NE Japan 2011 vs New Orleans 2005

[T2K]

I've always believed that some people are just more civilized than others.  I think some of it is genetic, some of it cultural (a combination of both nature and nurture).

Wow.  This situation really proves it.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/japanquakesurvivorsevacuation

Japan today is the most consistently civilized place on earth, using any conventional definition of the word.

[vanyasli]

The news reports about New Orleans after Katrina were exaggerated, racist, and in some cases, completely made up.

New Orleans is very different from Japan, that is true, but calling the place uncivilized is ridiculous. 

[T2K]

I didn't call New Orleans uncivilized.  I did say that Japan is much more civilized though, which is clearly correct.

You can't make up photos of looters carrying TV's.  You can't make up murders and chaos.  You can't make up a lack of individual preparedness for an obvious risk.  All of that is highly documented for New Orleans 2005.

In Japan, though the scale of the damage and casualties are much worse than Katrina, I've seen zero stories about any of that.  And, knowing Japan, nor will I unless it's some rare exception.

[OPBineesh]

I agree T2K. Thats one of the first things that occurred to me actually...how disciplined and civilized the Japanese have been behaving after this disaster. And how in contrast, many in New Orleans were totally freaking and immediately seized upon the situation by looting and committing all kinds of crimes. It is really sad the stark difference between the two cultures. Now granted, in New York for instance, when there was the power outage in 2003, people behaved very civilized and disciplined too. Not that you can compare that to the magnitude of a natural disaster but it shows that not all Americans are hopeless cases. (Ive lived in the states for several years btw...)

[Ginger Mo]

Which just goes to show. Some people shouldn't be allowed out at night. You especially bineesh.

[TheWrathOfGrapes]

T2K - I think you are forgetting the yakuza factor.

[Kubes.SG]

What a load of utter rubbish.  Japanese are too honest, it's genetic, no looting, blah blah blah.

There was looting after the Kobe earthquake.  There was little apparent looting with this disaster as there was nothing left to loot. 

Following the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 (flattened Tokyo and Yokohama), Japanese mobs roamed around Tokyo and Yokohama streets murdering foreigners, mainly Koreans and a few hundred Chinese.  Rumors incited the mobs and martial law did little to stop the mass murdering.  All up, nearly 7,000 people where murdered by the mobs.  A total of 140,000 died in the earthquake and fires.  Tokyo and Yokohama where very much world-class cities of the era yet this happened.

The Japanese are no different to the rest of us. Sometimes they can be very much worse.

[scarbowl]

The Japanese received aid supplies much sooner than the residents of New Orleans who were basically left to fend for themselves for a week or longer.  If you didn't have much food in the house you'd likely loot a grocery as well.  I understand there was more than just food being stolen but this was also sensationalized for the remaining public.  Racist or not it received more attention than the many acts of heroism which took place.   It was just more salacious for the rest of the country. 

The Japanese are better organized and the benefit of a smaller (and more disciplined overall) country plays to their advantage in these situations.

[T2K]

Kubes - 1923?  Really?  That's your rebuttal? Fail.  A lot can change in nearly a century.

Wrath - do tell, I'm all ears (and with both of my pinkie tips also).

Scar - No way.  The affected area and ferocity of the tsunami was many orders of magnitude beyond the fairly localized flooding in New Orleans.  It's one part of one city vs the entire NE coastal area of Japan and with many more people affected..  Also, hurricanes come with days of warning, there was only minutes for this tsunami.  No excuses, it's not hard to fill some bottles with tap water and have some cheap non-perishable food around.  Been there, done that (no electricity for two weeks, no road access for several days until we used our own chainsaws to cut our way out, water out, etc).  You just need to accept that the Japanese are setting a great example here, and New Orleans' citizens did not.