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Japan's hydra-headed disaster日本的氢致灾难
The fallout 放射性尘埃
Some natural disasters change history. Japan’stsunami could be one
有些自然灾害改变历史，日本的海啸会是其中之一
THAT “tsunami” is one of the few Japanese words inglobal use points to the country’s familiarity withnatural disaster. But even measured againstJapan’s painful history, its plight today is miserable.The magnitude-9 earthquake—the largest ever inthe country’s history, equivalent in power to 30,000 Hiroshimas—was followed by a wavewhich wiped out whole towns. With news dribbling out from stricken coastal communities, thescale of the horror is still sinking in. The surge of icy water shoved the debris of destroyedtowns miles inland, killing most of those too old or too slow to scramble to higher ground (seearticle). The official death toll of 5,429 will certainly rise. In several towns over half thepopulation has drowned or is missing.
“海啸”是世界通用的为数不多的日语词汇之一，这说明自然灾害在日本已是习以为常。但是，即便从日本多灾多难的历史来看，现在它所面临的这场灾难也是非常悲惨的。里氏9级的地震是该国历史上最大的一次，释放出的能量相当于投放于广岛的原子弹的30000倍。强震之后，海浪咆哮而至，把一座座城镇完全吞没。从受困的滨海地区传来的零星消息表明，恐惧仍在加深。冰冷的海水把被毁城镇的废墟卷向几英里外的内陆，夺去了大多数由于年龄太大或行动太慢而未能转移到较高地方人们的生命。官方公布的死亡数字5249肯定会增加。在几座城镇，半数以上的居民溺死或失踪。
In the face of calamity, a decent people has proved extremely resilient: no looting; very littlecomplaining among the tsunami survivors. In Tokyo people queued patiently to meet their taxdeadlines. Everywhere there was a calm determination to conjure a little order out of chaos.Volunteers have rushed to help. The country’s Self-Defence Forces, which dithered in responseto the Kobe earthquake in 1995, have poured into the stricken area. Naoto Kan, the primeminister, who started the crisis with very low public support, has so far managed to keep asemblance of order in the country, despite a series of calamities that would challenge even thestrongest of leaders. The government’s inept handling of the Kobe disaster did much toundermine Japan’s confidence in itself.
面对不幸，素养良好的民族表现出极其克制的一面：没有抢掠，海啸幸存者中也几乎没有什么抱怨。在东京，人们仍然耐心地排队缴税。每个地方都要一种平静的决心：在混乱中保持秩序。志愿者踊跃伸出援手。在1995年阪神地震中应对不力的日本自卫队已经奔赴受灾地区。虽然一连串的不幸对最坚强的领导人都是个挑战，但是此前就任于危难之际、公众支持率很低的日本首相菅直人现在也成功维持住了日本的秩序。政府应对阪神地震的无能大大降低了日本的自信。