Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Aftermath of Sendai Japan Mega-Quake - The Economic Component

Within a day of the Sendai Earthquake the death toll had risen to 1000 with 500 missing - as the figure was climbing literally hourly. In the world news were videos of the damage, and on YouTube 10s of thousands of uploads within the first couple of hours. As more videos poured in the World watched in horror and the most Earthquake prepared nation on the globe could not defend against the 8.9 Sendai mega-quake.

Yes, Japan fared far better than any other nation could and far better than Los Angeles, San Francisco, or Seattle ever would but still they were no match for Mother Nature this time around. As oil refineries burned, and ships were aground, the damage of the tsunami was devastating - no structure had a change along the beach, and water inundated the countryside for miles, but what about Japans energy, transportation, and infrastructure sectors - how did they fail?

Fukishima Nuclear Power Plant in Japan has a serious problem, and is reporting radiation eight times normal, as it is being shut down, other nuclear power plants across Japan are being shut down as cooling systems have failed, broken pipes, overwhelmed by Tsunami with debris in their inlets, or quake damage. Meanwhile, Japan continues to get aftershocks in the 6 and 7 Richter Scale Range.

And as if things couldn't get any worse for a slowly expanding economy which was starting to see some life after the global economic crisis - know it is taking a financial hit, as traders are "shorting" anything Japanese, so they are shorting their funds, markets, and Yen. It is very unfortunate that traders would kick one of our allies when they are down. But consumers in the US may come through and buy Japanese Cars and Electronics as a way of saying "we are with you" and we care. Well that is what's happening in the short term.

In the long-term we can expect lots of good to for their civilization, society, and economy as they rebuild and have absolutely full employment. This will act as a stimulus and be good for their economy - that is if you can call such a deathly disaster "good" - after watching. There is a very good book to read if you are wondering what Japan and her economy will be doing next. The name of the book is;

"Catastrophic Earthquakes - The Need to Insure Against Economic Disaster" (part of the Earthquake Project) printed by the National Committee on Property Insurance.

Indeed, I hope all understand that human beings are quite good at adapting to disaster, and as bad as this Earthquake was, Japan will survive and thrive far into the future. So, please consider all of this.

Lance Winslow is the Founder of the Online Think Tank, a diverse group of achievers, experts, innovators, entrepreneurs, thinkers, futurists, academics, dreamers, leaders, and general all around brilliant minds. Lance Winslow hopes you've enjoyed today's discussion and topic. http://www.WorldThinkTank.net - Have an important subject to discuss, contact Lance Winslow.

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