Here in South Korea, fear and concerns over the possible radiation leaks from nearby Japan’s nuclear plant has intensified. While Chinese people panic shopped salt and soy sauce, a sign of mass hoardings of water, seaweed and some product goods made in Japan can be seen in Korea. South Korea’s Chosun newspaper reported [ko] that processed foods such as ramen, water, seaweed and other sea vegetable with high levels of iodine are rapidly sold out in major supermarket chains.
A special website (http://www.stubbytour.com/nuc) [ko] was set up to offer a real-time data of radiation levels in Japan and South Korea. The website enlists major cities’ radiation levels by coalescing data gathered from Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and the IERNet (Integrated Environmental Radiation Monitoring Network). As for 3 pm, on March 18, Japan’s Ibaraki prefecture is exposed to 985nSv per hour (=788nGy/h) or 0.0236mSv per day of radiation and South Korea’s Sokcho city records the highest level of radiation in the country by marking 184.9nSv per hour (=147.92nGy/h) or 0.0044mSv per day. Data of the worst hit areas such as Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures is missing. (click link to get real-time updates)
From the same site, one can check the wind patterns. It shows how the wind has moved in recent five hours.
The distance from Fukushima power plant to Seoul is about 1,300 kilometers. As Japan’s nuclear crisis has aggravated, people are checking the wind pattern and weather reports more frequently. South Korean net users have filed an online petition [ko] urging the government to pull back about 100 relief workers dispatched to Japan. Numerous speculations and rumors sprang up amidst fear and worries. One bogus tweet on March 14 claimed that the radiation will enter Korean peninsula by 4 pm. It was later revealed that a 27-year-old advertisement worker had spread the information by misunderstanding a BBC report.
South Korea’s citizen/blogger news outlet, WikiTree wrote [ko] on the huge controversy on March 17, over the British MET Office’s VAAC(Volcanic Ash Advisory Centres) report released on March 15. The report read ‘Nuclear emergency warnings were issued for 10 airspace regions’ including South Korea. A day later on March 16, South Korea’s Meteorological Office announced that the report was somehow misquoted. On the government’s explanation, VAAC told in an interview with South Korea’s 119 Magazine (US’s emergency contact ’911′ is ’119′ in Korea) that the government’s correction is incorrect and added that emergency warnings have actually been issued – for the fly zones of Japan and its neighboring countries and when they said ‘the warnings’, they meant the possibility of radiation, rather than a confirmation.
Korea’s Meteorological office posted another explanation on its web page, stressing that the emergency warning doesn’t mean the spread of radiation on Korean land and warned of over-interpretation of the reports and situation.
Each government’s attempt to reassure its citizen is more than understandable. However, exact and unedited information is what people desperately need in such a dire situation.
[Japan Quake] Korea: Real-time checkup on Nuclear Radiation Levels – via #twitoaster http://www.pebblemedia.org/2011/03/18/ko...
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RT @yoonlee27: [Japan Quake] Korea: Real-time checkup on Nuclear Radiation Levels – via #twitoaster http://www.pebblemedia.org/2011/03/18/ko...
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RT @yoonlee27: [Japan Quake] Korea: Real-time checkup on Nuclear Radiation Levels – via #twitoaster http://www.pebblemedia.org/2011/03/18/ko...
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RT @yoonlee27: [Japan Quake] Korea: Real-time checkup on Nuclear Radiation Levels – via #twitoaster http://www.pebblemedia.org/2011/03/18/ko...
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RT @yoonlee27: [Japan Quake] Korea: Real-time checkup on Nuclear Radiation Levels – via #twitoaster http://www.pebblemedia.org/2011/03/18/ko...
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