Eastern faculty members are participating in a roundtable panel discussion about the difficulties in Japan that resulted after the earthquake struck March 11.

The “Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Disaster in Japan and Beyond” panel discussion is at noon to 1:30 p.m. today in the 1895 Room in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

The panelists are Cameron Craig, a geography professor, David Linton, a physics professor, William Lovekamp, a sociology professor, Katie Johnson, a geology professor, and associate history professor Jinhee Lee.

Gordon Tucker, a biology professor and moderator for the panel discussion, said the purpose of the discussion is to inform the Eastern community of important aspects regarding the tragedy in Japan.

“We are going to have people talking about the geographical aspects about when the earthquake occurred, cultural aspects with the effects on society and historical aspects with how they have been affected by tragedy in the past,” Tucker said. “We will also discuss nuclear power plants, what went wrong and how people were affected.”

The roundtable panel discussion is the first event of Asian Heritage Month and is sponsored by the Asian studies program and the Interdisciplinary Center for Global Diversity.

Lee, a panelist and the coordinator of the Asian studies program, said they plan to raise community awareness of the severe nature of the event in Japan.

“We want to create an atmosphere to help and inform people of the span of effects connected with the disaster,” Lee said. “We will cover the natural, scientific and social impacts of the event with views from experts who have experience with these realms.”

Lee said they will also discuss the nuclear contamination, implications the event will have on Japan in the future, and try to create opportunities to help victims.

Rachel Rodgers can be reached at 581-2812 or rjrodgers@eiu.edu.