Comments on: After Tsunami, Japanese People Think Waves Are Less Dangerous. What?

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:54:26 +0000

In response to Moniques comment…..I believe what you are describing is in fact, anchoring. When someone views an event from the standpoint of hindsight they are afforted the oopportunity to approach a situation with a varied notion of what is versus what should be. I agree that if i saw a 130 ft wave a 6 ft wave wouldnt seem so frightening.

By: Brevin

Brevin — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 02:02:13 +0000

I agree with what the article is saying. The fact that they lived through these experience has blinded them from reality on the dangers of a tsunami.

By: Brian Too

Brian Too — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:14:07 +0000

Maybe a lot of the people with better risk appreciation perished? As in preferential mortality. Although I am not able to think of a mechanism by which this might happen, not at the moment anyway.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 23:41:03 +0000

It’s kind of like people in LA calling earthquakes under 5.0 “foot massages” when they can actually cause a heck of a lot of damage, depending on how shallow the earthquake is, how long the shaking goes on, and how sound the structures being shaken are. An earthquake of that magnitude in an area totally unprepared for earthquakes could be a killer quake.

By: Monique

Monique — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 20:42:18 +0000

I’m not so sure that anchoring is what is happening here. It could be a simple case of “I survived a mindboggling disaster and a wave beyond epic proportions. Now I am not afraid any longer of the “little things”.

What would be little to them, would still be epic to those of us who had not lived through the Tohoku tsunami.