Don’t lose hope in the face of calamity

As the proclaimed “toughest and most difficult crisis for Japan” since WWII, the recent geological disaster in Sendai has cause more than $100 billion in damages and left thousands, if not tens of thousands dead or missing.

The earthquake and subsequent tsunamis is the most energetic natural disaster to hit Japan, and the fourth most energetic disaster globally, since modern record-keeping measures were established.

With all of the death and destruction, coupled with wide-spread fears about the impact not only on the Japanese economy, but the global market as well, it would seem easy to abandon hope and dwell on the bitter social and economic problems created by the crisis.

However, some economists are optimistic that in the long-term perspective, and expected the disaster will actually stimulate the Japanese economy and provide a growing pool of job opportunities during the rebuilding and restoration process.

From a pragmatic standpoint, the epicenter of the earthquake fortuitously struck the less densely developed region of Sendai, in comparison to the densely populated and highly developed region of Tokyo.

One analyst, from JPMorgan Chase, correlated the current crisis with the San Francisco natural disaster of 1989 and predicted that the positive end result of the crisis on our own soil would also hold true for the Japanese people on theirs.

Another analyst at the French bank Societe Generale, Takuji Okubo, said “The earthquake will most likely lead to stronger growth in 2011, rather than weaker.”

After observing the horrific effects of the disaster abroad, our own challenge, then is to adopt the optimism of our foreign colleagues and believe that despite struggle, disaster, and set-backs, the end result of problems and difficulty are experience, growth, and hope.