The Scales of Disaster (Part Deux)

Kobe Earthquake, Japan, 1995 [MAP] [Background]
Some 9 years after the Chernobyl disaster, an Earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 shook Japan and flattened the port city of Kobe. This VIDEO displays images from the aftermath of the Earthquake which killed over 5000 people. One very clear scaled interest here would be the Richter scale by which the magnitude of earthquakes is measured. This link gives an easy reading explanation of the Richter scale and the effects that may accompany the range of magnitudes. Kobe at 7.2 is in a category of earthquakes that according to this site occurs around 15 times a year, so one matter for you may wish to investigate is why are the scale of impacts seen in Kobe not more common?

This was a disaster of tragic proportions there can be+ no doubt, but what has become of Kobe now close to 15 years since this earthquake? Very noticeable in the case of Kobe when compared to Chernobyl, is that when you simply type the name into google, Kobe returns some results that are not solely focused on this disaster, while Chernobyl returns nothing but reports and views on its disastrous events. Kobe's is featured in an online Japan travel guide, which displays several areas of interest and a present day picture of a thriving port city and ranks Kobe 11/111 destinations worth visiting in Japan. There is a mention in the guide of the events of 1995, and a memorial is among the tourist attractions, but Kobe has been entirely rebuilt and moves on looking towards the future.

Chernobyl vs Kobe
These are two tragic events that have death tolls that reach well into the thousands and have cost fortunes in their aftermaths. The key scale by which Chernobyl extends beyond Kobe in its impacts however, is time. These examples were picked to demonstrate to you the enormous scale of destruction that both man and nature can bring to the world, but as stated at the beginning of part 1 these are older examples chosen to allow you to see how the impacts of disasters can develop over time. In the case of Kobe, the earthquake and the lives lost will never be forgotten, but the city has been brought back to life. The events of Chernobyl in contrast continue to cause political, financial and (depending upon your sources) medical issues to this day, and will continue to do so well into the future.


One final thought for you. Watch this video on the Earthquake we experienced in the UK a few years back which centred in Lincoln. The BBC reporter for this story use the terms 'disaster' to describe the events. Compared to the disastrous events that have occurred in Kobe and Chernobyl, in your opinion, can this relatively small scale incident really class as a disaster? And whatever your stance, why?

The Scales of......The Recession (Part 1)

This post along with Part 2 which will follow shortly will look to demonstrate the different levels on which the Global recession has had an impact. Looking at individuals, companies, cities, counties and the globe, not only will we look to demonstrate the scales on which the recession has hit, but also to demonstrate how these varying scales are linked together. In this first post we will look to tie together the Global and National scales

The National Scale- UK
So first of all, for any readers outside of the UK, and those who do live here but have been living in a bunker for the last two years or just haven't noticed, here is a short article and attached video from The Telegraph investigating how, 'High streets have been left empty by the recession' , in the UK. The first tie directly coming from the article is the link to global phenomenon that is the internet as a potential cause of the loss of stores; and also something which may have now taken away demand for the high street store in the long run. The internet opens up individuals market options to a whole host of global chains such as Amazon who may have started trends towards internet sales and now more budget sellers such as CDwow among others. So, aside from the crippling global recession, global actors have driven the UK's high street further towards obscurity.

Global Scale
Hopefully this has provided some nice Global-National scale links for you all. But now lets flip the focus round, here is another article taken from The Guardian, 'Recession "threatens UK effort to tackle global warming"' . (Please note that the central theme here is more important in this case than spending too long reading the whole article.)

Bringing the first article again into the equation, here we have global factors impacting upon UK markets, reducing sales and taking them overseas- and as a result the UK's stance on the very global matter (the clues in the name) of Global Warming is in danger of being effected in potentially globally negative ways. Now, if the recession within the UK were infact to prove to have negative impacts upon climate change legislation, then Global influences upon the UK may turn around to have very global results. As such, in this case alone (and there would be many other avenues through which to demonstrate a similar point) we hope to have demonstrated the links between global and national scales in the impacts of the current recession.

In Part 2 which will follow shortly, we will tie this example into local and individual case studies within the UK to hopefully build a full picture of the scales of the recession.