Both at home and abroad, when the 7.6-magnitude earthquake broke out in Japan, many people were staring at Japan's disaster relief efforts and comparing them with those after the earthquake in Gansu, China, a dozen days ago.
What is the comparison? We can use a tweet posted by a Japanese netizen to illustrate the problem:
Within hours of the earthquake in Gansu, China's emergency management mechanism was activated, with public security, fire protection, emergency management departments, armed police, the People's Liberation Army, professional rescue teams, and grassroots self-organized rescue forces all in place.
However, Japan did not complete the formation of a front-line rescue command organization until the afternoon of the second day after the earthquake, and the rescue boats sent by the Self-Defense Forces were still on the road the next night.
The two are contrasted, and the judgment is made.
1
Hours and days
We often say that "natural disasters are merciless", but in the face of disasters, people's choices and practices will determine how many lives can be saved in disasters.
The Gansu earthquake occurred after 23 o'clock on December 18, and it was a sudden earthquake in the middle of the night. In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, China's strong grassroots organizing capacity began to kick in.
Even before reinforcements from the People's Liberation Army, the armed police, and professional rescue forces arrived, the local public security departments, grassroots party organizations, and the masses began to organize rescue forces.
It is true that because of the lack of manpower, materials and professional equipment, and because the people's hearts have not yet settled down at this time, the grassroots spontaneous rescue is not very powerful, but it is better than no rescue.
A few hours later, the fire department, armed police, and the People's Liberation Army entered the disaster area. When reinforcements from all over the country arrived, a large-scale rescue operation began, and no time was wasted.
So how much time did Japan, which claims to be the world's most prepared country for earthquakes, spend organizing rescue efforts after the earthquake?
According to information from Japanese media and Japanese social platforms, the earthquake occurred at around 5 p.m. local time on January 1, and the first batch of professional rescue teams arrived in the disaster area that night.
The first Japanese Self-Defense Forces arrived in the disaster area during the day on the 2nd, but it was not until the afternoon of the 2nd that Japan formed a front-line command department for the earthquake relief.
It was not until the morning of the 3rd that the main force of the Self-Defense Forces arrived at the disaster area by land, along with relief materials that had been transferred to the disaster area.
At this time, nearly 40 hours had passed since the earthquake, and judging from Japanese social media, there were only individual voluntary rescue operations in the disaster area, and there was a lack of strong grassroots organization capacity.
However, there is a group of people in Japan who can run faster than anyone else, that is, the helicopters used by the major Japanese media to carry out news reports, and the helicopters of the Japanese media arrived over the disaster area one to two hours after the earthquake.
These helicopters did nothing but broadcast live footage of the disaster area, neither transporting relief supplies to the disaster area, nor transferring the wounded out of the disaster area, and the number of helicopters of the Japanese media in the disaster area is even more than that of the rescue team.
2
Warm tents and dark "shelters"
The earthquake in Japan has a similarity with the earthquake in Gansu, that is, the high intensity of the earthquake caused a large number of houses to collapse. The situation in Japan was even worse, with fires breaking out in many places, one of which destroyed 200 houses.
As a result, both China and Japan are faced with the problem of how to resettle the affected people.
China's solution is divided into two parts: short-term and long-term. The short-term solution was given to the first PLA troops to enter the affected area.
Our PLA troops directly brought military tents for daily training into the disaster area, and set up tents for the people affected by the earthquake on the first day after the earthquake.
These tents are all equipment used by our soldiers, and due to the lack of relief materials, the victims lived in tents on the first night after the earthquake, while our soldiers chose to spend the night in military vehicles or on fires.
Fortunately, the situation was alleviated the next day, and civilian relief tents from emergency supply warehouses arrived in the affected area, providing more living space.
But living in a tent is clearly not a long-term practice. After the rescue operation ended, we used shelter equipment and materials from all over the country to build temporary resettlement sites, and by the end of December, the housing needs of the disaster area had been basically met.
What is the situation in Japan? The picture posted by a Japanese netizen at the beginning of our article may illustrate the problem.
Judging from the situation of Japanese media and social platforms, Japan has launched a series of "shelters", including gymnasiums and other facilities, as resettlement sites for people in disaster areas.
In this regard, Japan is still relatively well prepared, and there are plans for which places to be used as "shelters".
The problem is that the safety of these buildings after the earthquake has not been carefully examined, and many of them are actually "dangerous buildings", but this is not the biggest problem.
The biggest problem is that the management of "shelters" in Japan is quite chaotic, many people fish in troubled waters, and there are frequent crimes and violence in "shelters", and women have become the most dangerous group in "shelters".
In particular, Japanese women who lost their husbands in the earthquake and took refuge with their children to evacuation centers are often targeted by evacuation center managers.
If you open the Japanese social platform, you can see that many Japanese netizens share their experiences on how to protect themselves in the "shelter", many of which are based on the real cases of the 2011 earthquake in Japan, especially how women can prevent illegal violations.
3
China is people-oriented, but what about Japan?
It has been said that responding to natural disasters can test a country's capabilities in all aspects.
From 1976 to 2008, 2010, and then to 2023, we can always see the same and changes in China's response to earthquake disasters: what has not changed is to put the safety of people's lives in the highest priority, and what has changed is more and more advanced technology and professional strength.
We feel sorry for the Japanese people for the earthquake that struck Japan, and at the same time hope that they will be able to get out of the disaster as soon as possible.
However, with regard to the Japanese government's sluggish rescue measures, the indifferent reporting of the Japanese media, and the belated actions of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, we have chosen to mercilessly debunk some "Japanese myths", shatter some propaganda filters and stereotypes, and only need to report some facts objectively.