It’s been a crazy day, riding around on potholed roads listening to the radio. Reports from Japan of people without shelter in freezing temperatures, without water, food, electricity. Without any idea of what the next day will bring.
Japanese architecture, I’ve always heard, is based on centuries of experience with earthquakes. No doubt the crisis would be far worse if not for countless adaptations to a region where the earth is unstable.
All the technology we depend on wiped out by nature. Some of the technology coming up against the laws of nature and proving unwise.
I’m thinking of the people there, and hoping the worst is soon over.
Recurring Nightmare 
Yes-the Japanese lost upwards of 300,000 people in a 1920’s earthquake,which wasn’t even of this magnitude.
They apparently applied what they learned there.
I doubt their nuclear plants were poorly built,but there really aren’t safe sites in a country that is subject to so much siesmic activity.
Just compare with Haiti where the infrastructure was totally inadequate and emergency response and medical facilities were almost non-existent.I don’t think Haiti even had a tsunami.how many people died there?About 200,000?
Chile had a pretty good response as did New Zealand.
China wasn’t too forthcoming on the results of their recent earthquake.
Turkey and Iran were just outright disasters with so many buildings coming down.
Without the tsunami,Japan would have fared relatively well due to their architectural preparation.
Still,a magnitude 9 earthquake is a real monster,they say the fifth worst in recorded history.
The Earth will act in unpredictable ways given that is has a molten core and shifting “plates”.
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Yes, it just keeps getting worse. The US has not invested in disaster planning in the past few decades.
We do have a lot of good people, there’s a volunteer medical response team I should probably re-join.
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http://www.ridmat.org/
these guys.
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