After the Haiti Earthquake last year, Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and of course the tsunami in Indian Ocean in 2004 the 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami which struck on 11 March 2011 shall be considered as the greatest or say the worst natural disaster in the modern times considering the turning up of consequent events which were quite unimaginable in terms of turning the beauty of nature and life into an unforgettable pain for Japan after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima & Nagasaki.
When we look at the scale of devastation the earthquake has bought one cannot stop oneself to compare it with the atomic bombings of 1945.It has been considered as a horrendous time again in 65 years of rebuilding a nation.
1945 2011
The traditional Toril entrance gates to these shrines were among the few structures that survived 65 years ago and in 2011 also.
The very first question strikes one is how fast will Japan be able to recover from the pain, sufferings & devastation of this scale??
When we look at the condition of Japan one advantage that it is having is that of a developed nation which none of the nations earlier struck by disasters had which is in fact supported by the fact that it has not issued any major call (of course excluding that from Russians to send the radioactive treatment ships) of assistance. If we see the first thing after a disaster, is the start of fund raising activities without even knowing how much part of the country is affected/struck by the disaster. Does Japan need the funds from foreign charities?? Of course not, being one of the world’s richest nations we have already seen how well The Bank of Japan has responded by pumping more than $700 billion dollars into the Japanese economy.
Japan had resisted some of the immediate support offered (that of offered by U.S.), yet that is not to say aid is not desperately needed. What is needed at this point of time is the participation in the relief effort which US, New Zealand & least to forget the quick response of china (the first ever participation of Chinese coast guards in international relief efforts) in search & rescue missions with Japanese military.
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| Nuclear wasteland - entire blocks of Hiroshima disappeared in the atomic blast  A Japanese man is pictured in Nagasaki in 1945 |
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| The tsunami washed away most of Rikuzentakata within minutes |
Though the world is not so simple to construct as beautiful to paint still the calm, courageous & determined nature of Japanese people will surely help them to come out of a disaster in a way more severe in past 65 years since World War II and surely will become something to be admired worldwide.
