In the Churchill area, we have semi-annual access to CERT training and ongoing access to American Red Cross classes. This training helps prepare us for both small-scale emergencies like winter flooding or larger-scale disasters like forest fire or volcanic activity. The recent earthquakes and tsunami in Japan, followed by the explosions and fire at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, however, are a poignant reminder that disasters can happen at any time and multiple simultaneous disasters are not out of the question.
 
Although Japan is almost 5,000 miles from our Churchill neighborhood, it's impossible to watch the horrific video footage of the tsunami, or read of the struggle to contain the nuclear reactor damage, and not be affected mentally and emotionally.
 
The sight of such total destruction can lead to emotional suffering and acute anxiety especially in children and older adults. This can be debilitating. CERT training includes a class on disaster psychology to help volunteers deal with the mental aspects of disaster.  Lane County Mental Health lists the following as common signs of increased anxiety:  excessive, ongoing worry and tension; restlessness or a feeling of being "edgy"; irritability; muscle tension; headaches; sweating; difficulty concentrating; nausea; tiredness or trouble falling or staying asleep.
If you realize your behavior or that of a loved one has changed recently and now includes these types of symptoms, address the issue early rather than ignoring it. Establish or get back to a normal routine: get plenty of rest, eat well-balanced meals at regular intervals, exercise or do some other physical activity regularly. Your family and friends are a wonderful support system. Make use of them to talk about your feelings, hopes and fears, and dreams. Maintain a balanced sense of humor and keep things in perspective.
 
Perspective is important when assessing a possible health threat like exposure in the Churchill area to radiation from the Fukushima Power Plant. Because the most toxic radioactive elements have the shortest half-lives and the potency of windblown radiation dissipates quickly over time and distance, the greatest threat of radiation is in the local area immediately around the power plant not to the Churchill area. Witness the recent stories from Fukushima about tainted cows' milk and authorities warning Tokyo parents not to give infants tap water due to high levels of iodine. One recent learning from the disaster is that the 10-12-mile radius considered a safe evacuation zone needs to be substantially increased since dangerous levels of radiation have been found as far as 25 miles from the Fukushima site.
 
It is highly unlikely that any windblown radiation from Fukushima would reach our Churchill area. Fukushima is considerably farther west of the area in the Pacific Ocean where the major nuclear powers did their above-ground nuclear testing in the last half of the 20th century and Churchill suffered no ill effects from that. The most realistic danger would be food stuffs or consumer goods produced in the Fukushima area and shipped here for sale. This seems to be under control.
 
A more likely danger to the Churchill area would be a Japan-sized earthquake somewhere along the Cascadia Subduction Zone, the area off the coast of Oregon where the ocean-covered Juan de Fuca plate slides beneath the edge of the North American plate. Similar to major volcanic activity happening in the Cascades every 30 years with Mount St. Helens being 31 years ago, major earthquake activity happens in the Cascadia Subduction Zone every 240 years with the last event happening in 1700, 311 years ago. Thus in both cases we are statistically living on borrowed time.
 
As we watch the news clips from Japan in the aftermath of the recent disaster, there is much we can learn about disaster psychology, disaster recovery, preparedness, and perspective that will increase our ability to be better prepared.