Analysis: Japan: A shaken nation

Major analysis feature on Japan’s economic and social situation after the earthquake from 11 March 2011. This wasn’t even the ‘big one’. Tokyo, the world’s largest metropolis, has for years been braced for a massive earthquake. But when an event of that magnitude came last week, it struck out to sea, off the coast of the more lightly populated north-east of Japan.

As the world now knows all too well, that was just the start of it. What followed – a pulverising 10 metre tsunami and near-meltdown at a nearby nuclear plant – has shaken Japan to its core. In mute horror, people have watched as the scale of the human tragedy – likely more than 10,000 dead and half a million displaced – sank in. Naoto Kan, the prime minister, has called the triple catastrophe the nation’s worst crisis since the Second World War.

ESO: Background information: Analysis: Nuclear power: Too hot to handle http://www.europeansources.info/record/analysis-nuclear-power-too-hot-to-handle/

ESO: Background information: Electricity prices jump in Europe http://www.europeansources.info/record/electricity-prices-jump-in-europe/

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