Weather chief draws flak over plea not to release radiation forecasts(JAPAN)

[AsahinaKimi]

TOKYO —

‘‘Our society has degenerated into a bureaucratic entity,’‘

The chief of the Meteorological Society of Japan has drawn flak from within the academic society over a request for member specialists to refrain from releasing forecasts on the spread of radioactive substances from the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

In the request posted March 18 on the society’s website, Hiroshi Niino, professor at the University of Tokyo, said such forecasts, which he says carry some uncertainty, ‘‘could jumble up information about the government’s antidisaster countermeasures unnecessarily.’‘

‘‘The basic principle behind antidisaster measures is to enable people to act on unified reliable information,’’ he said.

Niino later said in commenting on the intention he had in issuing the statement, ‘‘If (society members’) forecasts were announced, it would have carried the risk that ordinary people may panic.’‘

http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/weather-chief-draws-flak-over-plea-not-to-release-radiation-forecasts
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[Generic Other]

1. uh, pssst...do they know we are kinda panicking already?

Just level with us. That's all I ask.