Strength of humanity in crisis...

[OakLeaf]

I really think the thread title is appropriate, that this is about the strength of humanity in crisis, not about the strength of Japanese people distinct from other cultures. From yesterday's LA Times:

examples of heroism are common in such situations, said Dr. Fred Mettler, a University of New Mexico radiologist and advisor to the U.N. on radiation safety.

At one point during the Chernobyl disaster, he said, workers were conferring about how much water was in one reactor pool. No one knew the answer and their instruments couldn't tell them, he said. "An Armenian engineer slipped out and came back in 30 minutes. He said, 'There's 3 feet of water,' " Mettler said. "He did that on his own."

The engineer died soon after of acute radiation poisoning.

And the American man at TMI that NbyNW linked to, who is lucky to have survived - apparently health intact - but couldn't have known that going in.