http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/03/why-japan-was-ready/72429/


Emphasis mine - READ THE ARTICLE!

The international response over the past three days, effective though it has been, is dwarfed in comparison to Japan's efforts over the 15 years before the earthquake struck. Building codes as strict as they are expensive, emergency drills and education for as many of Japan 127 million citizens as possible, and a vast network of response centers and workers ready to spring into action in a few minutes notice -- which is all the time one really has to respond to a disaster such as this -- all contributed to making Japan, according to the New York Times, "the best-prepared country in the world for the twin disasters of earthquake and tsunami." In cities, buildings are fortified with elaborate systems of hydraulic cylinders; in coastal towns, many homes are networked with fire detector-like devices that sound an alarm in case of an earthquake. Despite the damage, 145 of Japan's 170 emergency response hospitals are still online, as are 2,050 evacuation centers.

In Miyago prefecture, the closest district to the original quake and the area worst hit by the tsunami, a number of small towns such as Minamisoma -- from which Shinkawa's home set sail on Friday -- have been devastated. But in Sendai, a city of one million 46 miles from Minamisoma and significantly closer to the epicenter, not a single building has yet collapsed. A visiting journalist describes the mood there as "sanguine," noting that "emergency services are working quite well and people have enough to eat and drink." In Tokyo, people are already putting the incident behind them and returning to work.