Which only proves that they were designed to withstand seismic, but not tsunami, damage and we know how to build for seismic forces. And this leads us to the larger question; if a country of famously brilliant engineers, and the best and most disciplined car industry in the world (for one example), led by a stable western-style democratic government, failed to anticipate and plan for this event is it not just overweening hubris to assume we will ALWAYS do better against ALL unpredicted events? Because that is the equation. We have to be better 100% of the time or the costs are too high. And we have had many very close calls in recent years.
The plant's reactors automatically shut down without damage and all safety systems functioned as designed. The plant's 46-foot high seawall successfully withstood the tsunami.
When was the last time the USA suffered a tsunami of the type rubato fears?
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Oh, the horror of the next generation! Each next generation has been horrifying the previous generation for, oh, at least 25 centuries:
Youth today love luxury. They have bad manners and contempt for authority; they allow disrespect for elders and love to chatter in place of exercise. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up their food, and tyrannize their teachers.
(Attributed to Socrates (c. 470 CB - 399 BC).)
Oh, the horror!
How have we managed to survive?
Reason is valuable only when it performs against the wordless physical background of the universe.
