We as human beings become full of ourselves. I am talking about myself or the entirety of mankind and not individuals here.
We think we can do something, the right thing and the wise thing quickly if we only had the proper leaders and understanding.
We can't
The only thing we as a species can do instantly is to destroy.
Certainly given enough time and steady progress we can do amazing things, be it the Great Pyramids or a global satiltte communication system.

To mobile boats when most boats are damaged by tsunamis or even to bull doze roads which are washed away or displaced, are things that are wishful. To do the simplest thing may be impossible at some point.
All we can do is what can be done in a particular moment.
That is what is so dreadfully sad and insufficieant in the midst of such an enormous catastrophe and woe.
Right now there are countless survivors still alive who are stuck somewhere alone in the cold wet and waiting. 10,000 people perished from one town alone.

We see a snappy multi graphic TV screen scrolling ,1,200 dead 1,700 injured...but the truth is far more painful, sad, alone and frightening. ITs like the meat counter at the grocery store, what you see is nothing like what happened getting there under the lights and mist and music.

The helplessness in times like these are the times in which faiths and religions give some minor comfort for some. SOemtimes it is more than cosmetic. Sometimes a person may draw upon real or imaginary powers to not give up and struggle against hope to save themselves or someone else.

No we can not know what it is like in Japan in its entirety, nor should anyone one person have to bear that suffering. We can do what is possible now. Someone else can do something small along with another and another until slowly something big and great may happen.

Maybe someone will someday learn how to do something wonderful and great that can be activated and built in as little time as we are now able to destroy things with missiles bombs and particle beam weapons.

Meanwhile help is on the way. Two weeks without further disasters will be the time when all that could be done will be done to reach lives that will be saved. Some rest will have graves others will not.
And maybe some may become fossils for another age to testify about ther ordeal. It looks sad and will always be sad but there are things we will do to make some things better, slowly over time.