Dear Followers in Japan

To my dear followers in Japan,

I'm sorry for the delay in my writing about the recent tragedies – words didn't express the intensity of my shock and sadness at what's happened in your country. However, quite a number of you have been showing up in my user stats (either that or one person visiting repeatedly).

First and foremost, are you and your families safe, fed and housed? The worldwide news has said a lot about housing and food relief efforts in Japan as a stop-gap until you get your houses rebuilt. The news has been less explicit on the numbers of people killed or missing. If you lost a loved one, please accept my heartfelt sympathy – I can't imagine the debilitating sorrow that comes with losing someone close to you (I've lost friends, but nobody in my immediate family; I don't know how much more intense the "kick in the guts" feeling is when it's someone close to you).

I sincerely hope that they get a lid on your nuclear reactor situation. Being the geek that I am, I've been following the nuclear plant updates very closely. It seems that the levels of radiation being discussed are not immediately lethal. However it remains to be seen 1) whether the stats are being reported accurately and 2) whether they will they will stabilise and start to return to normal, especially given the half-life of fuel used in your power plants. I've read reports of radioactivity found in water supplies and farm land around the compromised reactors. I'm tempted at this point to make a joke about following Sheldon [from Big Bang Theory]'s example and carrying a Geiger counter with you to the market, ensuring that you don't take radioactive things home with you. (As an aside, not all the fuel in your reactors emits α-particles, so a Geiger counter wouldn't give you the full picture.)

Do we need to start pressuring international aid organisations to send you food aid in the long-term to make up for the fields destroyed in the tsunami and so that you can avoid eating radioactive food? Would you like us to pressure them into sending you ship-loads of aloe vera (often suggested as an anti-cancer herb. Studies have shown that a healthy immune system “eats” cancer cells, but I feel rather flippant suggesting it in light of the scale of the nuclear situation)?

Finally, I wish for you a speedy recovery of services and infrastructure. I can't wish it undone; I can't wish for it to be “all better”. However, I wish for you the strength and resources to re-build soon so that you can begin to set things aright again. In addition, I hope that your wind-power companies get a big funding boost to avoid a repeat of the nuclear disaster in the future.

Yours in sympathy,

Brij.