"This is very, very shocking! The images are very dramatic on television," says Mihir Bhatt, managing director of the All India Disaster Mitigation Institute, on seeing the images of Tsunami-ravaged Japan.
Ahmedabad-based Bhatt has studied Japan's disaster management after 1995 Kobe's earthquake that lasted for 20 seconds but had killed more than 6,000 people.
Bhatt told rediff.com, "Japan has a very efficient and well-laid out system to face earthquakes. It's one of the best in world. I have no doubt that they will turn the disaster into opportunity but unlike previous times the disaster of today will face the resource crunch. Japanese economy is not in a good shape and one is not sure how will it get resources to create a futuristic Japan."
Bhatt, who has done extensive social work after a tsunami that divested southern part of India in 2004 said, "Unites States has an efficient system to meet such disasters but in New Orleans they failed. I am sure the Japanese must have prevented lot of damage through their engineering standards and extensive preventive measures since prediction for earthquakes was there."
He said, "I have not yet got information to know the extent and quality of damage but in terms of expertise Japanese are marvelous, particularly in reconstruction technology, trained labourers to handle such disasters and in terms of engineering that's required to rebuild the cities. I think the disturbing part is that their economy is not in shape to face such event."
