Al wrote:
> <declan_murphy@hotmail.com> wrote:
> > I'd like to see that. Gaigin walks from Okinawa to Kagoshima :-)
>
> In this age anything is possible. ;-) Seriously, the island is 100km
> long, and the key issue is to get out of town into the countryside,
> which is not that far away...

A really big earthquake, say an 8, would knock out all of the power and
communications on the island. Relief supplies would only arrive via the
port or the airport and military airfields. Turn around and head back
into the city?

And in the winter months, walking may be realistic in a climate such as
Okinawa, but I wouldn't fancy walking from here up into the countryside
when it is uphill and into snow. Another consideration is that if you
do go walkabout, then unless neighbours etc know that in advance there
is a chance that you are just adding to the number of "unaccounted for"
people the rescue teams and locals are searching for.

> > In theory maybe, but not very realistic unless the "walker" has no
> > family, close friends to look out for or other obligations.
>
> Well, yes, if there are people who one needs to take care of and who are
> not fit enough to come along on the walk (and who can't be carried,
> either), then maybe the bunker with stuff for a few weeks sounds like a
> plausible approach - but one still needs to think about protecting it
> from the hordes of less prepared people, no?

Unfortunately I have to take it as a given that at least 200 or so
students are going to be asking me for assistance. If someone is going
to call me at 2am to say they have a stomach ache and would like to see
a doctor, then I'll assume they will knock on my door if they have no
food, shelter, water, cigars or booze.

> Whicherver way i think about it, the idea of being able to "shelter in
> place" for 2 to 12 weeks sounds unrealistic and unnecessary, at least as
> far as Japan is concerned...

Even in a worse case scenario, I wouldn't imagine being without
assistance for much more than a week.