Japan Earthquake Aftermath

[bljones]

Absolutely amazing.

Japan earthquake and tsunami: See how the country has rebuilt in 11 months | News | National Post





Especially compared to the recovery of the Gulf after Katrina during the same post-catastrophe timespan.

And don't even get me started on the NGO windfall/boondoggle/time-and-dollar-suck that is Haiti.


There is something to be said for a national solve-the-problem-now-fix-the-blame-later attitude.

[WouldaShoulda]

Is this a big loss for the power of diversity??

Wiki~ Ethnic groups 98.5% Japanese, 0.5% Korean, 0.4% Chinese, 0.6% other[2]

[killarney_sailor]

Can't imagine what it has to do with diversity. I think you would find that there is very little diversity in Haiti. Obviously has a great deal to do with focus, the willingness to spend money, and organizational ability.

Hasn't received much attention in the West, but the Chinese response to the immense earthquake in Sichuan a few years ago was remarkably effective. The Chinese learned their lesson from an earthquake in the 1970s, not too far from Beijing, that killed over 200,000. In the latter case the response was terribly-handled and became highly-politicized. It even contributed to the fall of the Gang of Four and rise of Deng Xiaoping who started the market-economy reforms - so in that case, the impact of a huge natural disaster fundamentally led to changes in the country and the world.

[WouldaShoulda]

Originally Posted by killarney_sailor

Obviously has a great deal to do with focus, the willingness to spend money, and organizational ability.

Not necessarily in that order.

How do you suppose the Chicoms would handle looters or local politicians skimming from the recovery fund till??

[killarney_sailor]

Perhaps not in that order at all. I did quite a bit of reading about the Sichuan earthquake and there was no mention of looting - although the area affected was mainly rural and quite poor so probably not much to be looted. Knowing China I would imagine there was skimming going on, sort of the nature of the country. They treat corruption in an interesting way - make a fuss about it being illegal, for the most part ignore it, and then every so often have a big show trial over some particularly egrecious example and end up executing someon. Doesn't happen often, but it does happen.

I just looked up some of my research notes about the response. There were 60,000+ killed including many schoolchildren (there was a huge corruption scandal afterward because it was found that many schools had not been built to code - wire used instead of rebar for example). Something more than 5 million lost their homes. The country's number #2 arrived in the area the day after the quake to be in charge of the relief efforts - his universtiy training was in geophysics which is interesting - another of the Chinese leadership who is a technocrat. Within two days there were more than 15,000 army troops in the area. Within five months, 800,000 new houses were either finished or under construction. The government have spent $441 billion (!) on the recovery - so all the money they are making from imports is not sitting around in banks somewhere.

I won't argue with reordering the three points I made since you need all three in abundance.

[Alibaba]

Japan Didnt Invade Iraq and Afganastan, and they dont spend Trillions of Dollars to keeep the world safe for Capitaism, Imperialism and Free
Trade.

I think they learned thier lesson 65 years ago.

A few months ago the local Market had a Big Sale on perch. $3.99 a pound. Thinking it was local Lake Erie Perch, i put a few in my cart. Then I seen it was a product of China.
I put it back in the freezer. Co incidence today I see its on Sale again but $4.99 a poundd, I wonder if this means its Radio-Active Free Fish.?? No Thanks I`ll pass

So whats safer, Nuked Chinese ocean perch or Erie`s Mercury Lake perch..?

[WouldaShoulda]

Originally Posted by killarney_sailor

Knowing China I would imagine there was skimming going on, sort of the nature of the country. They treat corruption in an interesting way - make a fuss about it being illegal, for the most part ignore it, and then every so often have a big show trial over some particularly egrecious example and end up executing someon. Doesn't happen often, but it does happen.

That's just what I was thinking!!

Of course, I don't know if they have elections or if they would re-elect the incompetent that threw an Earthquake Party instead of preparing for it.

[killarney_sailor]

They have some local elections but the people elected don't really have much power since the province or the national government appoints local Communist Party leaders who have the ultimate say. There is a lot not to like about China, but you have to give them credit for all being pretty much on the same page and changing their country incredibly in one generation. BTW, I was offered a job at Chinese school today - for whenever we might not be cruising and have a year available. The school has a 'Sino-Canada Program' where they teach both the Chinese curriculum and enough of the Canadian (Ontario) curriculum to prep the kids to go to university in Canada. It is not an international school, but a state school. I have no idea where the idea for this program came from. Probably won't go since it is the middle of big industrial belt of east-central China (think Rust Belt without the Rust). Lots of coal-mining and air you can chew for a snack.

[aeventyr60]

Originally Posted by bljones

Absolutely amazing.

Japan earthquake and tsunami: See how the country has rebuilt in 11 months | News | National Post





Especially compared to the recovery of the Gulf after Katrina during the same post-catastrophe timespan.

And don't even get me started on the NGO windfall/boondoggle/time-and-dollar-suck that is Haiti.


There is something to be said for a national solve-the-problem-now-fix-the-blame-later attitude.

My experience in japan was that people worked "TOGETHER" to solve problems, and the group took credit. United we stand, divided we fall..

[knothead]

Originally Posted by aeventyr60

My experience in japan was that people worked "TOGETHER" to solve problems, and the group took credit. United we stand, divided we fall..

There's the difference between the Japanese people and so many others right there. The Japanese people work together and the government works with them. Organizing, facilitating, coordinating. So many other peoples just sit back and wait for the government to fix things. Think FEMA.