Now I am reading some accounts from Japan and in addition to the handling of wrong data I am also struck by the common reaction to a quality problem. Shigeto Tanaka of the Yomiuri Times has an account from the area while the alerts were broadcast.
While this reporter was covering the damage by Friday's series of tsunami at a settlement along the coast in Minami-Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, about 25 kilometers north of the nuclear plant, a message was sent around 4 p.m. by disaster response radio broadcast from the Minami-Soma municipal government. The message said: "We have been informed that the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant has exploded. Don't go outside."
Listening to the message, about 10 fire company volunteers, who were on alert at the settlement, became panicked and hurriedly left by car, shouting to each other, "Get out of here now!"
This reporter was unable to make a quick decision whether to evacuate.
Today the BBC reports that "The Japanese government has attacked the operator of a crippled nuclear plant for "unacceptable" mistakes."
I have seen panicked reports of a quality issue from both the customer and the supplier side. Panic never really helps the situation. We all know this, but in the heat of the crisis if you do not have some experienced, strong, players you can get into a bad situation. A lot of time can be wasted trying to react to false information.
By the way, one quote got me, "The government understood the workers were overworked and under stress, he added." That reminds me of the saying, "you are only as good as your last f*ck up."
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