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Japan's Pacific Rim Job: Build 250-Mile Anti-Tsunami Wall To Create Jobs
It appears Japanese policy-makers are getting inspiration from Hollywood for their latest economic 'fixes'. Having begun the building of a giant 'Game of Thrones'-esque ice-wall to hold back the radiation leaking from Fukushima (only to fail miserably); AP reports the latest cunning plan from the Japanese is to build a Pacific-Rim-esque "massive, costly sea wall to fend off tsunamis." The $6.8 billion, 250-mile-long, 41-foot-high concrete barrier public works project is seen by some as a necessary evil, and by others as a jail... Perhaps The UN's head of Disaster Risk Reduction summed it up best - "There's a bit of an over-belief in technology as a solution."
Four years after a towering tsunami ravaged much of Japan's northeastern coast, efforts to fend off future disasters are focusing on a nearly 400-kilometer (250-mile) chain of cement sea walls, at places nearly five stories high.
Opponents of the 820 billion yen ($6.8 billion) plan argue that the massive concrete barriers will damage marine ecology and scenery, hinder vital fisheries and actually do little to protect residents who are mostly supposed to relocate to higher ground. Those in favor say the sea walls are a necessary evil, and one that will provide some jobs, at least for a time.
In the northern fishing port of Osabe, Kazutoshi Musashi chafes at the 12.5-meter (41-foot)-high concrete barrier blocking his view of the sea.
"The reality is that it looks like the wall of a jail," said Musashi, 46, who lived on the seaside before the tsunami struck Osabe and has moved inland since.
Pouring concrete for public works is a staple strategy for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its backers in big business and construction, and local officials tend to go along with such plans.
The paradox of such projects, experts say, is that while they may reduce some damage, they can foster complacency. That can be a grave risk along coastlines vulnerable to tsunamis, storm surges and other natural disasters. At least some of the 18,500 people who died or went missing in the 2011 disasters failed to heed warnings to escape in time.
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"We don't need the sea wall to be higher. What we do need is for everyone to evacuate," Iguchi said.
"The safest thing is for people to live on higher ground and for people's homes and their workplaces to be in separate locations. If we do that, we don't need to have a 'Great Wall,'" he said.
While the lack of basic infrastructure can be catastrophic in developing countries, too heavy a reliance on such safeguards can lead communities to be too complacent at times, says Margareta Wahlstrom, head of the U.N.'s Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.
"There's a bit of an overbelief in technology as a solution, even though everything we have learned demonstrates that people's own insights and instincts are really what makes a difference, and technology in fact makes us a bit more vulnerable," Wahlstrom said in an interview ahead of a recent conference in Sendai convened to draft a new framework for reducing disaster risks.
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"Actually, many people are in favor of the sea walls, because they will create jobs," said Takahashi. "But even people who really don't like the idea also feel as if they would be shunned if they don't go along with those who support the plan," he said.
Some voices in unexpected places are urging a rethink of the plan.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's wife, Akie, offered numerous objections to cementing the northeast coast in a speech in New York last September. She said the walls may prevent residents from keeping an eye out for future tsunamis and would be costly to maintain for already dwindling coastal communities.
"Please do not proceed even if it's already decided," she said. Instead of a one-size-fits-all policy, she suggested making the plan more flexible. "I ask, is building high sea walls to shield the coast line really, really the best?"
Rikuzentakata, a small city near Osabe whose downtown area was wiped out by the tsunami, is building a higher sea wall, but also moving many tons of earth to raise the land well above sea level.
Local leader Takeshi Konno said no construction project will eliminate the need for coastal residents to protect themselves.
"What I want to stress is that no matter what people try to create, it won't beat nature, so we humans need to find a way to co-exist with nature," Konno said. "Escaping when there is danger . the most important thing is to save your life."
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Jobs for your future...
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Stairway to heaven better idea.
Do you know that the Japanese is also consider building a space elevator?
Beats giving even more money to billionaires. It's time to print money and give to the little people.
as any grade-schooler can tell you, the earthquakes come from large areas of the earth's crust -- "plates", if you will, the slide under one another.
plate tectonics.
the driving force behind all this plate movement is the slow circulation of the molten volume deep within the earth itself.
the "mantle"
all you have to do is cool the earth's mantle. then it won't circulate.
and the plates will stop sliding under each other.
and japan will be safe and secure.
Water is the real problem, it would be much simpler to just drain the Pacific in the Atlantic.
or take the ocean water to mars
1. reducing the threat to japan, while
2. providing much-needed potableness for future colonies
Multiply the likely actual cost of that boondoggle by about 100.
And then boys and girls, the 42 foot high, 251 mile long tsunami hit.........
One is reminded of Attack on Titan.
For those interested: http://animehaven.org/dubbed/attack-on-titan-episode-1-720p-english-dub
Any engineers care to estimate how much force that wall can withstand before failure?
3.5 GRM*.
* (Giant Radioactive Monsters).
As good a guesstimate as any gubmint figures..
Shit, I reckon I'd be pretty close, haha.
Great show!
The Attack on Titan wall is about 50 meters high with thousands miles long all circular...
And while it's not enough there is three of them !
Maybe Shinzo Abe watched the anime !
Did this news spike concrete futures for someone to cash out on?
The engineering and practical forethought are insane on this. All beach access and low level ocean view blocked by a 41 foot high monster? And where is the local rain runoff supposed to go, or the occasional river? Tsunamis do head up river as far as they can too.
It would likely be an effective "castle made of sand", and the extra concrete could be used by a tidal wave to further pummel everything shoreward.
the sad thing about this notion is the collosal waste of concrete....an absolute finite resource.
peak concrete baby...
How are those cement mines in the Mojave doing these days anyay?
Don't do it! Listen to the man for Pete's sake!
Besides, it is on wong side of da iran.
I'm making over $7k a month working part time. I kept hearing other people tell me how much money they can make online so I decided to look into it. Well, it was all true and has totally changed my life. This is what I do... http://goo.gl/ezLA00
Next thing you know Snake Pliskin's gonna be flying a steath glider into Japan to rescue the President.
(Reference for those who don't get it: Google 'Escape from New York' circa 1980.)
Can't they just tell Godzilla to vaporize any tsunamis with his atomic breath?
Certainly after robbing the federal reserve.
Oh how the Japanese culture has fallen...
Probably the first time I read the term 'Rim Job' in a news headline.
Yeah...and a 250 mile one at that. I think some lotion is going to be needed...at least afterwards.
I like the idea......around D.C.
After the wall around DC is complete, can we fill it wiith water?
I considered posting that thought too but I'm already wanted in 51 states by the Obama thought police.
Which six are still safe?
six is safe if you use a condom
@Osmium...
They should fill it with water from the Pacific...or the Gulf of Mexico...
Ummmm, a mixture of Thorium, Cesium, Strontium and Corexit...that oughta make a nice swimming pool for the "Magnum P.I." McMansion...
And hungry gators who are constipated, and therefore extra grumpy?
$6 billion? LOL. The new tappan zee bridge over the hudson is going to cost more.
Ah so, have great idea for robs robs robs!
Build massive barrier trapping water behind rawl!
Alright...
That's pretty much the most retarded thing I've ever read.
+1, it really is.
Just give everyone a surf board and lifejacket - much cheaper and efficient...
There is an easier solution. Arrest members of the Bechtel family and redistribute their stolen wealth.
Just bring up the transformers from the abyss.
WTF is the problem???
Megatrons new job is to stop tsunami's. How fucking hard can that be??
Paul?
I've seen 'em talk about smaller scale walls before. The idea would work well, just not as a wall.
If you put the thing about 100 yards off-shore, not all that high, it forces the wave to crest before hitting land. You still get some flooding but with limited power. Cuts the bottom of the wave off, well before hitting the shore.
Very effective, thus Keynesians would never, ever use it.
This reminds me of American technology fanatics who rave about Thorium, Elon Musk, Apple Watches, Fracking, etc., etc., etc....just so they can keep on goofing off and wasting energy a la 1995 forever...so they think.
Snake Pliskin would be proud.
I thought he was dead.
Why not just saw cut japan loose from it's foundation attach some floaties and when the wave hits it just rides up with it. It's not rocket surgery you know. Come on you nips, make Hank Johnson proud.
What do you do for an encore once you pave over an entire country with highways to keep the growth monster going?
You could either build tsunami walls --- or you could hand out 10 million tea spoons and pay people $50 an hour to dig a subway tunnel connecting Tokyo to New York.
Don't rule out the second option.
Hopefully it is high enough otherwise everyone drowns in 41ft of water that wont drain back into the sea.
....big question is......is it zionist proof?
Shovel ready jobs. See what good it did the USA.
I guess they will sell J bonds to pay for this.....
OMG! LOL!
been waiting for them to start cutting check to their citizens........looks like they're going to try and make it LOOK official by making them work for it.
Suppose maybe this here wall is gonna keep the water out or the radiation in?
Krugman would be proud
Hope they build it double high around Fukushima. That truly needs to be contained.
The first thing you will see on TV is the wall collapsing from the earthquake, then the tsunami approaching.
nice title
Hundreds of billions of tons of water won't even know the Jap makework wall is there.
1 - If it keeps the Mexicans out, it is worth every dime.
2 - The Chinese did it and do they have tsunami problems? Nope, see it works.
Maginot 2.0.
Go around..go around!
Fuckushima had anti tsunami wall... it didn't work...
A $6.8 billion, 250-mile-long, 41-foot-high concrete wall.
The Great Wall of Japan for $6.8bn? Is that for the drawings or for idea? $6.8bn aint gonna get you much beyond a few miles worth of eyesore.
If you spend your day building sand castles, then wrecking them, then building them again, then wrecking them, then...
sound productive?
Welcome to the new world order, where we have to make shit up for the sake of doing it, to keep the ponzi going.
Common sense stated: "No comment"