Japanese Earthquake protection

[vegablack62]

It is very poignant to me how very prepared the Japanese people and government were for this earthquake.  The tremor was updated to a 9 (1,000 times the power of the New Zealand earthquake) and yet even small wooden structures still stood.  All reports agree that there is no destruction to be seen outside the coastal towns hit by the tsunami but

Comments

[magentabear]

Japan is amazing. The youtube clips, by and large, show people reacting calmly and perfectly. I want to slap all the comments I've seen below the videos saying "AHH! RUN YOU IDIOTS RUNNNNNN" because no. Don't run. That's dumb. We need to do exactly what the Japanese have done.

I used to teach earthquake preparedness classes and we would assure people not to worry (especially after Haiti), because Los Angeles is the best prepared city--except Tokyo because Japan really is amazing.

[vegablack62]

Yes running leads to pushes, falls and panic. The calm reasonable reactions have impressed me.

Seattle is less well prepared than Los Angeles, because now the chances of a huge earthquake are theoretical not expierential like in California. Our last earthquake was powerful but very deep so damage was very limmited. It leads people into a false sense of safety.

[sometimeselkie]

Aha! I've had an eye out for the Vega Report on this issue!

The Haiti and Japan earthquake aftermaths are like night and day, aren't they? That's all I can think. Historically, Japan rebuilt traditional dwellings so quickly after natural disasters - I wonder how long it will take to repair/replace modern infrastructure. And you're right, Japan has always been so proactive about this sort of thing.

Hope your springtime_gen is going well! *waves pompoms*

[vegablack62]

The strengths of their relative economies, experience with earthquakes, and education of their populous is like night and day too. The Haitians don't have much to work from.

[sometimeselkie]

I'd imagine that the injury profiles are going to be vastly different - I'm assuming that many of the devastating crush injuries in Haiti were due to buildings not being up to code (that and simply not designed to withstand earthquakes the same way Japanese ones are). And yeah, their economies are what's really going to set them apart in the aftermath - already their aid profiles are so different.

It really shows the disparity between the countries.

[vegablack62]

I bet there were few if any crush injuries in Japan, but a lot of hypothermia, drowning, and head injuries. I think old people having heart attacks or strokes from the crisis is a big thing too and a lot of chronically ill people dying from losing access to their medicines. I wonder if they have a lot of battering injuries from getting caught in the waves but surviving.

Let's hope they don't end up with radiation injuries.

I've seen some photos of refugees sitting in the snow around campfires I wonder if they have much frostbite or exposure issues.