After the quake

When its strongest quake struck,followed by the 10-metre-high wave at the speed of a jumbo jet that left a surreal landscape in its wake,that investment in technology and mass training did save many lives. Unfortunately,the best the human mind and hand can do is still meagre before natures fury. The quake,tsunami and nuclear emergency have displaced more than 500,000 people; as the death toll goes up,just one statistic indicates the scale of the disaster 10,000 people missing from a single coastal town. Thus,against the backdrop of flattened habitations and continuing efforts to tackle the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant,amateur footage of skyscrapers swaying but not falling,staff bulwarking department store shelves,hospital attendants and rescue workers professionally picking their way through the human tragedy,is the story of survival and certain renewal.

The exhibition of order and the lack of chaos may be the social sophistication of a people perennially anticipating disaster,but Japan also demonstrates how the impact of the worst natural calamity can be mitigated with infrastructure and public awareness. The much weaker quake in Haiti last year took 316,000 lives. Japan will not have it easy economically,socially,politically to rise fully from this crisis. But it could have been worse. To the Japanese,such generous contributors to aid programmes in other countries,the world would say: ganbatte kudasai,do your best.

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