Posted by Leonard Steinberg on March 16, 2011.

In the wake of the horrible tragedy unfolding in Japan, there are lessons that can be learned, although nothing can really fully prepare you for the a natural disaster as mammoth as this one. Here are some thoughts:

1)    How amazing is the resilience and tone of the Japanese culture: no looting, no hysterics. The relatively civilized, calm and orderly response is something the world can learn from.

2)   Being prepared, really prepared:  What food/water supplies do you have in your home in the event of a disaster? Do you have a fie extinguisher? An evacuation plan?

3)  Insurance:  What insurance do you have? What exactly does it cover and not cover?

4)  Your building structure:  Do you really know what your building can and cannot withstand?  If so, what could you do to improve its survivability in the event of a major natural disaster? How strong are your windows? Does your basement flood easily? What(if any) remedies are possible?

5)  Power: Power outages are indeed one of the worst by-products of natural  disasters.  What would you do if you lost power in the middle of winter? Summer?

6)  First Aid:  Do you have a good first aid kit? Be sure to have supplies to stop bleeding…..it could save a life.

7)  What kind of power supply do we want? Nuclear is clean, efficient and relatively cheap. Yet an episode like this can make even the biggest nuclear fan skeptical. Wind, Solar, etc will certainly benefit.

With closer evaluation, I bet there is LOTS we could do to better prepare ourselves in New York: Best to ask these questions now, make some sacrifices now, so that at least something good can come out of this horrible episode. The price will be paid either now, or later, and there is no price for human life.