Japan's triple tragedy

Japan has been hit with a three in one - earthquake, tsunami and on the verge of a nuclear disaster. Can it get any worse than this?


With the very moving images on TV, you wonder how a country could handle such tragedy and recover from it. The resilience of the Japanese people is being tested once again. Their commitment, sacrifice, sense of unity and common purpose, all comes to bear when handling these series of tragic events. The world has a lot to learn from Japan.

We have observed people making every effort to deal with the crisis instead of trying to find someone to blame. We have observed how people sacrifice their lives to try to put a stop to this nuclear disaster and save as many lives as possible. We have observed ordinary people going about their business and trying to help in whatever way they can without any fuss and no looting of property and shops. We have observed discipline in action as people go to stores and accept the reduced rations so that their friends and neighbors will not go without. Surely, the world has a lot to learn from the Japanese as they lead their recovery efforts.

There a shortcomings in some areas especially when we look at the rescue efforts from an outsider's lens. We see people who seems to be guarded in their response and sharing as very little information as possible. We see people who seems to show very little "emotion", whatever that means. Again, it could be based on ones definition of "showing emotion". The orderly movement of people practicing what they have learned during the simulations and drills makes it appear choreographed. However, these are all lessons to be learned, and discipline plays a big part in it.

Our hearts go out to the Japanese people and we wish them all the best in courage and determination as they deal with and recover from their triple tragedy.