Even though Japan has enough resources, to borrow a phrase from Alan Kay, help is there but it is unevenly distributed.
When Brisbane got flooded earlier this year, there were a lot of friends and strangers who came around and volunteered their time to help my parents clean up. There were also people who volunteered their weekends to clean up street by street. Some people donated buses to ferry volunteers around, others trucks to carry waste to the dump.
One guy made sandwiches and gave them out to everyone on the street until power came back on about a week later.
The biggest problems a couple of weeks post-flood faced were:
1. electricity
2. heating
3. food refrigeration
4. cooking equipment
5. washing clothes
The minor ones were:
1. table for eating, writing
2. boxes to store clothes
Even if people are insured, insurance claims took about 8 weeks. (I just got my cheque last week for some minor flood damage). Then there is the long wait for builders to get started.
In the meantime, the supply chain is completely broken. Bakers don't have flour, people don't have work. Survivors are idle and need work to take their mind off their predicament, but these people will need to be organised and mobilized.
For areas that are not affected by flood, it was still another month before milk started reappearing on shelfs. I remembered that vegetables were difficult to come by, and my parents were thinking of making bean sprouts.
Even though I'm sure Japan can stand on its own, it is nice to have people help out because it helps you to realize you are not on your own, and a lot of people care about you.
Even though Japan has enough resources, to borrow a phrase from Alan Kay, help is there but it is unevenly distributed.
When Brisbane got flooded earlier this year, there were a lot of friends and strangers who came around and volunteered their time to help my parents clean up. There were also people who volunteered their weekends to clean up street by street. Some people donated buses to ferry volunteers around, others trucks to carry waste to the dump.
One guy made sandwiches and gave them out to everyone on the street until power came back on about a week later.
The biggest problems a couple of weeks post-flood faced were:
1. electricity
2. heating
3. food refrigeration
4. cooking equipment
5. washing clothes
The minor ones were:
1. table for eating, writing
2. boxes to store clothes
Even if people are insured, insurance claims took about 8 weeks. (I just got my cheque last week for some minor flood damage). Then there is the long wait for builders to get started.
In the meantime, the supply chain is completely broken. Bakers don't have flour, people don't have work. Survivors are idle and need work to take their mind off their predicament, but these people will need to be organised and mobilized.
For areas that are not affected by flood, it was still another month before milk started reappearing on shelfs. I remembered that vegetables were difficult to come by, and my parents were thinking of making bean sprouts.
Even though I'm sure Japan can stand on its own, it is nice to have people help out because it helps you to realize you are not on your own, and a lot of people care about you.