Lessons from Japan in crisis

Japan is facing the worst disaster it has had to cope with after the Hiroshima-Nagasaki destruction of the Second World War from the nuclear bomb dropped on them. Facing nature’s wrath from the earthquake generated tsunami and the damage to the nuclear power plants, that nation is now battling to contain the threat of what can be a disastrous leak of radioactive substances to the atmosphere.

As of Monday this week, over 8,600 were confirmed dead and over 13,000 were reported to be missing from the tsunami damage.

Like the Phoenix

Known to be one of the most tsunami prone nations, Japan was perhaps the most equipped country in the world to handle a disaster of this magnitude. Her preparedness extended to the prefecture level and tiny villages within them. The strict adherence of evacuation procedures by most Japanese was indeed the factor that helped reduce the possibility of the loss of many more lives in comparison to the damage it caused to infrastructure and property.

Japan PM Naoto Kan

Japan’s Prime Minister in his addresses to the nation, called on all Japanese to chip in and make sacrifices to support the effort of rebuilding. The vibes we have always had from the Japanese tell us that they would do their all to lend their hearts and shoulder that effort, making the sacrifices. Based on past performance, the world will trust the Japanese as a nation to emerge like the mythical phoenix rises from the ashes, to rebuild and regain normalcy of life in the affected areas. History stands testimony to how they did that after Hiroshima-Nagasaki, Kobe and even the recent economic disaster.

Drawing parallels

Taking off on quoting the Japanese way, a Sri Lankan politician on a recent election platform recollected how the Japanese were happy, having only one meal a day during the country’s reconstruction in the aftermath of the last world war.

This was his response to the Opposition criticism of the rising prices of vegetables and coconuts in the post-floods and pre-election period. What he did not say was that everyone in Japan, top down were making those sacrifices and they were not mere calls for tightening of belts of many, while a few were indulging themselves in wasteful pursuits.

This got me thinking of what parallels one could draw between the Japanese and us Sri Lankans. A mind-game of a sort is what it was. On the plus side, we are both nations holding on to ideals of democracy. We are both predominantly Buddhist in our system of religious belief and practice. We have adopted the Japanese five ‘S’ system of quality assurance and practise it with varied degrees of success as well as failure.

We both seek a mix of the traditional and the modern, in the model of development we desire. While the Japanese invented the technique of hara-kiri, taking one’s own life to protect one’s honour, some among us invented the technique of suicide-bombing that killed or hurt, not only oneself but many other innocents as well. We are both nations that do not also forget friends and will go out of the way to help them in times of need.

Everyone’s effort

Just two days into the tsunami disaster Japanese University students and specially trained clinical psychologists began assisting survivors to cope and begin searches for the unaccounted.

Destruction caused by 8.9-magnitude earthqauke and tsunami in Japan. Picture courtesy: Google

Hundreds of thousands of soldiers took on rescue operations and hundreds of nuclear plant officials remained at the plants to battle the need for cooling the reactors, much at risk to their own life. Schoolteachers were taking books and games to their students actively seeking and locating them at the special shelters.

There was no undue excitement and as we saw on NHK International, the only Japanese television channel that beams to the world, the Japanese were at their best in coping with the crisis.

We also saw how the BBC, Fox News, CNN, CNBC, Al Jazeera etc, who had their correspondents on the ground struggling to understand how and why the Japanese were seemingly unemotional in the face of crisis.

Insensitivity galore

It was hilarious to observe how some global media channels were so deeply concerned with a 14 percent drop in the Nikkei Index, just a day after the disaster struck.

It was indeed revealing how insensitive Western media could be, like we saw on a CNBC talk show, when a co-host said of the disaster ‘The markets are taking this in the stride’ the host of the show quipped ‘The human toll here looks to be much worse than the economic toll and we can be grateful for that’.

The Bank of Japan coolly infused billions of yen into the economy. Their concern and focus was more on managing the impact the disaster had on the lives of the Japanese people, than on the Nikkei Index.

Standing together

Within Japan, politicians of different colours were not falling over each other to volunteer their opinion on what was happening, taking on a blame game. There were no critics but only those who ventured to assist and give their all.

The only spokespersons we saw on media were the Japanese Prime Minister, the Cabinet Secretary and any other appointed by them to comment.

The relief efforts were solid, with substance and the announcement of the death toll systematic and factual. Ordinary citizens affected by the nuclear plant damage were full of praise for the brevity of the officials and workers who remained within the plant to prevent further damage. One could only be impressed by how they were underplaying their own suffering.

No one was attempting to brand anything that was done by them as CSR efforts of their own. Media houses were not having parades or Yathrasto the areas with TV cameras following them like we saw during the tsunami disaster here.

Politicians were not seen attempting to score points by handing out goodies. We did not hear stories of looting or robbing of victims. International media were at a loss in understanding how the Japanese were so calm and collected in such tragedy. They even stated that the Japanese were not giving enough information or revealing the facts fast enough without understanding the differences in the social and media culture between the Japanese and others.

One would recall how in Sri Lanka, during the 2004 tsunami disaster, we had too many spokespersons at too many media stations giving different accounts, it sometimes led to confusion than supporting rational solutions. The critics were many and there was very little coverage of the heroic deeds carried out by ordinary citizens in the rescue efforts.

Post terrorism era

Unlike the Japanese, very rarely do our politicians come together in times of need or commend each other when something good is done for the nation. We unlike the Japanese do not have a reputation for being calm or having a knack for practising a culture of persistent effort and a desire to maintain what we have developed or constructed. In the post terrorism era, Sri Lanka has taken on a phase of economic and social reconstruction, and the model adopted is one of rapid response. A ‘War on Development’ is what it is termed.

Much like the efforts of the Japanese in crisis, we are mobilising civil society and the defence forces in that effort. In that process the lessons we can learn from a Japan in crisis are many and it will indeed do us good to learn from them. [email protected]