mothra versus godzilla

Despite outstanding preparation, response and containment on the part of government and communities, there are only poor, boundless words to describe the shock and sympathy over the devastation and loss for the people of Japan in the wake of this earthquake and tsunami that threatened to carpet the rest of the Pacific.

There is little to assuage the personal costs, but the people there are practiced and ready and together managed to avoid a much bigger catastrophe as it is still unfolding. The occasion for recovery and reorganization has led to ultimate good fortune and strength in the past, and no doubt the country will recover. No matter how well prepared and what sort of fail-safes are installed, however, there are sobering reminders of Nature’s aloof power, and not of man’s stubborn struggle for traction on a slipping cliff side.

The quirks of geography awaken suddenly and violently. What is seismically active, by definition, does go through periods of ebb and flow but there is little sense in expecting “the big one” or to proclaim anything is overdue—though that always sounds good in hindsight, as does recognizing the spate of quakes occurring as a sign of something other than the usual geocentric dispersion:

Christchurch, and Yunnan and the eruption of an Indonesian volcano in the same fateful day.

Astrologers are attributing this series to the tidal, tractor-beam pull of the Moon’s close approach to Earth. All support and goodwill lends Japan the strength and courage to recover, and its economy will surely be revitalized as people and communities heal. Though allegory, monsters, radioactive titans, were probably instruments of fiscal stimulus and reinvention as well.