For over
400 years, Himeji Castle has remained intact, even throughout the extensive
bombing of Himeji in World War II, and natural disasters such as the 1995 Great
Hanshin earthquake. Himeji Castle is the largest and most visited castle in
Japan, and it was registered in 1993 as one of the first UNESCO World Heritage
Sites in the country. Himeji the city located in Hyōgo Prefecture in the
Kansai region is in news for wrong reasons.
News sites report that
a Japanese oil tanker has exploded off
the country's south-west coast near Himeji port, leaving one of the eight
people aboard missing…….. four others are reported to have sustained serious
injuries. According to the country's coast guard, fire gutted the middle
of the Shoko Maru – the 998-tonne tanker.
Huge custom built tankers have vastly improved the transportation and
handling of petroleum products…. At the same breathe – the bulk tankers present
some special problems such as the surging and expansion of the liquid cargo.
The hazardous nature of crude oil, need
for dispersal of flammable vapours have
all posed serious safety concerns.
Many
tankers are equipped with inert gas systems and vapour control systems to
minimize fire and explosion risks. But despite the advances that have been made
in tanker design, fire prevention systems, and firefighting technology,
shipboard fires remain a big threat. The
hazard of transporting flammable materials threatens not only the crew but also
for the environment in the form of probable oil spills and pollution causing
harm to marine life. Human errors have
been determined as one of the biggest causes of these accidental losses.
The captain of the oil tanker is
feared dead; fire is reported to have started when a grinder used to
remove paint ignited oil. Daily Mail
reports that the tanker burst in to
flames 450km west of Japanese capital
and plumes of thick smoke were billowing 100 metres into the sky. The ship had just unloaded its cargo at a
port near Hyogo prefecture. Emergency crews
used hoses to douse the fierce blaze, which started when a spark from a grinder
ignited oil on board on Thursday. The fact tanker
had just unloaded most of its cargo at a port in the west of the country is
good news as otherwise it would have been a bigger inferno with flammable
material. According to news, the
ship was virtually empty when the accident occurred. News of the incident caused Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe to interrupt debate in parliament. 'In waters off Hyogo
(prefecture), a tanker has exploded and is currently in flames,' he told
lawmakers.
Himeji port is one of a
number that sit along the Inland Seto Sea coast, where there are numerous
pockets of heavy industry. The city itself is a popular tourist destination,
and is home to one of Japan's finest feudal castles.
Kobe, as it is known
today, was founded on April 1, 1889, and was designated on September 1, 1956 by
government ordinance. The history of the city is closely tied to that of the
Ikuta Shrine, and the name "Kobe" is derived from an archaic name for those who supported the
shrine. During World War II, Kobe was bombed in the Doolittle Raid on April 18,
1942 along with Tokyo and a few other cities. Eventually, it was bombed again
with incendiary bombs by B-29 bombers on March 17, 1945, causing the death of
8,841 residents and destroying 21% of Kobe's urban area. Following continuous pressure from citizens,
in Mar 1975, the Kobe City Council
passed an ordinance banning vessels carrying nuclear weapons from Kobe Port.
This effectively prevented any U.S. warships from entering the port, policy
being not to disclose whether any warship is carrying nuclear weapons. This
non-proliferation policy has been termed the "Kobe Formula".
On January 17, 1995, an earthquake measuring at 7.2 on the Richter
magnitude scale occurred killing 6,434
people and rendering tens of thousands homeless. The earthquake destroyed
portions of the Hanshin Expressway, an elevated freeway that dramatically toppled
over. The Port of Kobe was Japan's busiest port and one of Asia's top ports
until the Great Hanshin Earthquake; Kobe
has since dropped to fourth in Japan and forty-ninth busiest container port
worldwide (as of 2012).
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar.
29th May 2014.
