Response to Dr Jacques Lochard

ETHOS IN FUKUSHIMA

Even after the nuclear catastrophe, I still believe that we can love and cherish the life in Fukushima, and that we can give better future to the generations to come.  My wish is to make this belief into reality.  I hosted a local meeting about radiological protection in this September.  Now, I am trying to build an ETHOS project here in Fukushima, Japan. 
-- twitter: @ando_ryoko mail: ethos.fukushima@gmail.com

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Response to Dr Jacques Lochard written by
twitter: @buvery (on behalf of @ando_ryoko)
mail: buvery@gmail.com (on behalf of ethos.fukushima@gmail.com)

Dear Dr. Lochard:

You must have been surprised when you were contacted by us.  Thank you very much for your kind responses and your interest in our activity.  Right now, we are consisted of two groups of people: the local people in Iwaki, Fukushima organized by Ms Ryoko Ando, and loosely connected people mainly on twitter.  Ms Ando is in both.  

I think I have to explain how I get to know her.
I met her late this spring, on twitter.  At the time, I was writing a blog about radiological protection.  Somehow, she found me and we started to communicate with each other.  

Japan was, and still is, in turmoil after the nuclear catastrophe in Fukushima.  Ms Ando, an arborist/gardener in Iwaki city of Fukushima, was worried as hell, which was very natural considering the situation.  The government had set up the exclusion zone of 20 km radius from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors.  The people inside the semi-circular zone had been already evacuated.  She lives just outside of the line.  Villages and towns were collapsing before her eyes.

It was very clear to me that she was determined to survive this cataclysm.  She believes that, even though the radiological situation requires sound scientific countermeasures, the core of the survival is the pride -- the appreciation of the community life.  I decided to support her.

After the explosion of the reactors, many scientists reacted on twitter to deal with the disaster.  One of them is Dr Yoshiyuki Mizuno, a physicist of Kyoto Women's University.  After numerous correspondence with him, Ms Ando and Dr Mizuno decided to set up a local gathering in Iwaki, Fukushima this September. The first half of the meeting was spent for the lectures on physical property of radiation and its effect on human health, and the second half was for the questions by the local people.  This was the first attempt for her to keep the community alive.

In the mean time, we were still looking for the framework to cope with the situation.

Dr Lochard, that was when you came to Japan for the working group of the government.  Your presentation was recorded and distributed online.  It was obvious to her that your ETHOS project was exactly what we needed, and we have a lot to learn from your experience in Belarus.  One week ago, translation was called in, and the twitter group supporting her project, including Mr. Nakahira who contacted you, responded.  Several days ago, we launched this web site to archive and disseminate information.  Actually, your responses to us are the first articles on the blog, along with their translation.  Next local meeting will be held in Hisanohama, Iwaki, in Fukushima on Dec 18, hosted by Ms Ando.  Hisanohama, 30 km away from the nuclear reactors, was severely hit by the tsunami.  The translated version of your presentation will be used as a text book there.  

This is the situation we are in right now.  As you can see, we are still in an emerging state, and we do not know what will become of this.  But we know that even though the struggle will be very long and hard, we will find a way.

You can email to ethos.fukushima@gmail.com or individual participants as you wish.  All necessary information will be promptly distributed. We are looking forward to further communication and collaboration with you.

Thank you.

twitter: @buvery (on behalf of @ando_ryoko)
mail: buvery@gmail.com (on behalf of ethos.fukushima@gmail.com)