Man plans, the Gods laugh

Posted on Wednesday, March 16, 2011 at 05:58 PM

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As the nuclear meltdown unfolds, those first words uttered by the ancient Irishman, are as true today as they were those thousands of years ago....as he raised his fist to the sky saying, why!

With a shift of her foot, Mother Nature caused massive destruction to the most earthquake aware society in the world. Japan has always had major earthquakes and constructs it's buildings to the highest standards, the envy of the world when it comes to earthquake preparedness.

The nuclear reactor facilities were engineered to withstand an 8.0 on the Richter scale, that is a major major earthquake. Only problem is, the earthquake that just hit was a 9.0, a thousand times stronger than an 8.0.

Then Mother Nature decided to throw a real tantrum and sent in a Tsunami.(Tsunami means tidal wave in Japanese, so they know what they are) Problem: Evidently the experts who designed the reactors to be earthquake proof and built them at the edge of the ocean, forgot to consider 30' tall tsunamis that could wash over them and wipe out their back up systems in the event of an earthquake.

Six thousand miles away and many hours after the Tsunami hit Japan and ricocheted towards the California coast, I happened to be standing near a small harbor along the California coastline.

The first thing I noticed was the water getting sucked out of the harbor at the speed of the fastest river. It roiled up the harbor bottom and spit out mud, fish and debris into the sea where hundreds of seagulls had a feast. Then there was an eerie calm and the water rushed back into the harbor at a terrific rate rocking boats and causing havoc.

At about the same time this was happening I heard the earsplitting roar of a squadron of F-16's overhead, cruising in perfect formation as they defended our coast. But in this instance they were powerless to defend against the enemy unless sidewinder missiles fired into the tidal wave could have any effect.

Japan is a major economic force, an ally to the west and a successful representative democracy. The damage caused to this country will have widespread effects on the rest of the world. Japan will need all of their capital to rebuild and repair their country which will mean they probably will not be buying any other countries debt for awhile. They might even want to be paid back on all of the loan money they have out. If that happens, cheap interest rates will be a thing of the past and running your economy on someone else s money is going to become very expensive.

Time to balance our budget Washington, because our economic Tsunami is on the way.

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Monsoonman | Mar 26, 2011, 12:35 PM EDT

LOL...good point! The author probably thought the tsunami wave couldn't be that high since it had to travel 6,000 miles to get there...but still! Fortunately he seems to have survived the experience and has since graced the pages of I.C. with his insight. I just read that the original tsunami wave in Japan was measured at 73 feet tall, not the 33 that they previously reported.

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KMcSinger | Mar 26, 2011, 12:29 PM EDT

I think that the fact that they planned their infrastructure to withstand an 8.0 earthquake has got to be helping them now and undoubtedly saved many lives. I also wonder at the intelligence of the author. What person stands at the coast, knows a tsunami's coming, sees the water getting sucked out and doesn't head for the hills? Just saying . . .

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maloney | Mar 18, 2011, 11:21 PM EDT

This just gives ovomit another way to choke America the rest of the way out.

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bunkerhill | Mar 18, 2011, 01:34 PM EDT

We had Japanese American friends (from California) and liked them very much. I was surprised however to see the native Japanese enthusiastic response to the "Emperor" whose family practically got them destroyed in WWII. What is it about some people that makes them so obedient and subservient to emperors, royals and so on. It is like bees in a beehive or the animal kingdom. Americans are not like that.

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Monsoonman | Mar 17, 2011, 11:49 AM EDT

Expert says workers at stricken nuclear plant are 'like suicide fighters in a war,' but some are reportedly volunteering to join them. This is reminiscent of the desperation of the Japanese at the end of WWII when they used Kamikaze fighters to ward off attacks. Back then they called it the "crushing of the jewels". The workers are now facing almost certain death in their attempts to cool the reactors and save their country. They are risking their lives for the survival of their country. Wonder what union they belong to?

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