Blogger notes differences in US, Japan media reactions to disaster

Updated on Friday, March 11, 2011 at 8:16PM by Kay B. Day, Editor

Map of Japan from US Gov./CIA World Fact BookI read a blogger's account of what's happening in Japan after the quake and tsunami, and it naturally brought back memories.

Watching the waves lift cars and trucks as though they were made of paper, I couldn’t help thinking of the aftermath of Katrina when the words “water, water everywhere” from Coleridge’s iconic poem came to mind. Perhaps because there was a Republican unpopular with media in the White House, US news outlets covered Katrina with drama that bordered on soap opera.

Katrina was an epic tragedy, but we should admit Katrina was also a preventable disaster. Much suffering could have been avoided had those who live in the city and govern the city prepared for a failure all knew was possible. The quake in Japan, however, doesn’t fit that scenario.

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Philippine official misses Copenhagen because of volcano

Commentary by Kay B. Day

Provincial Governor Joey Salceda (Albay, the Philippines) missed the climate change gala in Copenhagen because the Mayon volcano came closer to a major eruption. The National Disaster Coordinating Council (Philippines) update issued Tuesday said the alert level of Mayon Volcano was raised “from ALERT LEVEL 2 to ALERT LEVEL 3 which means that magma is close to the crater and hazardous explosive eruption is imminent.”

Salceda had planned to go to Copenhagen to talk about typhoons and natural disasters affecting his province said the Associated Press.

The NDCC update reported “23 volcanic quakes were also recorded from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM 14 December 2009.”

The area affected by Mayon is in a volcanic hot spot—the Pacific Ring of Fire.

This photographic print on a stereo card showing Mayon Volcano in the background dates to 1906.[Image is from the US Library of Congress.]

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