We lived in Japan and my wife lived an hour and a half north of Sendai, the epicenter of the worse of the Japanese recent tsunami.  We can learn a lot from the Japanese, mostly being in the present and prepared.

The gist is that living in Japan teaches you to be ready, at a moment’s notice.  My first experience of an earthquake was in Kyoto, a mild one at almost 5.  In less than 2 seconds, my Japanese colleagues were under tables and in safe places while my mind was trying to understand why an airplane would brake the sonic boom over a city.  I was originally born in a part of the world where quakes are fairly familiar and our next door city, Monaco is build with stringent quake rules, reinforced concrete.  You won’t wee houses made of wood.  Wood burns.

The thing that struck me most was the resilience and determination with the Japanese population.  While I enjoyed living in Kyoto, I was left puzzled as to why anyone would build their home and house their cherished heirlooms there, while knowing an earthquake could come along and wipe it all out of history.  But life goes on.  Countless of civilizations have come and gone and those who pick up the pieces to move on ultimately stay.

Resilience with preparedness goes a long way.  Strong with our worldly experiences with earthquakes and other calamities, we have two disaster boxes at each level our our place.  They have flashlights, hand wound radios and dollar bills.  The Japanese also teach us valuable lessons from the footage coming in.  There is no crying.  There is not time for that at the moment.  They are doing what needs to be done, look for survivors and then rebuild, leaving the emotions for a later date.

The last thing I take away from Japan is how serious the country is about disasters.  Most cities have PA systems ready to mobilize the population in minutes.  15 foot tall walls protect some villages from incoming tsunamis.  People follow procedures.  Flashback west coast of the U.S. and it’s a different story.  We feel smug, nonchalant about little earthquakes and are completely lackadaisical about natural disasters.  In Long Beach, where I reside, people feel protected by a tiny 5 foot breakwater build during WWII to guard ships against storms.  Knowing tsunami waves travel at up to 450 miles per hour speeds, a 5ft tall breakwater gives me little comfort.

99% of the time, doesn’t justify no common-sense.  While it’s true that 99% of the time the news exaggerates reporting of disasters, it is equally true that 99% of the time, geologists cannot predict how strong a tsunami hit will be.  It all depends on the sea floor.  What we can do is add a modicum of common sense by being ready with disaster kits and just knock on doors after quakes to see if neighbors are alright.

Even a 4.5 quake can be lethal if you stand below something heavy.  It just isn’t worth it looking cool if that 1% of the time could mean your life.

As always, my commitment is to raise awareness.  That’s what coaching does best.