The Courageous Fukushima Fifty and Others Who Have Been Risking their Lives to Stop a Meltdown in Japan

Aimee Herd : Mar 25, 2011
Daily Mail

"So many to whom we owe our extreme gratitude are in like manner, unnamed. Our extreme gratitude goes out to all those 'exhausted engineers' and all the other unnamed workers who risk their life and health for the sake of others. May the Lord bless them greatly." -Ralph Justiniano

If you've not yet heard of the "Fukushima Fifty," they are a group of engineers and workers at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant in Japan that chose to stay and brave potentially lethal amounts of radiation at the earthquake and tsunami-damaged facility in order to try to restore the power to the crippled cooling system.

A project manager, and one of those working to render the situation is a Christian man by the name of Naoyoshi Sato, he is reportedly a member of the Fukushima First Baptist Church.

One article reads: Naoyoshi Sato... has been overseeing the laying and installing of 5,000 feet of internal power cabling within the Fukushima Dai-ichi (Daiichi means "Number 1") nuclear reactor structures to the water pumps in order to get the upper hand on the cooling systems.

A report states that the power cable has been successfully laid, with internal cabling within the nuclear reactor structures to the water pumps still being worked on. Ralph Justiano (in Tokyo) put it this way: "I think it is interesting that our brother in Christ who oversaw the operation, Naoyoshi Sato, is not named in the article, but only described as 'exhausted engineers.' So many to whom we owe our extreme gratitude are in like manner, unnamed. Our extreme gratitude goes out to all those 'exhausted engineers' and all the other unnamed workers who risk their life and health for the sake of others. May the Lord bless them greatly."

According to a Daily Mail article, "The original 50 brave souls were later joined by 150 colleagues and rotated in teams to limit their exposure to the radiation spewing from over-heating spent fuel rods after a series of explosions at the site. They were today joined by scores more workers.

"Japan has rallied behind the workers with relatives telling of heart-breaking messages sent at the height of the crisis.

"A woman said her husband continued to work while fully aware he was being bombarded with radiation. In a heartbreaking email, he told his wife: 'Please continue to live well, I cannot be home for a while.'

"One girl tweeted in a message translated by ABC: 'My dad went to the nuclear plant, I've never seen my mother cry so hard. People at the plant are struggling, sacrificing themselves to protect you. Please dad come back alive.'"

As they risk their lives to stop a meltdown or further radiation leakage at the Fukushima Nuclear Plant, let's cover these brave men and women in prayer that—like Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego—they would return from the fiery furnace not even smelling of smoke.