• Undoubtedly this is the largest natural disaster to have hit Japan in decades. We will still need to follow the news to see what the final toll is, as well as to learn whether there were parts of the preparedness system that did not work properly. The most important lesson to take away is that concerted and rationally formulated mitigation methods do work in limiting the damage, even from a disaster on this scale.
• FrumForum writer Noah Kristula-Green • Offering some perspective on the Japan quake and tsunami from a disaster-preparedness angle. Kristula-Green, who lived in Japan during his elementary and high school years, recalls the constant earthquake and tsunami drills he had to do, just in case something happened. What’s interesting is the way he twists the whole issue on the U.S. — noting some recent arguments against such things. “There is a strain of libertarian and conservative thought which believes that public services and regulations are not just wasteful but are inherently incapable of ever being beneficial,” he writes. “The Japanese experience should lead to a reevaluation of that claim.” source

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