The nation must join hands to overcome the crisis

今朝は４時起床、NHK、TBS、BBSをみる。
日本では大きな動きなし。
世界ではバーレーン、リビア、イスラエル・パレスチナ情勢をチェック。
福島原発が気になるが、とりあえず英字新聞を掲載する。
昨日の天皇陛下のお言葉がまだ残っている。
苦しみを国民皆（みな）で分かち合って…。
陛下は夜、電気を消してローソクで過ごされている。
銀座のバーなどは明かりを落とすべし。
（スラチャイ）

2011/03/16
--The Asahi Shimbun, March 15
EDITORIAL: The nation must join hands to overcome the crisis
計画停電―我慢と共助のときだ

Rescue workers are continuing their search for survivors of the gigantic earthquake and tsunami that destroyed wide areas in northeastern Japan on Friday.
　太平洋沿いの被災地で救出活動が続く。

Hundreds of bodies are found daily in the affected areas, making increasingly clear the grim reality of the catastrophic damage inflicted by the mega-quake.
数十、数百と遺体が見つかり、つらい現実を突きつけられる。

For many survivors, a new, tough life in evacuation centers has begun.
厳しい避難所生活も始まっている。

It is essential now for the entire nation to share a commitment to the long-term efforts for mutual aid and support needed to overcome the crisis.
長丁場の助け合いへの決意を、国民全体で共有することが欠かせない。

Vast swaths of the nation have been hit by the disaster.
　被災は列島の広範囲に及んでいる。

As the new week began Monday, great confusion broke out in the Kanto region early in the morning.
週明けの関東圏は、早朝から混乱に見舞われた。

After Tokyo Electric Power Co. announced a plan to introduce rolling power cuts throughout its area of service in response to a severe power shortage caused by the quake, Japan Railway and other train service operators hastily decided to cut down their operations.
震災で電力不足に陥った東京電力が地域ごとの「計画停電」を発表し、ＪＲをはじめ鉄道各社があわてて運休や間引き運転を決めた。

Many people living in Tokyo and its vicinity awoke Monday to find their commuter trains had been canceled. Stations on the limited number of lines where trains were in service were crowded with commuters.
　朝起きてみたら通勤の足がなくなっていた、という人たちも少なくなかった。限られた運行路線では各駅がごったがえした。

Still, at many stations people patiently waited in lines for trains.
Then, they endured the ordeal of riding jam-packed trains without complaining.
　それでも多くの駅では人々が辛抱強く列をなし、黙って満員電車に揺られた。

The orderly behavior of Tokyo commuters reflected their awareness of how survivors in the quake-hit areas are desperately searching for relatives amid piles of rubble, many of them without enough clothes or fuel to keep warm.
Commuters in the capital exercised self-control as they perceived their problems were nothing compared with the tremendous hardships the quake survivors are enduring.
がれきの中で十分な暖もなく、一生懸命に家族をさがす被災地の人たちを思えばこそ、「この程度のことで」と自制する気持ちが整然とした行動につながったようだ。

It became abundantly clear immediately after the earthquake struck that there would be serious power shortages.
　電力が足りなくなることは、大震災の当初から明らかだった。

Probably, the vast majority of residents in the Tokyo metropolitan area do not have any problem with accepting the effects on their daily lives of the rolling blackouts and power conservation if it helps efforts to deal with the situation.
計画停電や節電による生活への影響を甘受してでも協力したいと考える人は少なくないはずだ。

But plans for power cuts must be crafted and executed carefully to minimize their impact.
だからといって、やぶから棒なやり方ではいけない。

It is necessary to announce exactly when and where the power supply will be stopped so that households and businesses in the targeted areas can adequately prepare themselves.
　地域と時間を前もって知らせ、家庭や企業に準備を促すことが必要だ。

Doing so would help prevent confusion and lead to a larger saving on electricity.
そのほうが混乱を防げるだけでなく、節電の効果も上がるだろう。

What is especially worrisome about a power outage is its effects on people who need respirators or other electric-powered medical devices.
　停電でとりわけ心配なのは、人工呼吸器など医療機器を必要とする人たちだ。

A prolonged power outage could be life threatening for home-bound as well as hospitalized patients.
入院患者に限らず、在宅療養している人たちにとっても、停電が長引けば命にかかわりかねない。

Explaining the confusion in the implementation of the power cuts, TEPCO said it made every effort to avoid outages up until the last moment.
　混乱を生んだ理由について、東電側は「停電を避けようと最後まで調整したため」と説明した。

But not many people would get upset when a planned suspension of the power supply in their area has been canceled.
だが、計画停電をあらかじめ知らせておいた地域で結果的に停電がなかったとしても、それで怒る人は多くないはずだ。

The company should put priority on ensuring that its plans for power cuts are made known in advance to people in the areas to be affected.
事前の周知を優先したい。

It is certain that TEPCO's service region will face a chronic power shortage for the foreseeable future.
　東電管内では当面、恒常的な電力不足が続くことに変わりはない。

It goes without saying that companies, governments and households should all do everything they can to save electricity.
企業も役所も家庭も、みんなで節電に取り組むべきであることは論をまたない。

But on Monday night most commercial facilities in the high-end Ginza shopping district in central Tokyo were brightly lit with neon.
　都心部の銀座では夜になっても商業施設の照明やネオンが目立った。

There is still much room for power conservation. The government should urge companies and schools to take bolder measures to save electricity, such as halting operations, to see how much conservation can be achieved.
まだまだ節電の余地はある。政府は、企業や学校などに思い切った休業や節電を呼びかけ、どこまで成果が上がるかをまず試してみてはどうか。

A variety of measures should be combined to lower use of electricity during peak demand hours.
　ピーク時の消費電力を下げるためには、さまざまな手法を駆使しなくてはならない。

In the aftermath of an unprecedented natural disaster, Japanese are ready to face inconveniences and tests of endurance.
　未曽有の災害のただ中で、私たちには不便さや我慢を引き受ける覚悟がある。

The government should respond to the people's sacrifice by demonstrating a strong commitment to protecting their lives and property and reducing the confusion threatening their well-being.
だからこそ政府に求めたいのは、国民の生命と財産を守り抜き、かけがえのない生活を混乱から救い出すことである。

We hope the government will swiftly develop a clear policy for dealing with the situation so that it can capitalize on the people's great ability to help each other.
　明確な指針を早く決め、国民の共助の力を大きく引き出してほしい。