Major Pollution Event in Fukushima

Fukushima radiation effect has been one of the biggest issues recently because it a lot of people were affected by it. The effect was so significant that it is affecting countries even far away like US. Because of the accident, about 800 people died and the radiation exposed thousand people to cancers. According to scientists, the radiation increases the risk of getting cancer by 70%. Also, the polluted water caused fishing around the area near unavailable  so Chinese, Japanese, and Korean fishers are having trouble. Lastly, the tourism in Japan has reduced notably.

Because of this accident,156,000 people in the area had to be displaced to safe zone which is outside of 20km exclusion zone around the power plant. Incoming people from other countries has decreased while Japan is trying to conceal most of the facts to minimize their loss. It is told that the situation is more serious than what the media in Japan is telling us.

Economic Interactions and Flows

Offshoring is a form of outsouring when a company is operating overseas but the element of the company is within itself. This gives the company a chance to exploit laborers and sources at lower cost than from their homeland. So usually, companies in rich countries are implementing offshoring in poor or developing countries.  According to the article I read, as much as more than 75% of major financial institutions operate overseas now and UK has saved 1.5bn pound a year by offshoring in China and India. However, the surprising thing to read was that trade union Unite have said offshoring is ineffective due to increase in staff turnover and in wage.

How can offshoring be considered ineffective just because of changing staff and increase in wage when money earned is billions of dollars?

Pros and Cons of Globalization

Pros:

• Productivity grows more quickly when countries produce goods and services. This makes living standards can go up faster.
• The global economy can grow because of the sharing of ideas between countries.
• People can learn other countries' cultures and are able to spread their own cultures and traditions.
• There are more different types of jobs abroad. People from poor countries especially can earn their money and send to their own country.
• Better relationship between countries can be established. This makes better understanding between nations and keep them friendly.

Cons:

• People can lose jobs due to imports or production shifts abroad. Most find new jobs that pay less.
• It makes rich richer and poor poorer. It is good for managers and investors but is not for workers.
• Causes communicable diseases such as HIV and AIDS
• People working abroad are sometimes not provided with good working conditions at minimum wages.
• Dominant countries can overwhelm other countries' power or will. They can also have impact on other countries cultures.

Why is it that the rich get richer and the poor stay poor?
Rich people get rich and poor people stay poor mainly because of the debts that poor people have on rich people. So basically, rich people will pay poor people when poor people work for rich people. Then because the payments are not enough for poor people to afford their lives, rich people starts loaning their money to them. Poor people will have to pay them back with interests added, meaning they are giving most of the money earned back to the rich people. This equalizes to the initial amount for both sides. Because debt is such a significant factor that causes this cycle, debt relief is very effective. 

Why have some countries donated more in aid to the victims of Typhoon Haiyan than others?

   Obviously, the countries that are rich or MEDCs have more money to donate more in aid. If the countries have spent enough money to themselves and feel there are extra money that can be spent on other countries, they would do so. Unlike MEDCs, LEDCs would have hard time donating because their own affairs are prioritized over other countries. Moreover, the countries that are allied either politically or economically, are more likely willing to help the victims because they need the country (in this case, the Philippines) to survive to actually benefit them such as trading.

Disaster Reflection

How does the devastation brought from Typhoon Haiyan make you feel?
I've been always thinking that dying from natural disasters is the most unfortunate thing. So I feel really sad that many people died because of the typhoon. I also feel sorry for those who actually survived the typhoon but are now suffering from the death of the member of their family.