Mental health care and East Japan Great Earthquake.

THE JAPANESE SOCIETY of Psychiatry and Neurology (JSPN) and the editors of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences (PCN) would like to express our sincere condolences to the people who have suffered from the East Japan Great Earthquake (the Tohoku– Pacific Ocean Earthquake) 3.11. A massive 9.0-magnitude earthquake occurred in the Pacific Ocean nearby Northeastern Japan, Friday March 11, 2011 at 14:46 (JST), causing serious damage to almost all of the Tohoku area and part of the Kanto area. The Tohoku area is the northern part of Japan including Fukushima, Miyagi, Iwate, Aomori, Akita and Yamagata prefectures. Kanto is the governmental and commercial center of Japan including Tokyo and Yokohama, together with seven prefectures. The cities damaged by the earthquake are Iwaki, Minamisohma, Sohma, Iwanuma, Natori, Sendai, Higashiatsushima, Ishinomaki, Kesennuma, Rikuzentakada, Ofunato, Kamaishi, Miyako, Kuze, and Hachinohe, all of which face the Pacific Ocean coast of Tohoku. Even in Tokyo, some modern buildings have cracks in walls, and skyscrapers trembled for several minutes, which was enough to terrify people working and living in this area. However, it was only a prelude to the merciless disaster by natural threat following the quake. People living in the Tohoku and Kanto areas suffered from frequent aftershocks several times a day in the following days. Though the magnitude of each aftershock was smaller than the main quake, they were high enough to cause survivors to feel frightened and terrified in the blackouts and cold winter weather in the affected areas. The earthquake triggered in the 200 ¥ 500-km area along the Pacific coast of Tohoku, and the tsunami was the next disaster. Just after the earthquake, the tsunami was forecasted and the tsunami warning was issued by the authorities, giving the order to evacuate. The power of natural disaster was, however, beyond our imagination. The massive tides of 7–15 m in height wiped out houses, bridges, buildings and everything else. The tsunami water went 5 km inland destroying all infrastructure for living. Japan has experienced frequent earthquakes because it is located above the intersection of the four earth plates. Japan should have been well prepared with advanced technology for earthquake forecast and prevention system and many know-hows against earthquakes and tsunami; in fact, ‘tsunami’ has become the global term, originating from the Japanese language, meaning high tides.