Amazing that so many companies fail to consider locations when building their facilities. ; One would think that a low, flat floodplain next to a river with a 50-yr major flood cycle would either not be an optimal place to develop a technology park, or would at least require prudence in building some flood resistance into the facility. ; Yet a few dozen companies were all crammed in there without any due diligence! ; Factories in the long, low northern coastal flats near Sendai, next to a historically active thrust fault which commonly produces tsunamis; building brick or slab cement factories in earthquake prone countries and areas; building aluminum and unreinforced warehouse structures in historically hurricane/cyclone active areas...it's amazing how often you see this type of thing. ; I guess they're all figuring the amount they are saving through cheap construction, low land cost, incentives from third-world countries, and cheap labor are enough to offset the inevitable and eventual losses when disasters do occur...but it seems that a little extra investment in proper construction of facilities to deal with the natural disaster risk of the area would allow much less overall loss, while still saving on low-cost labor and third-world incentives.
Between the Japan tsunami and the thai flooding, it does seem that mother nature is angry at Japanese technology/manufacturing companies lately! ; Japanese cameras, sensors, automobiles, printers, etc have all been hit hard this past year!
