There are valuable lessons in terrible disasters.
Mother Nature has been vengeful of late. The Dec. 26 quake-induced tsunami off Sumatra devoured Indian Ocean coastlines, killing a multitude of people. More recently, Hurricane Katrina pummeled New Orleans. And now, a terrible earthquake in Pakistan.
With a magnitude of 7.7, Saturday's earthquake was one of the strongest to hit the region in the past 100 years.
In Islamabad, the capital, a multistory apartment building pancaked, killing many citizens, including a Japanese man and his child. In mountainous northern Pakistan close to the epicenter, entire villages vanished from the map because of landslides.
The region hardest hit was the Pakistani side of the Line of Control in Kashmir, which India and Pakistan have been fighting over since they achieved independence in 1947. The earthquake occurred just when it appeared that tensions between the two countries were beginning to relax.
The Pakistani government said the death toll would exceed 19,000 and the number of injured people was put at more than 40,000. Many people also lost their lives in neighboring India and Afghanistan. The death toll could still rise dramatically because roads are blocked and communications broken in some areas.
The international community quickly swung into action. U.N. relief agencies moved quickly and the Japanese government immediately dispatched a relief team. Medical teams will follow suit. Britain and Turkey will also send relief teams.
Even though India also has many quake victims, it offered assistance to Pakistan. That spirit of generosity gives us hope for a better tomorrow. Nongovernmental organizations have also started to provide assistance.
For Japan, this is an opportunity to learn valuable lessons in preparing for the Big One, which could strike at any time. The central government's Central Disaster Prevention Council has many earthquake scenarios. In one, a quake of the same magnitude as Saturday's temblor in Pakistan would strike the northern part of Tokyo Bay, causing tremendous damage.
