I have been thinking about this lots over the weekend – apparently not many Japanese people have home insurance and undoubtedly there are going to be lots of people unable to work for one reason or another.

So what happens? Does the Government help them out indefinitely or are they all going to be fending for themselves?

For example – a family (assuming they all survived) with no home and no income because the jobs they had are no longer there. Once the emergency cover is removed and they have to get back on their feet – how do they get a new home? How do they feed themselves? How do they survive?

Interesting point. I would still rather be Japanese that Haitian in theses circumstances.I would think the state will be able to absorb the (relatively)few people who have long term effects.

I was thinking the same thing this morning. There was an interveiw on Radio 4 with a woman who was going through what was left of her house trying to find her husbands medals (he died last year) where would you even start… 🙁

My best mate flew back to Belfast last week for a funeral only for the quake and tsunami to hit on friday, luckily his wife and kid were at home which is outside the costal town the live in and at about 70feets above sea level. He’s booked to fly back today as planned but has no guarantees of gettting to tokyo and no idea how to get north from tokyo when he gets there. Can’t imagine what he’s going through, he’s a school teacher and has heard reports of how little of the school is left, how many puplis are missing, homeless and left with very little.

crazy times

if its anything like how Sri Lanka worked after the tsunami, the government/outside support (in this case probably more the government) will pour money into building some proper defences, and rebuilding the wiped out areas. There will be a 3-5 year period of building, which will provide both homes for a lot of people, and employment in the short term. New homes will probably be allocated on the basis of who owned a home before – in SL this has caused a load of problems as a lot of folk were living in ‘unofficial’ accomodation – so there was no paper trail and they’ve been left with nothing. I’d think that in a more western country this is less likely to be an issue.

if its anything like how Sri Lanka worked after the tsunami, the government/outside support (in this case probably more the government) will pour money into building some proper defences

I’m assuming Japan had the best defences before this happened. They were described on the news as being the best prepared nation for earthquakes etc.

If you had a white-collar job before the quake I doubt you will be best equipped to rebuild houses, schools etc.

I can see how aid etc would work in the short term. But I can’t see how they get back to where they were.

if they did then I find it unlikely so many people would have died. In SL there are alarm systems along every stretch of coast, and every beach has repeated signs telling you of the tsunami escape route – essentially the nearest high land – so if something happens you know exactly what to do and where to go. They also banned building within 300yards of the coast (although that has been recinded more recently.

You’re right that white collared workers aren’t the best equipped for building work, however a *lot* of jobs in building just require manual labour. things won’t be back to ‘the way they were’ – possibly ever – however that’s how things will start.

its also worth noting that whilst the death toll (current estimate 10,000 people) is high and the damage total, in perspective the impact isn’t huge. For instance, that’s 1/10th of the population of Brighton. Damage was severe, but mostly only in areas right on the coast. Much larger areas would have just suffered some high water damage.

the damage total, in perspective the impact isn’t huge.

Is not how it makes me feel.

its also worth noting that whilst the death toll (current estimate 10,000 people) is high and the damage total, in perspective the impact isn’t huge. For instance, that’s 1/10th of the population of Brighton

It will end up a lot lot higher than that.

I’m assuming Japan had the best defences before this happened. They were described on the news as being the best prepared nation for earthquakes etc.

I think the problem is that there are two completely different design requirements here: to survive an earthquake you want a building that flexes and [probably] isn’t too heavy, but to survive a tsunami you want a stiff, heavy building.
So the housing that has been built to survive an earthquake (and did) was then washed away by the water.
The thing that strikes me about this tsunami is that we’ve seen a lot more coverage of it compared to SL and the shear power behind it is truly amazing. If you’re not out of the way you have no chance.
Very very sad. The only thing I can think though is that if any country will get back in its feet, it’s Japan. If that had happened here we’d all be running around like headless chickens.

No we wouldn’t; we’d be blaming the government.