Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to pay my solemn respects to the victims and to the survivors of the disasters that were unleashed on the people of Japan on 11 March last year and in the weeks after that. Unlike the two previous speakers, I have not visited Japan, but nevertheless I was very moved by those images we all saw that shocked us. One year after those catastrophic events, we remember the triple disaster of the earthquake, the tsunami and the subsequent nuclear accident in the Fukushima area. It was absolutely tragic and destroyed so many lives and properties.

The earthquake occurred about 400 kilometres north-east of Tokyo, approximately 70 kilometres east of the Oshika Peninsula of Tohoku. At a massive 9.0 on the Richter scale, it was the strongest earthquake recorded in Japan's history. It set off a tsunami that swelled to more than 20 metres in some spots, hitting many coastal areas at seven, eight and nine metres in height and devastating everything in front of it. The wave was felt along almost the entire eastern coastline, but the island of Hokkaido in the north and the main island of Honshu took the tsunami's full force. It was devastating, as we all saw on TV. The wave destroyed tens of thousands of homes, many of which were simply picked up and washed away intact, swept into the sea, from towns across the countryside. Its power and force were relentless and its effect was catastrophic.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 11:17 to 12:07

Before the bells went, I was talking about the horrific tsunami that devastated tens of thousands of lives, tens of thousands of homes and thousands of other properties and buildings. We all saw the footage of the slow and almost silent wave sprawl over the coast and through towns across the countryside. The disaster claimed more than 15,800 lives and more than 3,000 people remain unaccounted for one year on.

The nuclear accident at Fukushima, rolling out over the days subsequent to the earthquake and the tsunami, was similarly a slow and relentless disaster that played out in full view of the world. Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced. Approximately 325,000 people are still in temporary housing, including 80,000 people evacuated from the vicinity of the Fukushima nuclear power plant. The other day there were disturbing images on the TV that many would have seen of a woman feeding the homeless animals that have remained behind in that Fukushima area. Dogs, cats and all sorts of other animals are just wandering aimlessly, obviously suffering as well. In the abandoned town of Okuma, only one kilometre from the Fukushima power plant, former residents were permitted into the evacuation area for just a few hours for the ceremonies that were held on the anniversary of this disaster to honour the dead.

Here in Australia we have heard many speeches on this disaster. The Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition and we too have paid our respects to those who were lost on that fateful day and to the survivors who mourn their loved ones—their families—and who lost property. We also pay our respects to those who grapple with the aftermath: the clean up, the rebuilding and the restoration of that great country.

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