High Tech Vulnerability

As we watch Japan stagger under repeated blows from mother nature and the sons of man, it is difficult to ignore the vulnerability of an advanced, high-tech society when its systems collapse. The crippling of Japan's nuclear power has had devastating impact on the entire country's ability to pick up the pieces of the disaster.

Rolling blackouts in unaffected areas. Countless refugees unable to come in from the cold. Savaged road networks hampering rescue and relief efforts. And over it all the dreadful specter of nuclear disaster.

Japan is one of the most modern nations in the world. A country connected by high speed rail and high speed Internet. A highly organized society and a heavily populated one. This earthquake-prone nation boasts perhaps the best earthquake-tolerant construction in the world. It did not skimp on materials or design when building its cities and infrastructure. But even its conscientious efforts to mitigate possible disasters have been damaged by the severity of the catastrophes assaulting it. The country's reliance on its high tech infrastructure could actually be working against it, at least in the short term.

I have heard countless "experts" claiming such a calamity is unlikely to happen in the U. S., as if we were somehow better prepared or positioned that the Japanese. Remembering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, it is difficult to give credence to these claims. Our own power grid is far from perfect and might well be vulnerable to cyber terrorism. And in the end, it was the failure of power that resulted in the critical situation(s) with Japanese nuclear reactors. Every back-up system failed. With each failure, cooling the rods became more difficult.

So while the experts assert our power plants are not vulnerable to earthquakes or tsunamis - questionable claims in and of themselves - I have heard no one addressing the security of the power grid that keeps the cooling mechanisms operating. I have heard no one discussing the challenges of evacuation of densely populated areas. I have heard no one suggesting that reworking our disaster plans from the bottom up to reflect the realities of today's overcrowded roadways and decaying infrastructures might be a good idea.

I believe we need totally new approaches to disaster preparedness that bring a fresh look to old problems. It should have been done after Katrina. It was not.

In the meantime, let's watch and learn from the Japanese experience while we do everything in our power to help them through this awful time.