The Sendai quake and tsunami and now the nuclear incident – as Prime Minister Naoto Kan so delicately put it – are overwhelming. Some of the aftershocks have been bigger than Loma Prieta. What can be done with the remains of a wall of water that washed inland as far as six miles and was over 30 feet high. I can understand why people just stand around, doing nothing, or are reduced to measuring a damaged road.
The pictures are heartbreaking and very scary. More so – for me atleast – because the scenes are so first world; because Japan – more than any other country, including the United States – expected an earthquake and tried to be ready; because, while we all expect that there will be an earthquake sometime, nobody can really be ready.
Thanks for putting a comprehensible face on this immensity. I am in shock and denial at the human toll, in awe of nature’s power (to sink the island by 2 feet and change the length of the earth’s day) and protecting myself in a cloak of indignation at our arrogance in thinking that we can control and plan our way around forces so much bigger than we are.