Mayor Kotaku Wamura of Fudai City in Japan built a 15.5M floodgate and seawall in the 1970s. It took 12 years to complete, and with a lot of skepticism. During the recent Mar 11 2011 Sendai earthquake and tsunami the floodgate was closed, saving all 3,000 residents and houses. Without this floodgate the city certainly would have been destroyed. Wamura died in 1987 at the age of 88. Twenty four years after his death he returns to save his town from certain annihilation. His tenacity and foresight should be applauded. Ganbatte.
Man vs Mother Nature, Mother Nature won: Japanese earthquake and Tsunami, Mar 2011. The Fukushima DaiIchi nuclear incident is a man made disaster.
Having taught English in Japan for a year, I have first hand experience with people from Japan. I was stationed in Kyushu, the largest southern island of Japan, about 100km away from a very large volcano. When you live in close proximity to a volcano that often blows its top, you become pretty nonchalant about tremors. Being Canadian, this never happened to me. The Japanese people love fresh food, especially vegetables. Having some of their food supply deemed unfit to eat is a big psychological blow. We can only hope that this nuclear disaster can be averted. Earthquake, tsunami, and now a nuclear incident: How much can they endure?
