Emails to TEPCO from Workers at Fukushima

Hi all, I found a blog from the Wall Street Journal which apparently has some emails from that were posted to a mailing list that are between workers at the Fukashima plant and TEPCO HQ.

The site is: Letters from Fukushima

An email exchange between a Tokyo Electric Power Co. employee working at one of the Fukushima nuclear power plants and a colleague located at Tokyo headquarters shines a rare light on the gripping personal losses weighing on those battling to bring the nuclear reactors under control. It also gives an inside look at the radically different problems faced by company workers at the plant compared to those being shouldered at headquarters.

...to a private email list and viewed by The Wall Street Journal. A Tepco spokesman verified the emails’ authenticity.

I think this is a powerful exchange as you can read the hopes and frustrations of those involved in the ongoing situation.

reply to post by Keeval


Thanks for that read, that's heart breaking. I found this passage connected with me:

Everyone is away from their hometown and does not know when they can return. We don’t know who to turn to and direct our concern and anger. This is the current reality.

As the new school year starts, local children will have to transfer to schools in their places of refuge. Everyone has lost everything—their home, their job, their school, their friends, their families. Who could stand this reality? I would beg you to share this reality with people inside and outside the company.

Doesn't that make you appreciate everyone you have, just a bit more?

Khar

As someone points out in the comments section that has those "letters", the following phrase is odd:

Crying is useless. If we’re in hell now all we can do is to crawl up towards heaven.

That seems a very Judeo-Christian thing to say, aren't most Japanese Buddhist?

Yes - reading those emails really make you think about the most important thing - people. The task those workers have to to is hard. And doing a stressful job with lots of other things on your mind - such as the loss of family members/parents.. I can't even think what they are experiencing.

As for some of the words/phrasing - I agree.. but I think it is just that the translation is a bit - off.

reply to post by Keeval

Another quote ...

I myself have had to stay in the disaster measurement headquarters the entire time ever since the earthquake occurred, and have been fighting alongside my colleagues without any sleep or rest. Personally, my entire hometown, Namie-machi, which is located along the coast, was washed away by the tsunami. My parents were washed away by the tsunami and I still don’t know where they are. Normally I would rush to their house as soon as I could. But I can’t even enter the area because it is under an evacuation order. The Self-Defense Forces are not conducting a search there. I’m engaged in extremely tough work under this kind of mental condition…I can’t take this any more!

I've never been angry at the people (engineers, technicians, etc.) working at the plants to do everything they could to keep this under control, or from getting worse. And, I never trust corporate management in life-threatening emergencies.

However, I question how good the decision making locally is, under these stresses (lack of sleep, etc.). So, I hope these people are getting whatever technical and practical support they need from outside sources.