First Evacuee Death Reported in Rukuzen-Takada City

due to LACK OF FOOD, WATER, HEAT - effectively killed by the petty bureaucrats at the local municipalities who are supposed to be overseeing the distribution of such essentials.

And they are likely to announce that the death was due to "post-traumatic stress syndrome".

WELL EXCUSE ME?

The article linked above says in the same shelter where the evacuee died, a 78-year old woman asked the official at the shelter if she could have another comforter because it was so freezing cold, but the official refused, saying there was no extra. WELL TAKE YOUR F--KING COMFORTER AND GIVE IT TO THE OLD LADY!

Various Japanese newspaper articles say THERE ARE PLENTY OF FOOD, WATER, BLANKET, FUEL, EVERYTHING that have been transported to the official emergency depots. Actually in one such depot in Sendai City, there are MOUNTAINS OF GOODS SPILLING OUTSIDE THE DEPOT.

And they are not reaching the people. The petty bureaucrats' excuse in those municipalities?

They don't have fuel to run the trucks to reach the evacuees;
They say they can't find truck drivers;
They haven't drawn up a plan to distribute them to people who are NOT IN THE OFFICIAL SHELTERS.

And what does the Self Defense Force do, who has helicopters that could airlift such goods to the evacuees at various shelters?

They say they are told to look for survivors, they say.

Look, people who survived will die because of you, bureaucrats and bureaucrats at the Self Defense Force.

This is Japan at its worst: bureaucratic red tapes that kill, all the way from the top of the government (e.g. Prime Minister delaying the press conference for hours after a critical accident so that he can claim he's in charge) all the way down to the petty bureaucrats in a small town up in Tohoku, who are doing all they can according to the protocol that they drew up carefully. Never mind that the protocol doesn't work in an emergency like this, where there couldn't have been an orderly evacuation to officially designated shelters from a rushing tsunami that went as high as 20 meters at a very high speed.

And they dare not speak up the chain of bureaucracy. The lowest rank bureaucrat can refuse a blanket to an old woman because there is no blanket left, and he/she can express regret, according to the protocol. The soldiers can ignore mountains of foods and water because that's not their business. And they can wring their collective hands and say "If only we had..."

Bureaucracy that kills. I just hope it doesn't kill as much as the earthquake and tsunami have killed already.

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