The 9.0 quake that struck Japan could very easily cost more than $100 billion in damages. Don’t expect that insurance policy to cover it.
Insurance companies might cover as little as $12 billion of losses.
Eqecat, a catastrophe-modeling firm, estimated that the quake may trigger only $12 billion to $25 billion of insured losses.
And the government of the United States wants a health care system totally controlled by the insurance industry?
Kazuhiro Takahashi could be taken for a transient, scavenging for food, but he is just another hungry victim of Japan’s tsunami trying to find food for his family.
“I am so ashamed, but for three days we don’t have enough food. I have no money because my house was washed away by the tsunami and the cash machine is not working.”
Other tsunami survivors dig through smashed-up supermarkets, hoping to find food to supplement the meager government rations.
“This is so shaming, but I have given up on the government. We cannot rely on them so we have to help ourselves.”
Hours after the first shock waves hit, several of the largest crime groups in the Japanese mafia, opened their offices to those stranded in Tokyo, and shipped food, water, and blankets to the devastated areas.
The Inagawa-kai (the third largest organized crime group) sent twenty-five trucks filled with diapers, ramen, batteries, flashlights and drinks to the Tohoku region.
The Sumiyoshi-kai (the second-largest crime group) offered refuge to members of the foreign community, which is unheard of amongst the right-wing yakuza.
The Yamaguchi-gumi (largest crime group) opened its offices across the country to the public, and is very quietly sending truckloads of supplies.
In Midland, Texas, Liberty Tax Service was offering free tax preparations for anyone who contributed $50 of their return to The American Red Cross relief efforts in Japan.
Liberty Tax Service is a national sponsor of The American Red Cross.
Ask you local Liberty Tax Service if they will do the same where you live.
Japanese officials have released figures of relief supplies from other countries.
The supplies include 25,000 blankets from Canada, 30,000 packets of boil-in-the-bag fried rice and 230,000 water bottles from South Korea, and 500 power generators from Taiwan.
When you realize that some of the cities that got hit with he quake/tsunami had a million residents, you can see that foreign supplies are not much. In fact, Japan’s public news station, NHK, is constantly asking for donations.
Kyodo News reporting that in Miyagi Prefecture alone there could be 15,000 dead. That’s according to local police.
National police say the number of dead and missing is around 20,000. That doesn’t add up when compared to what local officials are reporting, especially when Miyagi Prefecture is reporting 15,000 dead.
The mayor of Otsuchi in Iwate Prefecture, Koki Kato was found dead. He had been missing after the tsunami hit on March 11.
Japanese officials say they support the U.S. & European attacks on Libya, and it shows in Japanese media reports.
National Japanese media has been toning down their coverage of the quake/tsunami/nuclear power plant disasters, and are shifting to reporting the attacks on Libyan government forces.
Russia has fired its ambassador to Libya. No official reason given so far.
A Russian newspaper speculates the ambassador was fired for failing to understand Russia’s interests in Libya.
Russia is against the UNSCR 1973.
A Libyan government official said they will discuss oil contracts with China, India, Russia and Brazil.
This is to gain support against “neo-crusaders”, taking military action against Libya, through the UN resolution.
China has already condemned the military operation against Libya. 20,000+ Chinese were evacuated from Libya at the end of February.
Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh said he wanted to see Libyans make their own decisions “free of outside interference.” India evacuated 18,000 workers from Libya.
Will Russia resume weapons sales to Libya? Russia stopped weapons sales, but only on the condition that military action would not be taken against Libya. “In Moscow, we regret this armed action within the hastily passed UNSCR Resolution 1973,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich.
Brazil’s newly elected president, Dilma Rousseff, said Brazil expects more of the United States, criticizing American protectionism. Brazil opposes military action against Libya. Brazil has also evacuated citizens from Libya.
Brazil, Russia, China and India are now the world’s strongest economies.
WikiLeaks reveal documents that showed U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, Carlos Pascual, had criticized Mexico’s handling of the Drug War.
Mexico’s President, Felipe Calderon, retaliated by pointing out that the various U.S. security forces, in Mexico, repeatedly fail to coordinate with each other and actually view each other as competitors. This makes them useless to Mexican security forces fighting the drug gangs.
President Calderon also said, in a newspaper interview, that U.S. Ambassador Pascual is ignorant and continually distorts the facts. Calderon says weapons being used by Mexican drug gangs are still coming from the United States. He has repeatedly asked the Obama administration to remove Pascual.
Hillary Clinton admitted that Pascual’s resignation is meant to keep attention away from Calderon’s accusations; “…to avert issues raised by President Calderon that could distract from the important business of advancing our bilateral interests”.