This is interesting...

Sendai

The city of Sendai is located inland from the coastal city of Ishinomaki. Sendai took the full brunt of a 9.0 earthquake.


Structural Damage in Sendai
Yet, 3 months later, the city is booming with barely a trace of earthquake damage. The train station was more crowded than any I have seen and the streets were busy with businessmen. The elevator to our hotel was still turned off, most likely due to some structural damage to the older building, but brand new skyscraper Westin was booked full and the elevators were churning like pistons.

It was almost too normal. So much so, that I jumped out of my seat on the bus to take pictures when I first saw a boarded up window at a local restaurant. A few blocks later, a car dealership was under scaffolding to remodel some infrastructure cracks. This was the equivalent of getting punched in the toe by an ant compared to the Mike Tyson furry ahead.

[link to www.greentaxi.com]