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Rebuilding northeast Japan to take years, billions

21 Comments
By Kelvin Chan

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21 Comments
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Last summer I rode through every single one of these towns and villages that was destroyed. I took a motorcycle trip comeltly around honshu island. my friend and I rode along the coast line the entire time. These were the towns we drove through. the towns we stopped at. The towns we slept in. they are gone now. its hard to swallow.

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So looks like it will take what is spent on Iraq over about 2yrs budget wise.

I have often been saying that Jpn will need to hit rock bottom hard before she will make serious change, maybe this is it.

There are going to be some very painful decisions, but I think one of them is going to have to be that some of these hard hit areas need to be abandoned and people move to new areas of the countries.

This will also give Jpn a chance to develop with REAL planning in mind, I hope the govt is up to the tasks we all face

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new areas of the country.....

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This professor from Honk Kong should do a research on the 2004 Tsunami rebuilding and reconstruction before he starts making baseless claims.This is Japan, and not some underdeveloped South Asian island. About the people not wanting to go back to their original places- is he kidding? It will be hard to move them out of their original places of residence. We are talking about Japanese people here. If he wants to know I can give an example of a real incident.

I was on relief work at a tsunami hit part of Sri Lanka- 7 days after the incident. I saw an elderly lady sitting with an oil lamp among rubble. I asked her what she was doing. She said that from what she knows, that is where her house was located and she does not want anybody to claim it so she was guarding it. Mind you, the dwellers were living within 100meter inland from the sea coast. The housing is huts made with clay and woven coconut palms.

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It will take decades not years to fully recover.

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kujiranikusuki - We were surfing 3k away from the Dai-ichi in October last year. - To be honest, I don't think the north coast will ever fully recover. The area around the reactor will more than likely be uninhabitable for a century or so, or possibly forever. As for further north, It is gonna take decades, at least. I also think the majority of survivors will be extremely hesitant to return to coastal living. Damn sure I would be.

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Methinks rebuilding will take MUCH more money than is predicted here, but I DO have faith in Japanese charity in instances such as this (as well as the outpouring of aid from overseas), and hopefully they can bounce back before too long.

As to whether or not people will want to return to the afflicted areas, I would say probably some yes, some no. The problem is, aside from seeking higher ground, where can you go? You never know when and where a disaster such as this can hit, especially here. There's also an issue of land ownership for those simply not renting.

In any case, my heart goes out to all those affected.

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In many of the smaller destroyed cities, the majority of the population was over 65 years-old. Economic activity was already declining, if not almost dead. Most of the cities were struggling financially and there already was a shortage of available jobs. I have the feeling many of the smallest communities will not be reconstructed. They should clean up the area and protect it as a natural environment and memorial (maybe plant some trees, keep the coastal areas clean and not developed).

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In many of the smaller destroyed cities, the majority of the population was over 65 years-old. Economic activity was already declining, if not almost dead.

Thats just not true. Most of the smaller cities that were destroyed were fishing towns.

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By way of perspective, the US spent 700 billion in TARP funds to save failing US companies. Japan can do it.

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If there was no economic activity or employment, how come all theese plants and facttories were located there? On what basis do people think that the area will be uninhabitable? Nuclear?

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If you are old and lose everything -things can be tough. Example: going from an owner to a renter. Losing all your ownings to radiation (100% loss). I also think there will be a huge delay in development due to the radiation -so the Gov will just delay/delay upsetting people. It would be better to just come out and tell people what the real situation will be so people can make informed choices.

Change also brings opportunity. There are many homes/rental properties that sit empty or are abandoned. The Gov should help people get into these properties and many people have unwanted items that they don't want. Businesses and ports can be repositioned for better economic use.

As bad as you may have it. -The failed nuclear reactor helpers will have it worse. They have basically given up there lives for you to continue on. Do not let these people down.

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Earthquake predictions for 17Mar11 to 18Mar11

1)Quake is still active in the middle of the Japan Is close to coast. 2)Northern Australian, SE Australia, NE New Zealand, Taiwan, Easter Island and Hawaii Is are some of the active spots in North and South Pacific Occean. 3)Close to Antarctica coast in Southern part of Africa continent and in the middle of the Sea in the East coast of Brazil are active. 4)Entire Arctic region is showing high activity of snow fall and it may affect the rescue operation in Japan. 5)Both East and West coast of India is showing strange high wind or rain like situation in Sea. Northern part of Nepal is showing quake activity. Also, Bangladesh is showing quake activity. 6)Entire China is showing strange upward pull force may be high wind or unexpected sudden rain in many parts. 7)Many Buddhist monks can predict this kind of events well in advance to help the authorities to take preventive actions to minimize the loss of life. I started this after Tsunami hit Indian coast and I used to cross verify with American website(USGS.GOV) with great success.

Other ideas which will help in closing failed Nuclear reactors. 1)Make massive concrete blocks which can be used like interlocking blocks so that as we keep putting one above the other it should result in specific shapes. 2)Here, in the current scenario I request Japan government to use this precasted blocks and make a pyramid structure encircling the failed Nuclear reactor to close the reactor. 3)Special radioactive absorbing material can be put in between the blocks with cementing properties to minimize the radiation effect. 4)The pyramid shape is known to divert natural calamities including Earthquakes in its vicinity. Best example is Great pyramid of Egypt and Mayan pyramids of Central America which withstood massive quakes since its commissioning.

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Probably Japanese government is going to build high dike to protect them from another Tsunami so that people feel safe to live in those devastated cities again.

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I wonder if any of this will serve as a wake-up call regarding the movement of at least some of the trappings of government, industry and finance out of Tokyo before the Big One strikes. Because if this had been Tokyo, and not Tohoku I find it hard to see how we'd find a way back from it.

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kyushuJoe.

Move them to where and where does it say the "Big One" has to hit tokyo?

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@Zenny

A quote from Wikipedia, defining the "Big One" in Japan:

"A megathrust earthquake expected to happen in Tokyo, Kanto area, Japan with the epicenter in Sagami Bay where the Filipino Plate and North American Plate movements cause big earthquakes regularly, with an interval of approximately 70 years."

As to where to move them, I reckon "Anywhere where big quakes are less likely to strike" would be a good start.

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"Anywhere where big quakes are less likely to strike"

That would rule Japan as a whole out. :)

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Some people may be underestimating the reconstruction phase of the area. Aside from the nuclear reactor area, Japan can move much more quickly than conventional wisdom. The PRC is constructing whole modern cities w/in a decade - if the motivation exists, mountains can be moved. Actually, given the degree of destruction, it would be possibly better to have a master plan for a completely new "megapolis" region. The advantage of the situation is that, the area is like a clean slate, where any new technologies can be deployed. It is a chance for Japan to showcase how to build a new region from scratch. Is the glass half full or half empty?

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apec

I am sure the pourers of concrete will soon be licking their chops at the thoughts of re-cnstruction, and the politicians will be dreaming of kickbacks galore.

I mentioned this above about doing some REAL planning but I am not sure if Japanese wud even want it & trying to convince the survivors to go along is going to be brutally difficult I suspect

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apecNetworks at 05:40 PM JST - 18th March. Actually, given the degree of destruction, it would be possibly better to have a master plan for a completely new "megapolis" region. The advantage of the situation is that, the area is like a clean slate, where any new technologies can be deployed.

It's really a great idea in principals. However, compared to Kobe, the affected areas of Northern Japan makes up only 6 to 8 percent of total GDP of Japan. I doubt Japan goverment, companies, and investors are willing to gamble on such a large scale project on a aging population centers. These areas have around 30 percent of seniors living there. Reality is that this is going to be a painful slow recovery and not much change will take place.

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