There are a lot of examples of how Japanese government officials failed in their reaction to the 9.0 quake/tsunami.  The Yakuza even made a show of their own fast disaster relief response.

However, even the Yakuza are no match for Mother Earth.  Yakuza leaders are admitting that they are having trouble getting to the hardest hit areas, just like the government: “Because of the devastation, it’s been impossible to make contact with our people in Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima prefectures. We haven’t been able to make contact by telephone, and in some cases, damage to the roads made it impossible to get through to the towns.”

This is proof that the 9.0 quake/tsunami was truly catastrophic.