Thoughts on the Japan Tragedy
Image courtesy of al Jazeera
Needless to say, I'm horrified by the tragic earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Walking through my school building today I spoke to several of my Japanese classmates, all of whom thankfully reporting that their families and friends were safe. I could still see that the event had struck them deeply, as well it should. It is difficult as an outsider to see devastation on a large scale; much more so when it is your people who are affected.
The death toll from the disaster is not yet known and will not be finalized for some time, but we can rest assured that it will be significantly lower than in similar disasters such as the Beichen earthquake that struck Sichuan Province, China in 2008. This is not to minimize the significance of the disaster but rather to point out that little things people take for granted- a functioning, clean government and well-regulated building codes- save many lives in a crisis. In fact, comparing how different countries absorb natural disasters is a telling sign of development- much more so than numbers of Starbucks or shiny new airport terminals. I hope if a silver lining emerges from this tragedy it is that governments in developing countries lying atop fault lines redouble their efforts to enforce building regulations, rebuild tottering bridges, and ensure that the disaster response mechanisms are well-prepared.
