Japan’s tragic start to 2024

Five members of Japan’s Coast Guard have been killed in a collision at Tokyo’s Haneda airport on their way to help earthquake victims in the country’s second tragedy of 2024.

Today’s incident came just one day after a 7.6 magnitude quake devastated large swathes of Japan’s west coast, killing at least 55. The Coast Guard aircraft was on its way to deliver food to hard-hit areas when it collided with a Japan Airlines plane while attempting to land. 

The Captain was the only Coast Guard crew member to survive, albeit with severe injuries. And dramatic footage shows the Airbus A350 passenger plane erupting in flames as it sped down the runway. Yet remarkably, despite the fire taking hold quickly, all 379 passengers of the Japan Airlines flight managed to escape – a testament to the impressive rescue efforts made by the cabin crew onboard. 

The Haneda airport has now partially resumed operations. Meanwhile, in the country’s northwest, Japan’s Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, says emergency crews are facing a “battle against time” to rescue survivors trapped beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings. One thousand army personnel have been sent to the worst-hit area in the country’s Noto peninsula but badly damaged roads are hindering rescue efforts. 

Japan is located in one of the most fault zone-filled areas on the planet, meaning quakes there are far from infrequent. 

While earthquakes still have the capacity to cause widespread destruction – indeed, even some houses specifically designed to withstand them were flattened yesterday – the country has made major efforts to design buildings to mitigate the threat of tremors. 

Whenever the country endures another large quake, the damage is duly studied to improve building codes. It is not uncommon for Japanese citizens to prioritise living in housing built after 1981, the year in which quake-resistant building structures significantly improved as a result of regulations. 

For many, yesterday’s earthquake and subsequent tsunami warnings have stirred memories of 2011, when over 19,000 people were killed after Japan’s north-east coast was hit by its most powerful earthquake on record, triggering a giant tsunami and the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Tens of thousands of individuals living near the nuclear plant were evacuated following the fateful incident, some of whom have still not returned. And the cleanup of the area around the plant is still in an early phase. Last summer, the government announced that it would start releasing the treated radioactive wastewater into the ocean, despite ongoing debate over the safety of such a move.

Thankfully, Japan’s meteorological agency has lifted the tsunami warning it issued yesterday and Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority said today that no irregularities have been identified at nuclear plants along the Sea of Japan. 

Nonetheless, while we are not facing a disaster on the same scale as 2011, it has been a tragic start to the New Year for Tokyo. 

Write to us with your comments to be considered for publication at letters@reaction.life