Lessons from Japan

[Black Blade]

Japanese Struggling to Find Food and Water in Disaster Area

Photo: AFP / Philippe Lopez

VOA reporters managed to travel to Fukushima by plane, but many airports, roads and railways remain flooded or damaged throughout Japan.

Herman says that because of this, people are scrambling to find basic necessities, even in inland areas such as Fukushima. "People are just trying to find clean water. Food supplies are running out. In the convenience stores, there are no rice balls left. There is no bottled water left. We are facing a really serious situation in the days ahead for these people that are living in areas that were only moderately damaged," he said.

Overall, analysts say Japan could have fared much worse in the disaster.

Tokyo has invested billions of dollars into making the country as earthquake-proof as possible. Architects specially design high-rise buildings to flex in a quake. Tsunami warning signs and large seawalls line the Japanese coast. Even schoolchildren practice drills on what to do during an earthquake.

However in the end, analysts say that no amount of human preparedness is foolproof against the power of nature.

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Black Blade: Prepping obviously wouldn't have helped everybody, but many would have been much better off if they did prep with stored food, water and basic necessities. Now they wait in line at empty stores thirsty and starving. We keep several months to several years worth of nonperishable goods for emergencies. Just common sense.