If you take the earthquake that hit New Zealand a few weeks ago and multiplied it by 1,000, you would get the one that hit Japan last week. Or if you remember the one that devastated Haiti last year, this one is several hundred times more powerful.
That’s why, despite all the precautions and preparedness, the devastation has been so great.
Most experts agree that in terms of safety plans and procedures, Japan has done almost everything right.
It is too soon to do anything but mourn, but this tragedy does remind us that no matter how much advanced work a country does, no matter how well the buildings are built, nothing can prepare you for this.
Nevertheless, the work has helped. The death toll in Japan would be much, much worse if not for all the safety codes and drills that they had adopted.
Even in their nuclear power plants, things could have gotten much, more worse.
The one area where Japan did not adequately prepare itself was economics.
Japan has not managed its economy with the awareness that it might suffer from earthquakes and thus need room to be able to take on the large-scale debt that rebuilding its economy would require.
Quite to the contrary, Japan has a debt load almost twice the size of its total GDP. This is the worst of all rich countries. The International Monetary Fund says that in four years, Japan’s debt will equal 250% of GDP. That’s before this earthquake, which will add tens of billions of dollars to the debt.
Although no one can ever prepare for a tsunami like this, we all need to keep our eyes on worst-case scenarios: financial meltdowns, wars and natural disasters.
All of these things can happen, and we should keep them in mind in managing our lives, companies and countries. We need to give ourselves enough flexibility and resilience to be able to handle such crises.
Japan did not do that in the economic case. Isn’t it time for us to start worrying about whether we in the United States have done that? Or will we wait until the next crisis hits – until the next earthquake?
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What the devastation teaches us is surely the awesome power of nature.
Look at the incredible images here:
http://earthquakes.videohq.tv/2011/03/japan-aftermath-earthquake-89-mg.html
Very moving.
But that scale is incredible. There is no defense. And we are playing with nature like a toy: global warming. It bites.
Japan? Please help them.....
I am a meteorologist. Global warming has nothing to do with tectonic plates, even if al gore says it does. I am a real meteorologist and i can assure you that it has nothing to do with global warming, at least not man made.
So earthquakes have nothing to do with Global Warming. Does that mean we should not be working on issues around Global Warming? I don't get your post.
You are a not only a meteorologist but a REAL meteorologist...why would your point be any more or less valid if you were a plumber? Trying to back up your political views with the false ruffling of your feathers is a bit sad. As others have said, regardless of the connection or lack thereof, global warming is of course very real and something to be concerned about. Try to keep on point and instead of bashing someone on here, go out and help someone...but why should you right? You are a "supreme american"! haha
But Al gore didn't say that there was any relationship. You shame your profession when you slander people.
II am a geologist. Plate tectonics definitely impacts global climate. The uplift of the tibetan plateau has had dramatic impacts on climate. The physical location and configuration of continents (plate tectonics) also impacts ocean currents, which also dramatically impacts climate. These climate impacts are slow/gradual, but significant.
If we could only control the sun, the #1 factor in global warming.
Poor Howard! Supremeamerican pointedout correctly that earthquakes and global warming are not connected in any significant way. Supremeamerican provided his credentials when making the point. So Howard, you just have really bad chest pains radiating down your arms, who do you trust when you are making the decision to go to the emergency room. The doctor who's telling to call 911 or the plumber who says nah it just heartburn? Obviously the doctor who's telling you to call 911 is merely pushing his political views. What debate there is in the scientific community is not whether global warming is occurring but how bad it will be.
I have heard that meteorologist are failed scientists .That makes his comment sound good!
take a metal ball about the size of a baseball that can be heated.
then cover it with layers of mud about 5 layers letting each layer dry.
then heat the ball from the out side and the inside. the sun will do the job for the outside layers.
heat it then let it cool 7 to 10 times.
then you can say global warming can and will always cause dramatic plate movement.
Guys, supremeamerican mentions global warming as if it's the cause of this terrible tragedy in the starting post.
"Jo an" just replied to say that Global warming has nothing to do with this!!!!
....and you're seriously going to bag on her about that???
Seriously....wtf?
Easy, everyone. He was just pointing out that earthquakes do not directly result from global warming. An obvious point to most of us, I agree, but then again you never know the bounds of some peoples' propensity for poor comprehension, reasoning and critical thinking.....as many of the comments here indicate.
"Supremeamerican" was replying to "madamgeeky's" post which implied, (intentionally or not), that the quake was related to global warming. Read and understand the context under which he/she posted. That answers the majority of your retarded queries and makes moot a lot of the comments. @geobum, you make good sense here. However, just because geological activity can affect climate, must the opposite be true: climate affecting geolgical activity in any relevant manner? Probably not. Definitely not relevant to this guys post either.
Poor Supremeamerican, do not waste your breath on the culture of pseudoknowledge, the media-induced frenzies and the deep self-adoration and pridefull ignorance. Give it up. Global warming, as in carbon-credit Wall Street trading, meant to enrich the paper-pushers in the name of "poor" island nations about to be swallowed by rising oceans! Can you write fiction to be any more weird? What is the use of science, when the global warming nuts do not know anything about Milankovich cycles, and the well known climate changes they control. What is the point talking to the ignoramuses that promote new alchemy carbon emmissions induced global warming, while coincidentally forgetting the toxic impact of pollutants spewing into oceans, drinking water and soil. Or of insane risks we area taking by drilling now into the earth's core, particularly "fracking" core-shattering technology. Or the danger in private industry building and running nuclear power plants, that are build to generate profit, not for security and safety of mankind. Radiation leaks into the atmosphere and oceans will haunt mankind for thousands of years. Global warming is a distraction served by the elite, just as this very article diverts our eyes from the SYSTEMIC failure of the financial system that Japan was unable to keep away from its shores. Japan had no means of containining the damage brought to it by the global financial instruments, just as it has no means today to contain the walls of pathetically poorly built nuclear power plants.
....a "real meteorologist" with a thermometer and everything.....wow
I would like your take on what the volcano erupting is going to mean for Japan and specifically the recovery efforts. The last I saw on prevailing wind patterns (shown were the radiation would go) it looked as if all the ash cloud would be blown into areas that are desperatly needing relief copters and other types of aircraft that would have HUGE problems in an ash cloud. I haven't heard any predictions on this effect. What do you think???
We can avoid a lot of Mother Natures destruction If we stop building cities in danger zones. If we are going to be building cities on danger zones then we need to build tougher safer buildings & infrastructures. With our technology we can build unimaginable safe Mega Cities. They are estimating that Japan cost is 100 billion dollars & 10,000 lives lost. It could have been avoided if they put human life before money!
I am not a meteorologist but i play one on TV.
Now there can be lunar or solar activity that contributes to tectonic activity, and sometimes the atmosphere will warm as a result of that, and there is evidence that there was strong solar activity before the quake, but this has absolutely nothing to do with man made global warming.
Solar activity has zero, repeat zero, effect on tectonic plates.
Lunar and Solar effects have zero to do with tectonic activity. The Japan Earthquake occurred during a period when the Moon was furtherest away from the Earth in its orbit.
What are you on? Is your ego so small that you need to keep beating this horse? If you are this super intelligent supreme american meteorologist, then why can't you see how far off topic you are? Sad....just sad.
He's not off topic – he was replying to madamgeeky post. Someone else brought up the bogus association between the earthquake and global warming and he replied with his opinion. What's sad is that you chose to jump on his back rather than contributing anything to the discussion.
A little blurb on tectonic plates and solar activity....
Imagine your pulling a carpet across the floor; it's not that heavy so it slides pretty easily. Imagine you have your counch, entertainment center, bookcases, etc, on the carpet, and then try pulling. Not so easy anymore.
The gravitational push and pull of the moon affects are oceans the same way it affects our grounds. It would be wrong to say that earthquakes are the result of solar activity; however, it does play a role.
While I certainly respect the overwhelming evidence for man-made global warming, this earthquake, like all major earthquakes (according to our current understanding), wasn't caused or even made more likely by climate change.
This earthquake, like all most great earthquakes, was caused by one tectonic plate (one slab of the Earth's crust) moving against another. Climate wouldn't affect this ongoing process appreciably.
I wouldn't be 100% confident of that. I'm not saying this is the case, but there are theories that state the techtonic plates are moving more due to changing pressures on them. How are the pressures related to global warming? Because ice caps are melting which redistribute the weight. It may seem subtle...but the earth quake itself was just that, a subtle movement. As I stated, there is zero evidence of this being true, but it is a possibility. Just about every climatologist and environmentalist will agree that Global Warming is occurring and occurring due to man kind. Did it cause this? I don't know...but its not out of the realm of possibility. As for the meterologist...that's great...congratulations on your degree...but I think I'm going to keep my logic with my wife's (environmental engineer) and my best friend's (climatologist). Just sayin'...don't be so closed minded. The experts do believe global warming is occurring. Once again, did it cause this? Don't know...probably not...but we should still learn that mother nature can bite us in the ass if we aren't careful.
What an absurd series of arguments tying this earthquake to global warming. The key aspect of the theory of climate change in today's context (if you believe or not believe) is that man changes the environment much faster than the natural rate – much faster than we can develop technology or animals can evolve over normal climate change. In the context of millions of years its accelerating change in a couple of hundred years. Thats why no particular winter or snowstorm or hurricane is proof of anything. Its the overall global rainfall, weather patterns, air temperature and sea temperature. I strongly believe in global warming but sure, I accept that empirical data is still at the 30-40% level and a counter argument is legitimate.
However the impact of global change in plate tectonics is silly be cause it would not impact the overall differences of magnitude of forces involved. In physics, everything impacts everything else. So yes, the arguments are correct – climate change would impact tectonics, as would taking water from the water table, as would depleting the fisheries in local area (reducing the weight of biological byproducts on the sea floor), as would creating ocean noise (noise creates a slight downward force) on the sea floor, as would solar flares, as would sewage discharge, etc, etc. Any human activity that changes the downward force on a particular plate over another would change the equation – even me flying from the US to Japan. They might have relative forces of .1, 2, 3, 4 or whatever. But the Magma moving under the plates would have a relative force of 1,000,000,000s. So sure it has an impact – maybe the earthquake would have been .0001% less powerful or maybe it would have been .0001 seconds later. Thats what you all are arguing about.
For the same reason the opposite correlation is very strong. Earths internal activity can impact the climate in seconds. One volcanic eruption could end life as we know it and the middle of the earth would not feel much different at all.
John, you put that very well.
Watched you show featuring the knowledgeable Jeffrey Sachs. You said that Human Service (entitlements) remained the root of the US public debt. The economy serves the people, not vice versa. And if our country (where you have chosen to nest and prosper) has incurred immense debt, its because we have an immense class tax imbalance and a predillection for prolonged imperialistic and preditory wars.
Exactly right, Chris.
This earthquake (like all others) was not the result of global warming. How that could seem logical is beyond me. What DOES make sense though is the possible connection between the rapid shift of magnetic north across Siberia. If I'm not mistaken, this has been moving more rapidly than ever before. Since the rocks in the crust are magnetized upon cooling, they would get "tugged" by any polar shift in the future (Think about a magnet's effect on iron shavings – in this case the planet's core is the magnet and the tectonic plates are the shavings). The faster this polar shift occurs, the more dramatic tectonic/volcanic activity could become...as we have been seeing (Haiti/Peru/NZ, now Japan). Makes sense to me...
Is God punishing them for killing whales and selling SUVs?
Major earthquakes that kill thousands of people happen with some regularity along the Ring of Fire that surrounds the Pacific. San Fransico 1912, Tokyo 1923, etc. etc. Los Angeles 2018(?)... As long as we people voluntarily settle on the rifts between tectonic plates, these things will happen. The Japanese knew what was coming, just not exactly where, and maybe they didn't count on the tsunami. All people of California should also know what is coming their way. When it happens, it is too late to talk about "if only..."
Nuclear problems world wide, my thoughts.
by Wayne Clifford
Presently we are witnessing the general degeneration of the Nuclear power business in Japan.
Fact:
Their diesel backup power systems failed because of the tsunami flooding. If these Diesels would have been built up on solid cement platforms, they could have safely endured the tsunami and shut down the reactors. They have had Tsunamis before.
Fact:
It is widely known that the Japanese power companies over the years did not pay attention to the safety inspector’s recommendations and therefore have cut many corners and made false reports of their own.
Fact:
It is understood that the grave shortage of Electrical power plants is now forcing them to run the remaining reactors at full capacity. ( more risk of accidents )
Fact:
The same problems of lack of adherence to recommendations by inspectors exists basically country wide in Japan.
Fact:
I suspect that there are other reactors in other power generating stations that have been slightly damaged by the 8.9 Earthquake.
Fact:
That operating others at capacity has increased the risk of accident by X %.
Fact:
The World Nuclear Energy board will maybe overlook minor discrepancies in their findings so as not to give the nuclear energy business as a whole bad press. More risk X%.
Fact:
Energy prices ( OIL ) are creeping up because of the revolutions in The Middle East.
Fact:
We now have a two sided pressure on the electrical energy production business because many countries use lots of oil to produce electricity.
Fact:
What happens when prices and risky operations increase …. these companies cut corners in maintenance and give out dishonest press releases as to the real situation.
.
My advice, step one is let’s get this goddamn Khadify problem cleaned up presyto quicko!
Now lets get back to Japan…. two weeks or a month down the road without knowing the outcome of the present situation and for argument’s purpose being the optimist that I am, they get through this terrible mess and find themselves with many dead or dying nuclear power workers and a country wide nuclear power system in shambles. If I was a worker in these other surviving nuclear plants knowing full well the lax maintenace habits and past of the nuclear plants and seeing many of my co-workers dying or dead, I would be thinking extremely seriously about a rapid career change ….growing tulips or something safer.
Fact:
We would now be shorthanded in worker resources…What happens then. We need more nuclear plant personnel. But all the smart guys are growing tulips…well we would have to lower the standards of trainees forming the new replacements
Fact:
To lower the standards for the required new workers to fill these vacancies left by the tulip growers. The training might be a little less stringent etc etc.
Fact:
The risk factor X% just went up.
But the boys in the nNuclear Power commission whom I guarantee carry around at least three pocket Geiger counters would not say much about that in their press conferences.
Fact:
When the world starts to see this decline, you will start to witness protests in front of every nuclear power plant in the world.
I hate to paint such a rosy picture but this is where we are headed.
First we must all accept the fact that we are in it together.
These were multiple events that lead to fiasco and above all the nuclear regulations did the most damage. This is my opinion.
No one is talking about the part regulations played. NRC developed these regulations and whole world copied them and now follow them.
In scenario like in nuclear fiasco in Japan, you have to make decisions on the fly and take actions on fly like the generals do when engaged in an intense battle.
In nuclear industry, all actions have to follow procedures and actions verified. May be the procedures did not exist to address such a calamity. Can you develop a procedure on a fly and get it approved by multiple disciplines & licensing and get issued to be followed? Not a chance!
You cannot even get some thing issued from the warehouse on a fly.
You cannot delete or add or modify a system, structure or component in nuclear facilities without thorough nuclear safety review.
Ask a buyer to get something in a hurry. He has to follow his procedures, multiple bids ! Sellers and suppliers probably left the town.
In scenario like the Japanese nuclear plants experienced, you could not even do a temporary modification. YOU have to follow the procedures!
How could you bring in a new temporary diesel generator and a large fuel tank to take part of the ones knocked out by tsunami? Engineering, operational, safety and security procedures put the roadblocks!
Nature initiated the fiasco and man completed it.
We are all in it together!
I guess that's why the GOP wants to slash funding to the USGS and NOAA. We need to cut our earthquake preparedness and tsunami warning system further, to make sure that tax cut they fought for and won for the wealthiest of all Americans is secure. It's all about economics.
And another sobering note about what ought to be cut when pondering disasters like this: the last time the Cascadia Fault by the Pacific NW went off, it ruptured 600+ miles long - more than double the length of the fault that just let go by Japan. It produces a 9+ earthquake every 200-500 years. Last time was January 27, 1700.
The GOP, of course, knows that Americans don't prepare like the Japanese for disasters, so there is no point in funding the few preparedness progams we have. Of course!
I agree with you sweetie, we should spend, spend, spend like there ios no tomorrow because there probably isn't. I would sorta like to see what happens in a financial meltdown. I understand it will bring on anarchy. As an old anarchist, it would be a dream come true. I think we should all exert as much pressure as we can to force the debt limit be raised to 20 trillion dollars. That would allow us to go out in style.
Cactus–come out from under that rock! We just had a financial meltdown. And since you've been in a self-imposed coma, I should tell you that, at times over the last few years, we've "invested" 1 billion a day in Iraq! I'm not kidding. And at the same time that we increased spending on everything including multiple wars, we cut taxes dramatically. That caused a huge increase in our debt. Then, through cozy relationships between the regulators and the regulated, we suffered through the meltdown I mentioned (The Great Bush Recession) The only entity that could spend–did. Otherwise, you'd be awaking to a world depression.
It is clear to me, through the word that the foundations we attempt to build with our small knowledge of understanding, and will never have infinite knowledge, which is the Lord's alone, so we must stop lying to ourselves and accept the truth which we cannot see, and handover all of our human thoughts, desires, wants of this world to the the one has had paid the price, and has victory all ready. We cannot do this no matter how we plan, if we through our free will, learn true Love true the Lord, and what he commands us, this will be our only resolve. How much more will we continue to disappoint the Creator. Maybe its time we should become more humble, and content with our lives, and maybe, just maybe, the 3% of the people in the world that control all on this broken world can give up all they have, and difference can be made, to solve all of the devastation, hunger, etc, but first we must alter the mind, and the heart! I pray that the Lord will work through our Leaders, and people for the sake of God's plan. In Jesus name Amen
I agree that the Republicans certainly have no place to talk about spending. Both parties spend like there is no tomorrow, just on different things. Both parties are hardly any different in economic assumptions or practices. However, we HAVE to somehow put a stop to the madness. The tiny meltdown we recently experienced is nothing compared to what is coming.
Making cuts is never fun, never easy, and always sure to anger a bunch of people.
One sided cuts. Give billionaires big tax breaks, give oil companies billion dollar subsidies and make the poor pay for it. That is what republicans want and are getting!
Japan will be fine as long as they do the opposite of what the USA does. We sold out to wall street banksters and multinational corporations not to mention the monster military industrial complex. Oh, and don't let your only source of news be controlled by those very same corporations.
http://mehernewspappar.blogspot.com/2011/03/post-japan-earthquake-and.html
I have written in my post that the perfectly disciplined Japanese were overwhelmed by this unimaginable scale of the disaster and their well mapped nuclear power plants are at risk. Imagine the risks and disaster threat to the un prepared cladenistine weapons Nuclear facilities in Pakistan and India where this abominable weaponry is mixed and justified with religion? Imagine these countries with no values for human life and dignity keeping the nuclear disaster red hot fire burning?Imagine these countries with massive populatios justifying these plants for their power needs?
If the weaponry is abominable, why not remove it from all over the world including United States and Europe. Why is the word abominable used in the context of only certain countries ? And putting India and Pakistan in the same sentence does not make the situation the same in both the countries. Pakistan is a religious theocratic state , not India. If the great powers of the world cant find better solutions than nuclear power, then what are the not so economically great countries supposed to do.
Are you kidding, Swami? How many Hindu extremistic groups popped up recently in your country?
Courts did not even take cases of religious hatred killings? How the Christian Missionary was burned to death in
Orissa with his infant son 12 years ago? Though India is not a religious theocratic state, Hindu extremists rule the streets by force.
India is not a religious state unless you are of abrahamic (jew christian muslim) religion. They are imprisoned, killed, and tortured. Fact.
@ Don't kill creatures of God
Your statement proves that you have no knowledge of India. When was the last time you been to india and saw religious groups ruling the streets ?
One killing of christian will make 1.2 billion people religious ? Do you have any idea of atrocities of christian missionaries in india ?
Dear Dont kill creatures of God,
The only country in history to have actually used an atomic bomb was the USA against the Japanese towards the end of WW2.
The blog though is on Japan and lets just stay focused on that. Our thoughts go out to all those whose lives have been completely churned out in this tragedy.
Don't kill creatures of God - didnt christians kill the jews ? and why do the christian missionaries pay bags of monet to people to convert ?
For the guy who is talking about the killing of pastor in Orissa, how about the killing of the Sikh in Arizona in the aftermath of sep 11. Can we extrapolate this and put USA next to Pakistan?. First learn about the world before you comment . As far as abrahmic reference, there are hardly any jews in India and the few living in India are very well protected. Don't use filthy politics to create passions.
Dr of clueless,
Hopefully you are not on a no fly list and can make a trip to India. Stop degrading the title and other countries without knowing your fact.
Folks, it is true that India is a much better country than Pakistan. But saying that there us no religious extremism is untrue. The massacre on Gujarat and mr Modi in power ought to mean something.
Please, tell me why the countries surrounding Libiya, in fact the whole mid East, could not provide the Jets,etc for a No Fly Zone?? It seems to me the vastly wealthy in those countiries have bought great amounts of planes from the USA and trained their fighter pilots. USA needs to stay out of the situation and provide encouragement, humanitarian aid, only! We will be in a quagmire and left to clean up the mess.
Rita–you know the answer. The Republican industrial complex (and, admittedly many Democrats) want to continue to spend billions on the military projects in their home districts. After all, we spend more on the military than all other countries in the world combined. How would you stop it?
Why are there no Japanese CNN reporter covering the earthquake?
Gee, I don't know. Think maybe going to work while their families are buried might not be a priority?
Ummm ... maybe because the surviving Japanese reporters are looking for lost members of their own families?
Because they are reptillian aliens from the planet nibiru and they are in hiding.
simply japan has very nice tv companies, and cnn or bbc could not make a large asian station there. that is why many international tv companies do not have japanese reporter so much even though tokyo is the center of asia. instead, they built asian main offices in hong kong since there are many english speakers.
Dear Gladator
beware of pitchpoctek
Today I have some toons that related to Japan & Libya.Thanks.
Pls visit : http://www.politiktoons.blogspot.com
Japanese kill too many Whales for no reason. And same is Denmark in their annual Whale killing festival to prove their manhood. May it God's wrath, who knows?
You know....I don't like the killing of beautiful creatures such as whales anymore than anyone else...but for goodness sake will you give me a break with the God's wrath argument? This was an EARTHQUAKE! A naturally occuring event on our planet called plate tectonics. While our earth is certainly alive, it has no will to punish or reward. It simply is.
Agreed. Americans murder 1 billion animals (cows, pigs, chickens) for 'meat'. We're all hypocrites if you want to include whales and dolphins.
Yea, tell youself it's "God's wrath" if something horrible happens to you... Tell me, why then feeling sorry for anyone or helping anyone if they deserve it anyway as a product of God's wrath? Luckily, I do have compassion, and I don't blame horrible things on "God's wrath".
This may be too hard for you to comprehend, but the reason these things happened in Japan is that the country lies where at least two tectonic plates meet. Nothing new. Has been the case for thousands of years. In 1923, I think it was, a hundred thousand Japanese dies in Tokyo as a result of an earthquake.
Southern California is due for some major carnage due to the same reason, and just like today, religious people will appear and talk about "God's wrath" when that happens, yet all earthquake experts know it is going to happen soon, just not exactly when.
Ouch! I used to respect you. Now I know that you hold yourself above, and special to, the masses. No, I will not pick you first to share my extra water bottle with based upon your holier than thou attitude. You were born into entitlement. The rest of us who have done eberything right are only paying maximal taxes while you gloat!
Most of Japan's debt is, like America's, due to quantitative easing. Meaning that they are in the form of government bonds that the federal government buys from themselves. Basically its debt that they owe to themselves (aka printing money).
This is stark contrast to the situation in Iceland, Greece, Spain, Portugal, etc. where their debt is denominated in foreign currency. Only a little over 5% of Japan's debt is sovereign (owed in anything other than yen).
So the debt-to-GDP ratio is incredibly misleading. One thing that is one Japan's side is that the yen is incredibly strong and they are in a deflationary economy, meaning that further QE will only weaken the yen and they don't need to worry about inflation that comes as a huge cost of QE tactics.
Being that the problem with the Japanese economy is a strong yen that hurts exports and deflationary economy where consumers aren't spending, as long as Japan doesn't shoulder debt from foreign countries (unlikely due to the strong yen), this quake may actually stimulate consumer spending during the rebuilding process.
I'd say one of the greatest lessons this Japanese tragedy COULD teach us – but won't – is that inner city looting does not cross all racial lines.
Some cultures know how to avoid acting like chimps on chocolate when buildings fall down.
This is incredibly racist. If I were you, I'd learn a little about privilege, oppression and poverty before posting such ignorance and stupidity.
Well, the facts speak for themselves. I don't think this person was being racist. If a particular group of people behaves like animals, people will notice it. We all have heard the Katrina stories.
I noticed this too. I would not necessarily equate it to a racial difference as much as a cultural difference. If there is looting there must not be much, because no one seems to be talking about it. But when New Orleans flooded, there was looting, rapes, murders. Instead of people helping each other, there were many people preying on the weaker. We could learn something from how the Japanese seem to be responding to this tragedy.
Definitely. The citizens of Japan have shown themselves to be compassionate, civilized individuals. I saw a video of a doctor hugging an elderly woman who had just been rescued. Nurses were massaging the womans feet to get her circulation going. It was a very compassionate scene. No looting, no violence – I wish my country were more like Japan in those aspects.
People are the same all over the world. When they are needy, they take the opportunities that come their way. Remember that you are seeing the photographs and reading the text of individuals who may or may not headline looting, but I am sure some of it goes on in Japan as it does anywhere.
What the devastation is teaching us is NOT to trust the USGS which lies lies lies about the risks all along the Western Coast of the USA. It keeps down playing the risks and says LA is due for a '7.0' quake in the next 30 years. Total BS. It's due for a super quake similar to the one in 1690 any day and it will be 8.5+
Then it lies about the tsunami risk along the Cascadia fault–continuing to claim probable waves of 15 feet! That too is total BS. Research has proven the AVERAGE waves are 42 feet and that's an average. Sometimes they exceed 60 feet. So the USGS should be adding 50% as a safety factor to the HIGHEST ever determined and tell the truth that the risk is up to 100 feet!
If 800 miles of Cascadia slips at once, and it usually does, when Japan only had 200 miles rupture, then it will be at least a 9.5 and waves will be huge and Seattle will be destroyed.
Why is the USGS hiding this?
I googled the fault and I must admit it is scary looking. It is so close to land it appears the shoreline inhabitants would have about two minutes to get away, which of course is impossible.
There is a large shelf of land that some California cities are sitting on. If that breaks off what will happen? All the buildings and people will suddenly go crashing into the ocean. That will likely create a tsunami that will head straight toward Hawaii and who knows the result of that?
If the Cascadian fault and San Andreas let go within days of each other, the net effect will be absolute devastation to a greater part of the west coast. I am grateful to live in WI where our biggest threat is tornadoes. At least they tend to be localized. OOOPs, I stand corrected. The fault appears be an average of 300 miles from shoreline due west of Grants pass/Medford, WA. so traveling at approximately 500 mph, the tsunami would hit the shore about 35-40 minutes later. Still not much time to evacuate thousands of people. The loss would total in the gazillions of dollars. The land would be covered with salt and would probably not be fit to grow crops for several years. Is it possible to erect a series of retaining walls that would help channel a tsunami into existing ditches and valleys?
Easy boy, down down...
have a doggie treat....
feel better ?
I'll tell you why–they live in the area and are protecting the value of their own homes as they don't want people to leave the area and their homes to go down in value!
I agree that our deficit spending must stop too, but I believe we could suffer a disaster like this and persevere. A catastrophe of this magnitude requires friendly nations to pull together and not allow Japan to shoulder the financial burden alone.
someone here posted a comment on God's anger shown in form of an earthquake because the Japanese and Danish people were killing whales. How lame and simple-minded this person is. So what would this person say if the same happened in San Francisco? NZ got hit by the earthquake as well...didn't you find a God-related reason for the happening!?
... and to think that the NZ quake happened in a place called "ChristChurch"? Hehehehehehe. This guys earthquake god must have a twisted sense of humor indeed.
Exactly. That's why the next really big earthquake will happen in "El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula", nowadays usually shortened to simply "Los Angeles", or just "L.A."
Great calamities of the past are mentioned in all the major religious texts. Man in general (not talking about anyone in particular) has left God out of the equation and thinks his knowledge, his mansions and fire power would make him invincible. These horrific events are just a reminder of for people who understand .... Man needs to take a step back and reflect on the purpose of life. May God have mercy on the people of Japan and the rest of the world....
The situation with Pakistan and nuclear weapons is religious. India is a secular democracy. Get a clue! Perhaps you'd like to waste more American tax money propping up the Pakistani government while they're overtly supporting terrorists. India has nuclear weapons because China was going to give them to Pakistan anyway. If Mexico had nuclear warheads pointed at the U.S., you might think differently about your neighbor to the south.
Fareed z is shamelesss. he is using this for political ends. he serves oligarchs and will never acknowledge the true problem of this world- the finance oligarchs. Japan is in debt because corporate profits go to international financial plutocrats. the world cannot afford these worthless gluttonous greedy sickos.
So many people are waiting in straight lines in front of grocery stores or gas stations for more than hours. They never cut lines or steal foods or water in this chaotic situations. I am so impressed by this.
Even though hydrogen explosions caused by M9.0 huge earthquakes and tsunami, they are keeping the main reactor tank safe and not so much radioactivity is spread out.
When what japan is facing now happens, world should remember what japan is doing now.
I believe that japan will recover itself!! I heard many people are stressed and could not sleep. Hope they can sleep well.
Mr. Levs, during your presentations, please be kind enough to display accurate maps of the region between Korea and Japan. I've noticed that the East Sea is named "Sea of Japan" on CNN's maps. The East Sea has been named so for a very long time until Japan tried to rename it. GOOGLE MAPS has taken a more professional approach by leaving the area blank. If CNN is not going to refer to the East Sea by its proper name, it should, at least, follow a more respectful, unbiased policy, such as Google's. You should be aware that 50 million Koreans take note of this issue since it is a very sensitive one.
idiot.
why do we have to remember two names for one area. sea of japan is ok.
Just remember one CORRECT name.
So simply and eloquently put, Mach3, thank you! Whether it's divine retribution or self-serving historical interpretation, off-topic is off-topic. This story is about a natural disaster, kids!
common Mr Fareed, A high school student can write a better article than this one. no debt, no numbers, no sources. You are getting too vague and inaccurate with your articles. you could mention Katrina and compare it to the recent events or the oil spill in the South and analyze little more.
i'd encourage you to write a better article. i'm sure fareed can write something much better, but that's not the point. the point is, having too much debt is dangerous, and will prevent recovery.
did it anybody humble themselves and mention the power of God in all of this. Humans are no more than a drop of water in this vast ocean of God's might. Without the mercy of God, we could get hit from the sky with giant meteors that would keep this whole planet in dark for years. praise the lord
WTH? so with god's mercy, he protects just some of us right? this is ridiculous comment.
Personally, I'd like to think of it's more in term of God's younger gay cousin running the show. You see, God himself has gotten old and tired, and he has withdrawn to the outer limits of the universe. I know, because I spoke to him just a few days ago. He came to me in my sleep, and told me the truth. Smile! God's younger cousin is really a nice fellow!
such a terrible tragedy I pray for Japan and its people.
You may help yourself by praying. Good meditation. It will make you feel better. However, I can assure you that no tsunami victim is going to be helped by you praying, unless you yourself is part of a chain of events that affects the outcome for such a victim.
If you don't beleieve me, use your logical, analytical part of your brain, and set up a lillte test: Pray for ten ten things that may or may not happen. Then avoid praying for ten other things of equal importance and probability. Repeat the procedure for new sets of things. Analyze the result. Did the things you prayed for happen with any significantly higher frequency than the things you didn't pray for?
You don't need to tell me the answer. You need to tell yourself the answer. Religion is a ghost in your brain. If it makes you happier, then fine. Then by all means, keep it up! No further comments needed.
Oh don't worry America. We'll help out the Japanese and they will recover despite the horrible devastation. By the way despite rumors to the contrary we do not learn – see we just delivered a budget to Congress that includes massive cuts to our tsunami early warning system. We are done!
Mr. Zakaria's comparison of Japan's debt load "tsunami" and our own here in the US is a "canary in the coal mine" of our future. I can only hope that we, as citizens, learn valuable lessons from this terrible tragedy; both from an emergency preparedness as well as economic standpoint.
Leave it to americans to make this about themselves.
To not come across as a fear mongerer, or prophet of death, Fareed Zakaria stops short of pronouncing the truth that experts agree with: There is a high likelyhood that the next big one will be in California, especially southern California. A magnitude 8.5 or greater with an epicenter in or near LA could kill hundreds of thousands, and make the current Japanese catastrophy seem like a smaller precursor. First of all, the Japanese are better prepared. Secondly, the epicenter wasn't in Tokyo, or on the sea floor right outside of Tokyo. Don't take my word for it, read up on the subject, or take a look at this map. The void along the north American coast is waiting to be filled: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/world/10_largest_world.php
Is near bankrupt California prepared to deal with that? Is the U.S. federal government economically prepared to rebuild the second largest city in the U.S.?
Most of the posts seem to address climate change however, the major point here was economic preparation to handle the great loss caused by such a disaster. I am not at all comfortable with the lack of leadership in the White House. Our current President does not even know how to react to a crisis thousands of miles away, and takes weeks to even have any policy at all. So what on earth would he do if something hit the US in the face at home. I think he would have a meltdown.
This is all from ALMIGHTY.we are being warned over and over again,Read all the scriptures the signs are there,we are not ready to mend our ways.Theres more to come
I think God should mend HIS ways. We are warning him over and over again by turning our backs on him. He cannot say that we didn't warn him. There is more to come. God will one day be fired from his position. We made him up and put him up there in heaven, and we are now increrasingly being fed up with him.
Bob thinks he is God... good luck with your exit interview (and they said Christians had a problem thinking they were at the center of the universe).
Sorry Bob (God Snickers and hits "SMITE" button on keyboard.)
Only Kiddin Bob.
Actually it was predicted several thousand years ago that the climactic events would increase in frequency and magnitude. It was compared to a woman who is about to deliver a child. It starts slow and very subtle at first. but as the end nears the labor pains grow stronger and much closer together. That is exactly what is happening now. The following is only a part of research I did in 2008.
Earthquakes
Prior to 1600 there were only one or two earthquakes recorded.
But beginning in 1600 -1699 there were 7.
1700-1799–13.
1800-1899–26.
1900-1999–130
Earthquakes Worldwide
in the Last 30 Days (August 2008)
(of magnitude >= 4.0)
DATE links are into the IRIS WILBER system where you can see seismograms and request datasets.
DATE LAT LON MAG DEPTH km REGION
28-AUG-2008 23:56:49 -11.09 162.00 5.0 29.4 SOLOMON ISLANDS
28-AUG-2008 20:36:43 49.32 -129.23 4.0 10.0 VANCOUVER ISLAND REGION
28-AUG-2008 16:20:41 50.20 -129.59 4.2 10.0 VANCOUVER ISLAND REGION
28-AUG-2008 15:50:11 43.42 -127.12 4.1 10.0 OFF COAST OF OREGON
28-AUG-2008 15:36:25 49.63 -130.64 4.4 10.0 VANCOUVER ISLAND REGION
28-AUG-2008 15:22:24 0.08 -17.31 6.2 10.0 NORTH OF ASCENSION ISLAND
28-AUG-2008 15:20:37 50.14 -129.61 4.1 10.0 VANCOUVER ISLAND REGION
28-AUG-2008 15:00:48 43.14 -126.29 4.4 10.0 OFF COAST OF OREGON
28-AUG-2008 14:13:12 50.15 -129.67 4.1 10.0 VANCOUVER ISLAND REGION
28-AUG-2008 13:31:51 50.90 179.12 4.4 10.0 RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS
28-AUG-2008 12:37:35 50.22 -129.54 6.1 10.0 VANCOUVER ISLAND REGION
28-AUG-2008 09:20:30 50.15 -129.64 4.8 10.0 VANCOUVER ISLAND REGION
28-AUG-2008 08:56:44 -17.99 -178.51 4.5 577.1 FIJI ISLANDS REGION
28-AUG-2008 08:31:44 36.38 141.14 4.8 35.0 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
28-AUG-2008 08:17:33 17.57 145.63 5.0 222.8 MARIANA ISLANDS
28-AUG-2008 07:59:53 50.14 -129.56 4.0 10.0 VANCOUVER ISLAND REGION
28-AUG-2008 07:28:53 50.22 -129.40 4.2 10.0 VANCOUVER ISLAND REGION
28-AUG-2008 06:42:21 50.23 -129.53 4.0 10.0 VANCOUVER ISLAND REGION
28-AUG-2008 05:38:25 50.01 -129.71 4.1 10.0 VANCOUVER ISLAND REGION
28-AUG-2008 04:47:54 50.07 -129.68 4.4 10.0 VANCOUVER ISLAND REGION
28-AUG-2008 03:16:07 49.87 -127.29 4.2 10.0 VANCOUVER ISLAND REGION
28-AUG-2008 02:59:37 -8.62 119.27 5.2 154.4 FLORES REGION, INDONESIA
28-AUG-2008 02:08:29 50.09 -129.62 4.3 10.0 VANCOUVER ISLAND REGION
28-AUG-2008 01:58:36 50.11 -129.55 4.6 10.0 VANCOUVER ISLAND REGION
28-AUG-2008 01:15:15 50.16 -129.61 4.6 10.0 VANCOUVER ISLAND REGION
27-AUG-2008 22:45:33 50.09 -129.62 4.3 10.0 VANCOUVER ISLAND REGION
27-AUG-2008 21:52:38 32.44 47.41 5.7 10.0 IRAN-IRAQ BORDER REGION
27-AUG-2008 20:17:35 50.14 -130.10 5.2 10.0 VANCOUVER ISLAND REGION
27-AUG-2008 19:59:22 50.21 -129.77 4.8 10.0 VANCOUVER ISLAND REGION
27-AUG-2008 19:45:04 49.91 -130.01 4.1 10.0 VANCOUVER ISLAND REGION
27-AUG-2008 19:28:20 30.62 83.29 4.7 20.6 XIZANG
People ridicule the bible, claim it was written by the tooth fairy and joke about the flying spaghetti monster but there are many things predicted which are now coming true and how do you non believers explain that the biblical writers knew all that 2000 years ago?
As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be at the coming of the son of man.
Matthew 24:37-39
Its called "The Quickening"
Society is evolving too fast and we need to slow down
and get back to Earth.
Mike, Mike, Mike, you believe in your invisible power and read your holy book because you are an American. If you had been born in Pakistan, you would believe in another invisible power and read another holy book, and if you were born in a country that stressed reason rather than religion, you wouldn't believe in gods, monsters, tooth fairies, or Santa Claus at all. It's as simple as that.
We as a country overspending on wars than infrastructure. Ten years at war and some people who politically and financially benefited from the Iraq war are calling for another war with Libya. Republicans are calling on freezing all domestic expendictures with exceptions of those where they benefit like wars. The countries to whom we claim to protect are advancing. Poor science achivement. Democrats are dishing out money on unemployement ,.....without long term structural investment. I hope jesus resurrects this comming Easter. We as a nation need alot of Prayes.
The US is prepared to send help to any corner of the globe – despite the miserable way that we handled Katrina. I don't see how earthquakes in Japan provide yet another reason to bash America. If Zakaria doesn't like the way we handle things, he should get out.
Disasters happen. Despite what liberals think, humankind doesn't have control over everything. As a great philosopher said, "Man is not the measure of all things." Most efforts to socially engineer our way out of problems have proved utterly worthless. Best we can do is prepare for the worst, and hope for the best. That's good old fashioned wisdom – something that liberals and progressives don't know anything about.
@Jonathan
I am very liberal, you have liberals and conservatives mixed up
I could play the same game and call you a Tea.....
get the idea ?
You people are really retared. How did you turn this into a political issue?
All of a sudden it is the GOP or the repubicians fault. Listen to your self.
The second writer was referring to the first coment relating the quake to global warming.
Ok, Democrats, lets spend another Trillion on quake prepardness and if we do then we
will not have a dime to counter the economic impact of a quake if it was to happen.
Morons.
Only a retard can't spell retard hah
Repubicians ???????
And he says we are retared........mmmmmmmmmm
What the earthquakes in Japan teach us is; that we have enough problems right here in the United States and we cannot afford to fix everyone else's problems. Sorry, but this was predicted... could they not have predicted a tsunami of 30 meters and built the emergency generators on towers for the nuclear plants? Where are all the engineers?
Why do people discuss non-sense here, can we all first think and act on how to help the country of Japan in whatever way we can.
After helping then we will all have that F_CKing time to discuss about your meteorologist ideas, egoist know how, economist agenda, environmental somehow, political allies.
OK
You forgot to mention Japan owe that money to its own people, not to foreign country like US.
Everyone go out and buu an iPad. It's better than saving for our future.
This disaster is expected to cause damages in the 100 billion dollar range... or roughly the bailout given to AIG.
Wow,
Give someone a soap box and they will take it. My families thoughts go out to the families there for their losses and devastation of so much. How about a little focus on the human side of things and not so much everyones political/religious bullish$t. Save it for another time.
What this teaches us is that in a country like Japan that *is* prepared for major earthquakes, this kind of devastation still happens. In a country that is woefully *unprepared* for any kind of natural disaster like the United States, the death toll, economic impact, and environmental impact will be MUCH greater. Why is that? Because like almost everything else in America, our personal greed (I won't pay another CENT in taxes!!) far exceeds our willingness to pitch in together for the common good. We're great at reacting to things like this (sometimes), but we can't see past the end of our nose to do anything before hand.
Agree with JRH. The Japanese were well-prepared for the earthquake, just not the resulting tsunami. A 20 meter wall of water rushing in devastated everything. If such an earthquake and tsunami hit off the southwest coast here in the US the damage would probably send our country into a depression and the lost of live would be easily hundreds of thousands.
We all know what Americans can and do not need to learn , and that is that we are selfish and will only do that that benefits our lives.lol
There is no way to prevent an earthquake. The finicial crisis in the USA however, was not the force of nature or an act of God. It was a man made disaster that could have been easily prevented. Just as Canada did not have a single bank fail, so could have the USA been protected with more sane government. I do not see any comparing man made disasters and natural disasters. What happened in Japan is not their fault. What happened in the USA is entirely the governments fault. Regulations were in place to prevent it. These regulations were taken down allowing the finicial mess in America to happen. Apples and oranges.
That it exactly why I am not voting for any republican or democrat in the future. My votes will now go to the constitution party and the GOOOH. the dems and repubs worked together to cause or create a climate that allowed irresponsible behavior on the part of banks and wall street. Then the government used taxpayer dollars to bail them out at tax payer expense and the creeps who caused the whole mess rewarded themselves with million dollar bonuses.
They can all kiss my grits, I'm not voting for one of them.
Back on topic, my heart goes out to the people of Japan. What a horrible mess. It will be such a terrible job to clean up all the waste. I fear the farmland will be polluted with salt and may not grow crops for several years. I commend them for the orderly way they are conducting themselves in the face of horrid tragedy.
Maybe China, which has a lot more money to spend then the US will step up and provide a great deal of help. It could be a healing situation since the Japanese plundered China pre 1940. The act of helping those who wronged you can aid in forgiveness and the Japanese would have to realize they are being helped by a country they have little right to expect to offer assistance.
Time will tell if China is a good neighbor or if it is simply bent on world domination.
NO, we should just keep SPENDING! I want gold faucets in all Federal Government bathrooms. I'm a federal employee and we deserve it! (you don't) Its easy! All we have to do is KEEP SPENDING!!! Y'see, when you're deep in debt, to get out of that, you go DEEPER in debt! See? By the way, I'm really a five year old. Haha! I'm so funneeeee! (point: some folks actually believe this). Yep, 5 Trillion dollars spent so far and NO JOBS.
Getting our financial house in order is too hard. Ya gotta help the ecomomy, or someting like that. Not sure, really. I like Dancing with the Stars. Don't know much else except what I'm told to think. Oh, spending is good for the banks? Uh, is that good?
Yes, Suzie, whats good for the banks is good for you. Do you believe that? Haha! Wake up, little Suzie, wake up, daddaaddaadadada! Wake up!
...........don't listen to those 2 Susie ~ they are gay.
...
I like dancing also but I like cartoons way more
I understand Japan's economic pain. I had to replace a clothes washer this last weekend.
Are you new around here? ; ]
Yes, if the last 30 years are the slightest indication, we are going to wait for catastrophe before we act, if then. Only real visceral suffering, of which most Americans know very little, will do, I'm afraid. 9/11 was insufficient. Katrina was insufficient.
Of course, we can choose either path and I'd prefer that we chose the path of responsible governance and preparation.
Who cares about money it has no value anyway the globalists love this agenda and will use this earthquake and nuclear emergency to their benefit. Only the rich get richer and nature will destroy that till all men who are created equal wake up and become equal with one another!
Fareed points out that Japan's debt is 250% of GNP. But isn't that debt mainly to its own ciitizens? I don't think Japan has as much need to worry about debt as we do. Ours is lower as a percentage of GNP, but mostly owed to people elsewhere in the world. It seems the Japanese citizens could forgive some of their country's debt without it affecting their economy very much, but our debt has to be repaid in full.
I HATE HOW THE MEDIA SHOW THE VIDEO AND THE PICTURE IS BLOCK BY THEIR SUBTOPIC OR THE LOGO. LET THE AUDIENCE SEE THE FULL PICTURE,YOU IDIOT.
..........I hate how people misuse the word how...............
Big Tuna, that is so gay.
MR. President Obama The Statue Of Liberty still stands in New Yorks Harbor , Show the world the true meaning of America. The U.S . government has plenty of land. Invite the population of Japan to come and live and rebuild their lives in America. Is this not what this country has always been about? No one deserves to suffer the absolute devastations created by this uncontrolable natural disaster. My prayers go out to the people of Japan... Help Them.. show the entire world that yes we are different, and proud to once again open the door to Freedom. Terry Keith Ours.. Youngstown Ohio.
.............this is unfair........my bud is obviously no where near as good as yours !!
Not that I think that this is the time or place for this discussion, but if you really feel that way, then what about all of the devastation going on in Mexico? No food, No decent water, no homes to even lose,no jobs unless you want to work for the cartels. And they won't be recovering anytime soon, are you as welcoming to them? Or is yellow closer to white than brown?
What this proves is that the world not only misunderstands nature, but also economics.
As George Carlin once said, the Planet is fine, its the people that are screwed.
Thank you! Japan had no more power to contain the global financial tsunami that destroyed its economy leaving it on life-support, then it had with the wrath of nature. Japan had to produce and export more and more of everything, just to have the privildge of borrowing more and more, and maintain the illusion of prosperous, modern society.
“By a continuing process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens.” John Keynes
This is the global equivalent of being hit with a baseball bat while defenselessly sitting down enjoying a cup of afternoon tea. Somehow people have managed to take a global tragedy and turn it into a political debate about the United States. Our problem is that we are self-centered and selfish to the point that we can barely function as a society. If Global Warming doesn't kill us, the absolute selfishness of Americans will.
The Ponzi scheme of the world banking system is coming unraveled everyday. Hard to pay the bills to service the debt of the economy when the cheap energy that is the foundation of growth is no longer there. Lesson for you Mr Zakaria. Peak Oil, sure you have heard about it, main stream media can not and will not accurately report on it.
............Fareak's Take.........this guy is becoming an expert on just about everything in the world. I think he should go back to his roots.......designing burkas.
.......he also has a fareakey looking mug.........
You are an idiot who can not carry an intelligent conversation. Go back to watching your favorite show the "dances with the stars".
Man made, God made, Nature Made, it doesn’t matter. The question here is whether we are prepared or not. And the answer is NO.
Counting down the minutes in utter dread waiting for a reporter or a blogger to somehow slip in a comment or reference to "Hurricane Katrina". Getting ready to roll my eyes for the 1000th time.
all you mfr's on here are ridiculous. get a clue....
while the devastation was caused by shift in tectonic plates, it also shifted the north south axis, solar flares and sun's magnetic field could increase the devastation of plate shift through magnetic fields , the last few years we have seen a increase in volcano and earth quake activity, which is likely to increase more in the next decade along with space threats from asteroids ect, in some parts we could see a noticeable change in seasons and temperature
listening to cnn cover the huge tragedy in japan, it feels like we are living in a colonized usa. why are all the anchors and and the reporters speaking in funny english accents? is that a new fashion now?
btw, japan obviously believes in reaganomics: deficits don't matter (dick chenny cited reagan's wisdom while rebutting paul oneil, the secretary of treasury, who objected to big spending when bush was about to invade iraq). zakaria dosn't know it?
Reality has a way of clearing away the smoke and mirrors of spun-up delusional realities to create a realm of what’s really possible. In God may We Trust – but Verify.
Al Gore koodent possibly have linked tectonism to climate
So sad how nature drives our lives. Its like the God finger pointing to destruction. Defenetly with a purpose.
Mercy lord to us poor worms humans
This devestation is a simple reminder that man must respect naturethe good,and, the bad, learning to live with this dynamic planet we live on. As a nation we need to have major disaster preparedness at the local comminuity leve(city, county, state, interstate level)l not relying on the United States Government to provide rapid short tern and long term assistence.
Will Obama and fiscally liberal Democrats please take Fareed's advice?
"Although no one can ever prepare for a tsunami like this, we all need to keep our eyes on worst-case scenarios: financial meltdowns, wars and natural disasters.
All of these things can happen, and we should keep them in mind in managing our lives, companies and countries. We need to give ourselves enough flexibility and resilience to be able to handle such crises."
I read this article because I think this tragedy can teach us a great deal while our attention is focused on it. I have a deep love of Japan and her people and lived there teaching English for a couple years from '85-'87. Some things may not have changed a lot. The people and government are very different...almost our polar opposite in little everyday things they do. e.g. they read up and down and we read left to right, they float their letters in an imaginary box, we write on an imaginary line, they open a book from the back, we do from the front. When I look at this horrible tragedy, I see their strength and resilience and know that as prepared as they are....we probably are not. We have few drills and preparations of everyday citizens even though good systems are available. They had great infrastructure and building preparation while some of our government leaders would have us cut NOOA (?) (the advance weather alert system in the Pacific). There is an excellent system put out by the state of Washington and adopted by a number of other states called Map Your Neighborhood. Please look into this and let people know about it. My own city has adopted it and yet most people don't know about it. Every single citizen needs to have some true disaster awareness and a sense of what to do. I hope we can gain inspiration from the Japanese and then eventually translate that into better infrastructure, alerting system and home and neighborhood preparedness. I urge people to contribute as you are able to any help efforts in Japan, just as we would want our international neighbors to help us.
Its snowing – MMGW
Its not snowing – MMGW
Its raining to much – MMGW
Its not raining enough – MMGW
My dog bit the mailman – MMGW
Mt wife is in a bad mood – MMGW
There are more hurricans -MMGW
There are fewer hurricans – MMGW
There are more earthquakes – MMGW
The sky is falling – MMGW
Al Gore is a self serving idiot- this one is true
I have a riddle for all the leftist nuts on line...
What's the difference between George W Bush and Barak Hussien OaBama?
So why sould only the Untied States be prepared. Is this a very patronizing suggestion that the USA should prepare for God's wrath or something. Why not shouldn't Iran prepare for it instead? Let me pose this question: If GOd did exist and is as horrible as the Bible and Qura'n make him out to be, then he could get all pissy again and start a hailing storm of giant asteroids, another Biblical flood that submerges the entire planet and kills everyone (God doesn't care). The question becomes, should we dig giant holes and climb into them and bring 10 boxes of ritz crackers and a roll of tiolet paper, or should we all buy rafts and a case of beer, a bag or pretzels, some water bottles, and a tube of sunscreen? Or should we all just stand there and let GOd kill us? What if the Universe explodes? How would we prepare for that?
I think the US already has an excellent disaster policy, hasn't it? Look at Hurricane Katrina – the government put in place a very fiscally responsible plan there: let the poor die and their homes get destroyed. In the language of fiscal conservatives: if you can't afford to survive, that's just evolution in practice. Not that they believe in evolution...
1. Watch "Magnetic Storm" movie on youtube and see Gary Glatzmaier's publications: http://www.es.ucsc.edu/~glatz/publications.html
2. Earth's magnetic field becomes unstable (why? Sun activity?);
3. If current model ("dynamo theory": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamo_theory) is correct then due to electromagnetic induction Earth's magnetic field changes lead to internal Earth molded core electrical currents changes (and vice versa).
4. Due to friction between molded core and Earth's mantle => crust (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structure_of_the_Earth) we have got current seismic activity.
It will be great to check the correlation between Earth magnetic field behavior and Earth seismic activity.
@supremeamerican
you are definitively not a metereologist, or any sort of physician. you don't even have the language of someone with that formation. tectonics and climate are connected in two obvious ways.
any volcanic or seismic activity imply a heat exchange with the atmosphere (which can warm things up). any volcanic eruption can unleash a clood of ashes that will cool down the temperature.
Now lets look at the other direction. How climate change can influence tectonics.
We are all familiar that asphalt get dammaged by the seasonal temperature changes, as the material contract and expand, cracks appear.
Climate change cause the temperature to fluctuate more rapidly and in a more extreme fashion, thus having a deep impact on the earth crust, causing it litteraly to crack. yes, even a few degree is a big change.
Now an hidden factor is water. you all know this strange substance behave in a funny way, and how ice actually float on water. Those particularities of water cause even more stress in some areas.
So could volcanic activity increase as a result of climate change ? yes.
Lol ! I forgot to tell my credentials ! Maybe I should have claimed to be Stephen Hawkings incognito or something. Instead I'll let everyone double check my facts by checking books at their library on heat exchange, tectonics, weather patterns and so on. you can also visit serious sites or read serious magazines. Personaly I like the NASA websites a lot, but that's because I like astronomy as a hobby.
What have we learned from the earthquake?????
The PLANET HAS A SOUL & Japan is being punished for slaughtering WHALES & DOLPHINS.
It s a fact, not a coincidence.
The Japanese deserve the same treatment they accord other intelligent species.
INJURY, SUFFERING, DEATH, DESTRUCTION OF HABITAT, FAMILY TORN APART!
That's what the Japanese do to WHALES & DOLPHINS & now they are reaping the rewards.
What goes around eventually comes around & it could not have happened at a better time!
Have you seen the advertisements on CNN's home page this morning. Get rid of this stuff. I'm shifting to another .com for news until unprecedented and offensive use of advertising stops.
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