Disgusted....

I got an e-mail from a list friend in Japan who lives 200 km from Sendai. They're all doing well, with the exception of some damage to stocks in his In-law's liquor store(glass bottle and earthquakes;>....). Other than the Power being off for a couple of hrs and some visually superficial damage, their area did well. As he pointed out, the Japanese have been building with quakes in mind for more than a thousand yrs and unlike in America(and much of the world), local politics(and personal Greed) can't trump public welfare. His in-laws plan to reopen their store today and give hot tea and non-alcoholic drinks free to police and those working on inspecting damage.
Back here in stupid-land, we have American cities openning shelters for those who live on the West Coast and are afraid of Tsunami's....even though this one is OVER.West Coast, not Hawaii where there actually WAS damage. I'm sure they'll have "Grief Councelors" out in schools for all those hysterical kids who can't "cope" with people they never new dying....unlike those who did and can cope just fine.
I think the most disgusting thing I heard a reporter say was that he expected "Widespread Looting after such a disaster". It's JAPAN. That's one of the few countries in the world where folks DON'T automatically think of how they can "get some" whenever there's some sort of civil disturbance...
Cheers,
Pat