8.9 Earthquake/Tsunami in Japan

Image by IFRC via FlickrTerrible human suffering and death in Japan from the earthquake.  Japan was smart and has prepared for earthquakes in their building codes and alarm systems for Tsunami so they may have minimized the damage as much as humanly possible.  We should of course provide them with any help we can.  My prayers are with them.

The United States should learn a lesson from Japan's current tragedy.  The Madrid fault line runs near the middle of our country and the United States does not take it very seriously.  Our building codes need to be upgraded to equal Japans and major structures need to be retrofitted for protection.  Medical capabilities and emergency water supplies need to be upgraded to handle earthquake victims from existing structures.  Japan's nuclear plants shut down safely but I wonder if our old plants have the same design.  Instead of wasting money on legal fees for political arguments, the Republicans and Democrats should be looking at these types of contingencies.