What a poster story for better safety training

It's sad that in a region known for this kind of stuff they don't take the necessary precausions. Seriously, you shouldn't build tall buildings in earthquake prone regions. That's a recipe for disaster. You should build to suit the situation not the housing market, style, etc. As for the tsunami that's a difficult matter. If the buildings had been more structurally stable perhaps they could have offered more safe spots until it passes. Once your outside in one there's not much you can do besides hope your high enough up.

Ugh. That sort of reminds me of how people were trying to herd out of the World Trade buildings and some were told to just go back to their offices. Eek.

They knew this was coming. It just makes me ache inside thinking of the loss. It is idiotic to think there was so little planning. They had fortified the buildings but what does that help when the damage from the earthquake makes the earth fall and the tsunami that much more violent. I hate to think of it.

I am also following these stories of tsunami and earthquake in Jaoan since our country is near their country plus i have cousins there..anyway, he said that earthquakes are normal, its just that that tsunami was not really expected. It caught everyone by surprise and no really expected it to be that big...it was like someone threw a bucket of water..(well that was more than 100 buckets of water). It is still sad that it happened and we also have fears that it might happened here since we are also prone to earthquake and tsunami

There was no higher ground. The area is a plain all around. I also read that the land mass sunk a few inches as a result of the quake as well as the coast shifting a few inches. I guess they could have gone further inland. It is so sad.

Maybe were they not allowed to go elsewhere ? Administrative rules are not made for such events. And with the shock of the earthquake and the deads around, 45 minutes is not long. The best safety plan cannot consider everything : fate, bad luck, God's will, play also a role in disasters. It can happen to all of us in every country. All we can do is to help those who are still living...

A quake an Tsunami of this strength is about a rare as the us new madrid fault line or san andreas or san cruz having a sudden big one.. No one will be prepared as they do not expect it within their lifetimes... even with all our technology and warnings.. I do not believe it is possible for us to ever be fully safe and prepared for the kind of incident Japan is dealing with today. I just hope nuke power is shut down worldwide soon... as there is so much being hid on the effects of this right now its scary.. Texas Galveston wall is one idea although that is build for hurricanes.. they have to design something like that that can redirect a wave 20-80 feet high moving at 500 miles per hour that can withstand and be flexible enough to stay put during an 9.0 quake.. they could look at the railroads smart tracks technology the amtrak uses maybe to make the wall respond to the movements.. to retain it's shape maybe but I do not see us being prepared every for this event anywhere Japan is a very high tech smart country.. when this hits it puts everyone into reaction mode as at first it is like oh just another quake our technology can handle this.. then the just another quake grows to last into minutes shakes them off their feet then theyare all in shock they do not know how to respond then a 15 minute warning for a tsunami as you stand there from roof top watch entire buldings floating off their foundations.. you can not put this into words.. you can not prepare for events like this.. you can only prepare a fast rescue, and clean up plan to cover and recycle and clean up as much as you can heal people you can ptsd treatment crush trauma victims, drowning victims.. pets.. The one thing that COULD be done to prepare to get people off that island.. is SOLAR FLARE watches scientists can predict areas the solar flares are about to hit to possible trigger these quakes.. My question is why are they not paying attention to where the strongest flare forces crossed the noon meridian that is what I am observing is a major clue to where the next biggest quake is about to hit.

One can only hope that they will go to high ground if it happens again

I suppose they were so shook up by the earthquake it didn't even cross their mind a tsunami was on it's way....

dawnald, I think we need to remember the quake's magnitude is already overwhelming and everyone is already in the state of shock. Also, let's not forget the aftershocks that ensued which will just hinder any recovery. So, you can imagine how the state the people there, were in. You just cannot be running anywhere and everywhere as there are aftershock considerations to think about. The 45 minutes though was ample for them to evacuate from the tsunami that ensued but they could not anticipate it. If the reports were accurate, I believe there wasn't enough time in between the quake and the tsunami as the latter's warning was only given 6 minutes in advance. In all fairness, I felt that this article's writer is lacking in experience and knowledge on such a devastating disaster.

I was at work after reading your discussion and having read up on earthquake probability in my own area as well. We had a fire drill and it made me wonder how I would react if it was an earthquake and I was away from my family. I know I'd do as I've been trained and respond to the needs of my residents, but I'd also be frantic to see to my family's safety as well. I wonder if the Japanese felt any of that? I'm sure they did.

That is terrible that all of those children were washed away in the tsunami. However, I have to say that I really don't think that they were wrong to take the children to the playground so that they would be safe of any kind of falling debris. My daughter's school does earthquake drills from time to time and what do they do? They are supposed to go under their tables while the shaking is going on and then after the initial earthquake is over, the children are escorted to outside the school until parents are able to retrieve their children.

Given the horrifying earthquake situation it most probably did not occur to them. They did what they were trained to do to perfection, get the students out safely. Tsunami undid all that. What you say is correct. There needs to be a rethink on disaster management. I think that relocation of population away from Tsunami prone areas should be taken up, however difficult.

This is very sad. The mere fact that the school was near the coastline, I doubt they could go far even if they knew that the tsunami was coming. It just goes to show that even our best precautions, are no match for the power of nature.

It has been my experience that you can train and train and still people do things that they should not, or do not do the things that they should.

they were just not alarmed about the tsunami or they were still shocked with the earthquake. i guess even if we were there at that time, we could not even think about the tsunami, we could only think of the same thing, to free ourselves from falling debris. goodness, we are not in that place at that time.

That is so tragic! Most of those children would of survived if they had been taken to high ground! It is to late to bring these children back but hopefully there will be different better safety training now! It is so sad knowing that will happen because so many children lost their lives!

Hi Dawny. That's bad. I honestly hope this can end as it seem to get worse lately. I think japan took enough for a lifetime. Not good.

YES... as we progress in many aspects of our life the BASICS were forgotten and left behind. These are what do innovation brings..makes our minds useless.