Originally Posted by RyanC

Why do people live in zones that are known to have natural disasters occur at them.. I know displacement isn't always an option, but sheesh

Strictly speaking, much of Ontario is at high risk of tornadoes, should we leave? Ottawa even had an earthquake a year or two back. In fact, the vast majority of the world is at risk of some form of natural disaster. Should we all leave?

It's not really fair to blame the impacts of a natural disaster on the inhabitants of the region.

Japan is decently prepared for these disasters (and other countries). If this happened in North America thought, gg.

Originally Posted by x_hikari

that's what I've been thinking too, and the weather has kind of been out of whack these few years

kind of having a melt down right now because I have friends in northeastern Japan and more friends of mine just left Toronto Thursday morning for Tokyo and I have yet to hear from any body

and people tweeting about what's going on is not helping, but seriously people, if your life is in immediate danger you do not go on twitter to tweet about the water level or whatever, you gtfo of there

don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight ;^;

On the whole twitter thing, phone lines are down over there, so the only way of communication people have with each other are social networking sites, text message, and email. Those around the world who need to get in contact with those in Japan have been encouraged to use those mediums.

The world is in shambles.

Originally Posted by AelyaS

On the whole twitter thing, phone lines are down over there, so the only way of communication people have with each other are social networking sites, text message, and email. Those around the world who need to get in contact with those in Japan have been encouraged to use those mediums.

Such a hipster.

Originally Posted by RyanC

Why do people live in zones that are known to have natural disasters occur at them.. I know displacement isn't always an option, but sheesh

You are right. Displacement isn't always an option.

If you think back a bit, where we are now would be considered a bad place to live with natural disasters occurring yearly (think Winter Storm).

Best part about us have always been our ability to adapt. Human Engineering have come a long way. Now we are able to live and explore almost anywhere on Earth.

Regarding Japan, we should also celebrate at their ability to prepared for such crisis. NY Times had an article on this.

From seawalls that line stretches of Japan’s coastline, to skyscrapers that sway to absorb earthquakes, to building codes that are among the world’s most rigorous, no country may be better prepared to withstand earthquakes than Japan.

Had any other populous country suffered the 8.9 magnitude earthquake that shook Japan on Friday, tens of thousands of people might already be counted among the dead. So far, Japan’s death toll is in the hundreds, although it is certain to rise.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/12/wo...s.html?_r=3&hp

Engineers are like superhero!

Apparently the original calculations were wrong, the quake has been updated to a 9.0

It even bent Tokyo Tower

I hope that Japan has better days ahead of them. Really goes to show how fortunate we are.

Originally Posted by AelyaS

On the whole twitter thing, phone lines are down over there, so the only way of communication people have with each other are social networking sites, text message, and email. Those around the world who need to get in contact with those in Japan have been encouraged to use those mediums.

no no I understand that, that's how I found out my friends are okay, but people are tweeting about how it's flooding where they are and watching the water come towards them, twitter would have been the last thing on my mind

Originally Posted by REPLEKIA/.

Apparently the original calculations were wrong, the quake has been updated to a 9.0

It even bent Tokyo Tower

Originally Posted by REPLEKIA/.

Strictly speaking, much of Ontario is at high risk of tornadoes, should we leave? Ottawa even had an earthquake a year or two back. In fact, the vast majority of the world is at risk of some form of natural disaster. Should we all leave?

It's not really fair to blame the impacts of a natural disaster on the inhabitants of the region.

I was really speaking generally for things that are known disaster zones, like tornado alley, sides of volcanos, the gaza strip, etc. I meant Japan too, but they're getting better at not dying as years go on.

Oh, the humanity!

Originally Posted by Mepper

Not that I necessarily believe all that 2012 bs; but is it just me or have large scale earthquakes been occurring more frequently throughout past year or two than in previous years?

The same amount of disasters that happened 10 years ago are still happening now, the numbers are not increasing, but they may be clumping together which makes it seem as though more are occurring.

The information age also helps us hear about more and more natural disasters in the world then before as the news would take hours and sometimes days to travel and even then only be published in news papers.

Originally Posted by REPLEKIA/.

Strictly speaking, much of Ontario is at high risk of tornadoes, should we leave? Ottawa even had an earthquake a year or two back. In fact, the vast majority of the world is at risk of some form of natural disaster. Should we all leave?

It's not really fair to blame the impacts of a natural disaster on the inhabitants of the region.

You're right, Ontario's tornadoes and Ottawa's earthquake are comparable to 8.9 earthquakes... I guess its like comparing Hummers to SmartCars, sure they are both vehicles but one of them you are going to smile at and the other is going to ****ing rape your face

And the article the OP posted even says 8.9, I guess the OP didn't even read the article they posted

Originally Posted by doug

The same amount of disasters that happened 10 years ago are still happening now, the numbers are not increasing, but they may be clumping together which makes it seem as though more are occurring.

The information age also helps us hear about more and more natural disasters in the world then before as the news would take hours and sometimes days to travel and even then only be published in news papers.

Unfortunately, most people can't understand this :(