A recipe for disaster prevention

A woman tries walking through smoke during an earthquake drill at the Roppongi Hills shopping complex in Tokyo on March 11, 2015. There is much to learn from the Japanese in terms of disaster

Even though no nation can really stop a disaster, a responsible government must put in place a comprehensive response plan, like Japan has.

WE were ready to be rocked and roiled. But with a Nintendo DS console slung around our necks, it felt very much like a game. So like a silly schoolgirl trying to be kawaii, I let out a scream when the elevator we were in ­suddenly went dark and came to a halt. This was supposed to be a simu­lation of being in a lift descending to a train station when an earthquake of at least six on the Japan Meteorological Agency seismic intensity scale hits Tokyo.