via All About Cities
The twin tremor-induced disasters in Christchurch and Sendai, taken in contrast to hurricane Katrina and other disasters, provide at least four lessons for cities and urban residents.
First, in a real city-wide disaster, however much preparation is done, it won’t be enough. People will still die, others will struggle to find food, water and shelter, and many will get sick or injured either from the quake or the effects of it. There was no way for Sendai to be ready for a 9.0 quake and a 30′ (10 metre) tsunami minutes later. But…
Second, it will be far worse if a city and its residents are unprepared. Look at New Orleans during and after Katrina–and that disaster could be seen coming for days and yet neither the city nor the country were ready to rescue, feed, clothe and house people in the days and weeks that followed. Or look at Port-au-Prince and other cities in Haiti where sheer poverty of the nation, the city and most people prevented much in the way of adequate preparedness.
Contrast this to Christchurch where local and national emergency crews were on the scene right away. Still…
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| After the earthquake of March 2011, Misawa, Japan, photo by Official U.S. Navy Imagery |
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| Earthquake in Japan, photo by Roberto Maxwell |
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