The official death toll from the tsunami that hit Japan last Friday now stands at around 2,400. The estimated death toll from the earthquake that hit Haiti on January 12, 2010 lies between 92,000 and 316,000.
The Atlantic has an interesting article exploring might account for that difference:
“The international response over the past three days, effective though it has been, is dwarfed in comparison to Japan’s efforts in the 15 years leading up to last week’s earthquake. Building codes as strict as they are expensive, emergency drills and education for as many of Japan 127 million citizens as possible, and a vast network of response centers and workers ready to spring into action in a few minutes notice — which is all the time one really has to respond to a disaster such as this — all contributed to making Japan, according to the New York Times, ‘the best-prepared country in the world for the twin disasters of earthquake and tsunami.’ In cities, buildings are fortified with elaborate systems of hydraulic cylinders; in coastal towns, many homes are networked with fire detector-like devices that sound an alarm in case of an earthquake. Despite the damage, 145 of Japan’s 170 emergency response hospitals are still online, as are 2,050 evacuation centers.”
My view is that disaster preparedness, much like the enforcement of industrial norms of quality, is a normal good. That is, the wealthier the country, the more it is prepared for disasters, although causality probably runs both ways given that the exposure to natural disasters in the past most likely affect a country’s wealth today.
Bill Easterly also has an interesting post in which he discusses why there has not been any looting so far in Japan.