Sailors and Marines suffer after Japan nuclear disaster

In growing lawsuit, servicemembers fault TEPCO for radiation-related illnesses
Stars and Stripes
By Matthew M. Burke
Published: July 15, 2013

SASEBO NAVAL BASE, Japan — Five months after participating in humanitarian operations for the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami that led to nuclear disaster in Japan, Petty Officer 3rd Class Daniel Hair’s body began to betray him.

He had sharp hip pains, constant scabbing in his nose, back pain, memory loss, severe anxiety and a constant high-pitch ringing in his ears as his immune system began to attack his body. The diagnosis, he said, was a genetic immune system disease, which on X-rays looked to have made his hip joint jagged and his spine arthritic. He was put on a host of medications and eventually separated from the Navy job he loved.

Hair believes radiation is the cause. He is among 50 sailors and Marines in a growing lawsuit against Tokyo Electric Power Co., alleging that Japan’s nationalized utility mishandled the meltdown at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant that spewed radiation into the air and water.
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Former Marine killed by sheriff's deputy had PTSD

Parents: Former Marine killed by sheriff's deputy had PTSD
By FELICIA KRIEG
Press-Republican
January 5, 2013

PLATTSBURGH — Dusty Michael Clark suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, his mother says.

The Altona man, 28, was shot and killed by Clinton County Sheriff’s Deputy Jason R. Winters on Dec. 30, 2012, after Dusty threatened him with a knife and wouldn’t back down, according to the Sheriff’s Department.

He was diagnosed in 2009 at a Veteran’s Affairs clinic in Albany but was not receiving treatment at the time of his death, said his mother, Sheila Clark of Altona.

“At first, in my heart, I was so hurt (that Dusty died that way),” she said. “In retrospect, I am thinking my son had a flashback” when he grabbed the knife.

The day her son died, Sheila said, one of her brothers shared some information that Dusty had confided to him.

He had been among Marines who responded after the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami that rocked the world on Dec. 26, 2004.

“He had to take bodies out of the water,” she said. “Dead children.”
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US Sailors exposed to radiation after Japan earthquake

US Sailors Sue Japan Utility in Radiation Exposure
Dec 28, 2012
Stars and Stripes
by Matthew M. Burke

SASEBO NAVAL BASE, Japan -- Eight sailors from the USS Ronald Reagan are suing Japan’s nationalized Tokyo Electric Power Co., claiming it lied about dangers from a radiation leak when they helped out after last year’s nuclear plant disaster and that they will almost certainly die prematurely as a result.

Their complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, seeks a jury trial and damages of $40 million each for being “rendered infirm” and their bodies being “poisoned” by radiation. It was filed on behalf of Lindsay Cooper, James Sutton, Kim Gieseking, Charles Yarris, Robert Miller, Christopher Bittner, Eric Membrila and Judy Goodwin.

Within days of the March 11, 2011, earthquake, tsunami and subsequent radiation leak from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, the USS Ronald Reagan was aiding in the search for survivors and bodies from just off Japan’s devastated east coast.

Six of the eight sailors worked on the flight deck during the operation and two worked in the air contamination department. Gieseking is also suing on behalf of her daughter, Autumn, who was born shortly after the deployment.
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Stress 'shrank brains of Japan's tsunami survivors'

Stress 'shrank brains of Japan's tsunami survivors'
The emotional stress of Japan's tsunami and earthquake disaster resulted in some survivors suffering a shrinkage of the brain, according to a new study.
By Danielle Demetriou in Tokyo
10:41AM BST 23 May 2012

Scientists compared before and after brain scans of healthy adolescents who were affected by last year's March 11 disaster in order to measure the neurological effects of emotional trauma. The findings revealed that those suffering from symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) had experienced a shrinkage in the part of the brain associated with decision-making and regulation of emotions.
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Creed singer visits Yokosuka to thank troops for earthquake relief efforts

Creed singer visits Yokosuka to thank troops for earthquake relief efforts
By TREVOR ANDERSEN
Stars and Stripes
Published: March 18, 2012


YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — Scott Stapp, the lead singer of the rock band Creed, toured Sendai on Saturday to see the destruction left from last year’s massive tsunami. Then, he stopped by Yokosuka Naval Base to thank some of the troops for their efforts in the days and weeks following the March 11, 2011, disaster.

“It’s amazing what Operation Tomodachi did,” said Stapp who performed an acoustic concert Sunday aboard the USS George Washington. He was traveling in Japan with his wife, Jaclyn, a former Miss New York.

“We visited Sendai yesterday; we saw the destruction and we saw what you did, so we hoped to give everyone here a time to escape from their responsibilities and have fun,” Scott Stapp said. “We want to remind everyone how much we appreciate and support them.”

The rock singer also visited Haiti in 2010 to help the earthquake victims and was impressed by the humanitarian aid provided by the US military.
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Japanese PM thanks U.S. troops during visit to devastated region

Japanese PM thanks U.S. troops during visit to devastated region
By SETH ROBSON
Stars and Stripes
Published: April 10, 2011
ISHINOMAKI, Japan — Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan praised U.S. troops for their efforts to help people recover from last month’s devastating earthquake and tsunami during a visit here Sunday.

Kan arrived in a motorcade with a large group of other Japanese dignitaries to check on the work of 36 U.S. soldiers and four Marines working alongside Japan Self-Defense Force personnel at Ishinomaki Commercial High School. He found the U.S. and Japanese troops hard at work using shovels, Bobcat mini bulldozers and a bucket loader brought by the Americans to remove the mud dumped by the tsunami on the school’s sports fields.

“The U.S. military is working alongside the Japanese Self-Defense Force,” Kan told a group of Japanese reporters. “I’m happy to see that happen here at this high school.”
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Japanese PM thanks U.S. troops

Forty-eight Marines from Camp Pendleton deploy to Japan

Specialists from Camp Pendleton deploy to Japan
March 19, 2011 | 3:32 pm
Forty-eight Marines from Camp Pendleton -- specialists in the detection and decontamination of nuclear and radiological hazards -- have deployed to Japan for the relief effort.

The Marines are part of a unit trained on how to discern the effects of chemical, nuclear, biological and radiological warfare agents and how to mitigate those effects.

-- Tony Perry in San Diego

Monitor and Care for Our Troops Exposed to Radiation in Japan

Veterans for Common Sense remembers there are US troops stationed in Japan and they are focused on making sure they are taken care of now and tomorrow.

VCS to DoD and VA: Monitor and Care for Our Troops Exposed to Radiation in Japan
Written by VCS
Tuesday, 15 March 2011 09:51

VCS sent the following letter to VA expressing our concerns about caring for our service membes and veterans exposed to harmful radiation while deployed to rescue missions in Japan.
March 14, 2011
The Honorable Eric Shinseki
Secretary of Veterans Affairs
The Honorable Robert Gates
Secretary of Defense
Dear Secretary Shinseki and Secretary Gates:
Veterans for Common Sense writes you regarding the health and welfare of our service members deployed in and around Japan. We support our nation’s military mission to assist Japan in her greatest hour of need in more than six decades.

However, there are new and important developments related to the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on March 11, 2011. The situation at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear reactor facility prompt us to present three salient, significant, and urgent points to you.

1. Widespread Radioactive Contamination is Now Confirmed.
Japan and the U.S. now confirm the radioactive contamination of both air and sea water as well as the exposure of both Japanese civilians and U.S. military service members in Japan and off the coast of Japan. Therefore, the entire nation of Japan, the airspace above, and the waters nearby for at least 100 miles must be designated by the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs as a radioactive and toxic environment. The zone can be expanded as the radioactive contamination spreads.

While there is more to what VCS suggests, this one stood out.

3. Create New Team; Remove Dr. Brix.
The integrity and transparency of VA and DoD on this issue are vital. VCS supports creating a new, joint DoD-VA team to monitor this issue. Independent (non-government) experts should be advising our government, not the current staff assigned. Our U.S. service members, veterans, and the public are not served well with the continued involvement in any manner of Dr. Kelly Brix and her Department of Defense Force Health Protection staff. Specifically, any ties between VA and Dr. Brix on this and related matters must be severed immediately.
Dr. Brix, her staff, and prior DoD efforts on Gulf War illness, Iraq War burn pits, and other toxic exposures are not credible in the eyes of our veterans. This issue of our troops' health after radioactive and toxic exposures is far too urgent and important for her and the same Gulf War illness office to be involved with recent events in and around Japan.
During nearly two decades, she and her staff concealed, delayed, and denied the existence of Gulf War toxic exposures and multi-symptom illness.
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Monitor and Care for Our Troops Exposed to Radiation in Japan

How is this still going on and who will do something about it to make sure our troops are taken care of today and tomorrow when they become veterans?

Navy sends 8 ships to provide tsunami relief

Navy sends 8 ships to provide tsunami relief
By Sam Fellman - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Mar 11, 2011 2:55:35 EST
Eight warships are headed to Japan to render disaster relief in the wake of a catastrophic magnitude 8.9 earthquake that left hundreds dead Friday. The quake unleashed a tsunami that is tearing across the Pacific. It unmoored two subs and is forcing other ships to get underway or ease their lines as the surge waters arrive, according to updates posted on official Navy Facebook pages across the region.

The earthquake, the most devastating to have struck Japan since the country began tracking seismic activity more than a century ago, leveled homes and buildings, and spawned a 23-foot high wave that carried away cars and people.

Japan has requested aid through the State Department, Armed Forces Press Service reported Friday.
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Navy sends 8 ships to provide tsunami relief

U.S. military bases in Japan report all service members are safe

A spokesman for the U.S. military bases in Japan said all service members were accounted for and there were no reports of damage to installations or ships.

Widespread destruction from Japan earthquake, tsunamis
By the CNN Wire Staff
March 11, 2011 9:24 a.m. EST
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Government sends 8,000 troops to help in quake effort
NEW: Air and rail service disrupted, thousands stranded
Between 200 and 300 bodies have been found in Sendai city, local media report
About 2,000 residents near a nuclear plant are asked to evacuate

Tokyo (CNN) -- The most powerful earthquake to hit Japan in at least 100 years unleashed walls of water Friday that swept across rice fields, engulfing towns, dragging houses onto highways and tossing cars and boats like toys, apparently killing hundreds and forcing the evaucations of tens of thousands.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan said the "enormously powerful" earthquake has caused "tremendous damage over a wide area."

The quake, which struck at 2:46 pm local time, sparked fires in at least 80 locations, Japan's Kyodo News Service reported, and prompted the U.S. National Weather Service to issue tsunami warnings for at least 50 countries and territories.

Police in Miyagi Prefecture say between 200-300 have been found in the coastal city of Sendai alone, Japan's Kyodo News Agency reported late Friday. The death toll is likely to rise as there are few casualty counts yet from the worst-hit areas.

Kyodo, citing Japan's defense forces, said 60,000 to 70,000 people were being evacuated to shelters in the Sendai area.

Japanese authorities ordered the precautionary evacuation of a nuclear plant affected by the earthquake, saying that while there was no immediate danger, crews were having trouble cooling the reactor. The Fukushima plant is one of four closest to the quake that the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said were safety shut down.
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Widespread destruction from Japan earthquake, tsunamis

Tsunami trauma still haunts victims

Sunday, June 1, 2008
NIMHANS: Tsunami trauma still haunts victims


June 1, 2008
By Syed Akbar
Hyderabad: The Tsunami that hit the Indian Ocean in December 2004 is now history. But
four years after the devastation, people affected by Tsunami are still in trauma. Their psychiatric morbidity is quite high and children are the worst-hit. The Bangalore-based National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences conducted a study on people affected by Tsunami and compared the data with those of normal population. About 12,000 victims were interviewed as part of the study to establish psychiatric morbidity and the extent of mental trauma they had undergone.

"People are still traumatised. The effect will continue for some more time. In case of children, it may continue for life," NIMHANS assistant professor of psychiatry Dr

Suresh Bada Math, told this correspondent. A meta-analysis of 160 studies of disaster victims found that post-traumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder, generalised anxiety disorders, and panic disorders were identified.

The team found that 475 survivors had at least one psychiatric diagnosis. Of these, 244 were displaced survivors residing in the Port Blair relief camps, and 231 were in the Non-Displaced Survivors Group from Car-Nicobar Island. The most common psychiatric problems observed in the survivors’ group were adjustment disorder in 178 (37.5 per cent), depression in 102 (21.5 per cent), panic disorder in 57 (12 per cent), PTSD in 53 (11.2 per cent), anxiety disorder not otherwise specified (NOS) in 26 (5.5 per cent), and other disorders in 16 (3.4 per cent). The "other" disorders were noted in children and adolescents by their parents, and included dizziness, vertigo, startle response, sleep-wake cycle disturbance.

go here for more

http://syedakbarindia.blogspot.com/2008/06/nimhans-tsunami-trauma-still-haunts.html