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NEWS > EVERYONE ELSE > JAPANESE SEISMOLOGIST FEELS VINDICATED BY FUKUSHIMA DISASTER
JAPANESE SEISMOLOGIST FEELS VINDICATED BY FUKUSHIMA DISASTER
November 22 2011
Kobe, Japan – In Greek mythology Cassandra, the daughter of King Priam, was perhaps the most tragic of figures. Given the gift of prophecy, of actually being able to see the future by the God Apollo, she was later cursed by the same God who, after she rejected his affections, made it so that no one would ever believe any prediction she made, leaving Cassandra knowing the future but unable to do anything about it.
Like all such stories, the tale of Cassandra is of course parable. While the person may have been real, King Priam certainly was, she was not endowed with the gift of second sight by a God, nor was she cursed by Him. Like many Greek tales Cassandra’s story speaks to us because of what it said, not its veracity. Cassandra certainly did live a tragic life, but those who could not listen to her suffered even more.
In the modern world such curses do not exist, but at least some form of the initial gift does, at least for one man, Katsuhiko Ishibashi, a Japanese seismologist who has twice been ignored for his warnings of massive quakes and twice been proven correct. Now Ishibashi, following the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant, is finally getting his due and all it took was thousands upon thousands of death for him to be vindicated.
“What was missing -- and is still missing -- is a recognition of the danger. I understand we’re not going to shut all of the nuclear plants, but we should rank them by risk and phase out the worst,” said Ishibashi to a largely distracted audience of reporters.
Ishibashi had previously gained celebrity when it was discovered that his prediction of the 1995 Kobe quake was also accurate, only to be ignored again.
He also offered free lunch to all reporters who came, which prompted a higher than average return for the 67-yeard old scientist. Still, government officials are reticent to acknowledge Ishibashi’s work.
“Who? Sorry, I don’t know that name. We do understand now that a deeper review of our facilities and the earthquake preparedness is absolutely required and we are working towards affecting that,” said a government spokesperson. “However, we cannot listen to every scientist in the country. We must be very selective in whose recommendations we take.”
Ishibashi has once again offered his help going forward but thus far his calls have not been returned, but still that has not dissuaded him.
“This is very clear evidence that the work we were doing was accurate and correct and that alone make it all worthwhile. We can only do the science, but governments must act on the data. If they choose not to do this, this is their fault but we have done our work,” continued Ishibashi. “We will continue to do this work whether we are listened to or not. This work is good and true and eventually people will understand that.”
Ishibashi has also had trouble getting in touch with his children, which is normal.
Emil Uliya, International Correspondent
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