friday’s earthquake and tsunami?
WHEN, according to Prime Minister Naoto Kan, was the last crisis of this magnitude in Japan?
HOW many troops have been ordered into relief roles in the field?

HOW are Japanese officials trying to avoid meltdowns at the nation’s nuclear reactors? (You might use this interactive graphic to help visualize the problems.)

HOW many people do officials fear might have been exposed to radiation?
WHY is the death toll “certain to climb”?
WHO is Hiromitsu Arakawa?
From WHERE around the world are teams of helpers coming?

WHERE on a map of Japan is Sendai?

Cultural change in the Solomon Islands

Read the text and answer the following questions

Village life

Village life in Solomon Islands is one of abundant self-sufficiency. Villagers eat what they grow in their gardens. The rich soil of the volcanic islands allows for an excess to be grown.Villagers take this excess to market to earn some cash to acquire items that can’t be produced in the village. There is time for work, rest and community celebrations and activities. Often children do not attend school. Many families and young people are moving to the cities, losing connection with their clans and putting pressure on the availability of food and housing.

Everyone knows her or his place in the village hierarchy, and life is very structured.There are a lot of rules governing social behaviour. The chief makes the decisions for the village and people pay him a great deal of respect. Women often have little say in decision-making.

Some women are very concerned about the consequences of their low status, including their powerlessness in decision making and high levels of domestic violence. Let’s meet Miri who is working to improve the status of women in Solomon Islands.

Forestry and environment protection

Miri has trained as a human rights paralegal and is very concerned 

about the logging of rainforest by large international companies. Logging is doing significant 

damage to the environment. 

In her clan, as is the 

case across Solomon Islands, it is not acceptable for women to speak in public. Miri is the best educated in her clan and, because she works in the city, she has greater access to information than 

the rest of her family in the village. When a large meeting was organised in her clan’s area to 

discuss some proposed logging of the rainforest, Miri attended. Although it went against 

custom, Miri wanted to speak. Miri asked the men for permission to speak. Because she 

showed the men respect, they allowed her to speak.
She asked the meeting to consider not only themselves and their children but also their grandchildren and their grandchildren's children. She told them that any money they received from the logging companies would be spent in a very short time.

While the people present might  benefit, their grandchildren would blame them for the ruined environment, the erosion and even for their contribution to climate change. 

Some men who wanted to log were very angry at Miri for speaking. However, her father, uncles and brothers were very proud of her. Her father was crying as he told her he never knew that she was so brave to speak in public and so capable of speaking so convincingly. She had represented the family well. 

Cultural change

Only a small number of women stood for government elections and none were successful. There is still a long way to go to improve the involvement of women in decision making. 

Step by step the women of the Solomon Islands are showing that they are capable of doing many things that they had previously been excluded from. Others can see that the culture survives and even thrives with the greater participation of women.