Boy, the Tohoku Earthquake adventure continues. 11,000 confirmed dead, with 17,000 more officially missing and presumed dead. Firefighters and police volunteers from all over Japan are coming home with PTSD, unable to deal with memories (thankfully not shown in the press) of bodies draped over tree limbs like clocks in that Dali painting, or buried in wreckage, with just the occasional hand or foot sticking out of the mess. Fukushima Power Plant No 1 has surpassed Three-Mile Island and is fast closing on Chernobyl as worst nuclear accident of all time.
And yet, the Japanese people remain incredibly stoic. No post-Rodney-King-trial LA-style riots. No looting of any kind. There are no signs saying that "Looters will be shot". Indeed, the Self-Defense Force members are completely unarmed. The people dig through piles of debris that may have been their home 2 weeks ago, and make 2 piles of useful possessions: their own, and "others". Even though useful, they don't keep what they find. They just bend over again, grimace at yet another shafting, and continue searching for the life they have lost.
I'm sorry, but I shudder to think what the LA basin would be like right now if it had been the "Santa Catalina Quake and Tsunami". Half of LA would have been flattened by the tsunami, and the other half would be on fire by now, with gangs, survivalists and just plain old folk fighting over what remained. The National Guard would be patrolling the streets (the few not in Iraq and Afghanistan, that is), armed to the teeth, and at war with all the shit-wits. It would just need Snake Pliskin to sort things out.
Eh, we've done quakes. We were civil during the Long Beach, Sylmar, and Northridge quakes. I was downtown and in the hood post the King Riots, respect was a better defense than overreaction ...
ReplyDeleteGeology will bear me out that the Basin is jello and past it tremor wise, the big quakes are moving north.
It is the Seattle area that looks due.
Another day, we'll chat about Nuclear plants on known fault lines ...
Give your family our family's love and best wishes - Sparky