thoughts on the earthquake in Japan

Here in the Northeast of the United States people have developed a sense of complacency about natural disasters. A bad snowstorm in the winter is expected--in fact, if it doesn't arrive as predicted, I feel a little let down. I doubt that the Japanese, or anyone else who lives in an area of the world where extreme events are guaranteed to happen regularly, develop such a sense of complacency. They certainly don't experience a sense of disappointment if something that has been predicted as about to happen doesn't happen. Of course, with earthquakes, there is no possibility of prediction.