Similarity between two earthquakes

By Nam Sang-so

“History repeats itself,” or, as quoted by Mark Twain, “History does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme.”

Historic recurrences induce a sense of convergence, resonance or deja vu. In spite of the isolation of the location and time of the two natural disasters in Portugal and Japan, they share a very striking similarity.

The Great Lisbon Earthquake was a “megathrust” earthquake that took place in November 1755. The earthquake was followed by a huge tsunami, which caused the near-total destruction of Lisbon, Portugal, and adjoining areas. It had a magnitude in the range 8.5–9.0 with an epicenter in the Atlantic Ocean.

Estimates place the death toll in Lisbon alone at up to 100,000 people, making it one of the deadliest earthquakes in history. The earthquake and tsunami accentuated political tensions in the Kingdom of Portugal and profoundly disrupted the country’s colonial ambitions.

The Eastern Japan Great Earthquake Disaster was a magnitude 9.0 undersea megathrust earthquake off the coast of Japan that occurred on March 11, 2011, with the epicenter 70 kilometers east of the Oshika Peninsula of Tohoku in the Pacific Ocean. The earthquake caused a major tsunami, which brought destruction along the Pacific coastline of Japan’s northern islands and resulted in the loss of thousands of lives and devastated entire towns.

There were 15,641 deaths, 5,699 injured and 5,007 missing across 18 prefectures. The earthquake and tsunami, and resultant radiation leakages from a tsunami-stricken nuclear power plant, worsened political tensions in Japan as happened in Portugal.

Portugal was a relatively small country and in order to survive it had to expand its influence and establish a global empire. With territory in Africa, Asia, Oceania and South America including Brazil, Portugal became one of the world’s major economic and political powers. The country had undertaken these ventures in the Age of Discovery, transforming itself from the Kingdom of Portugal into the Portuguese Empire. That was before the Great Lisbon Earthquake.

Japan is a relatively small island country and in order to survive it had to aggressively expand its political power by occupying neighboring countries; Korea, part of China, Taiwan, Sakhalin, and some island countries in South East Asia.

Imperial Japan had undertaken it under the flag of the ``Hakkouichiu,” or ``the world under one roof,” and established the ``Great East Asian Sphere of Co-prosperity.” And that was before the end of World War II and 66 years before the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Portugal is at the brink of financial crisis now and there are all kinds of questions about what is going to happen to the country. The concern is that a crisis in Portugal could have a domino effect. When the country’s international status was greatly reduced during the 19th century, especially following the independence of Brazil, France and Spain took up the reins.

Japan, too, is at the brink. Will the country recover from the earthquake, tsunami and radiation-leakage problems, to remain one of the global economic giants? Or will Japan fall in line with Portugal with its own financial crisis, and clouds of radiation floating in the sky and flowing in the sea?

Morality is a sense of behavioral conduct that differentiates between good (or right) and bad (or wrong). One should not take it as a chance to profit from others’ misfortune.

Japan is one of Korea’s neighbors, friendly or not, Dokdo or Takeshima. Still it’s a war, economically, out there. No one can deny that China is waiting vigilantly for its chance, only subtly.

Certainly, Korea would not sit idly by, just watching a fire on the other side of the East Sea. Spain and France did not when Portugal fell.

The author was born and bred in Japan and now lives in Seoul and New Jersey. He is a retired architect/specifications writer, and can be reached at sangsonam@gmail.com.