Expected Drop in Japan Economy Due to Earthquake: Updated March 23, 2024.

 

Economists expect Japan GDP to drop by up to $350 mil. in 2024 due to Noto quake

Article Source:  https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20240106/p2a/00m/0bu/006000c

Ideas:

There are always positives and negatives in any situation. Unfortunately, there has been a loot of human suffering and a lot of jobs lost.

But the positive side is there will be a lot of construction related to businesses, infrastructure, home, and so on in the future, which might mean more economic activity which will help the earthquake area.

The challenge is it could take a long time, like it has taken a long time to rebuild the Tohoku

area after the 9/11 earthquake and tsunami.

Of course people/households don't have time to wait for all of the clean to begin and then for the rebuilding of whatever that was destroyed during the earthquake.

The estimates of damages and or the cost of repairs needed, will go up the longer the rebuilding continue as with any building project.

The worst part is many of the homes that were damaged didn't really have earthquake preventable infrastructure features, as they were built before earthquake measures were introduced and or many elderly households couldn't afford to remodel their homes.

If possible the Japanese government should, with insurance companies, provide new housing for the elderly in the earthquake hit area, so they can feel safe with new homes.

Earthquakes seem to be a way of life, or living with earthquakes seems to be a way of life in Japan, but life goes on even though for example, the Kanto and Tokyo area is a major earthquake prone area, but one hasn't hit there yet.

As the global economy is not very much connected so are different parts of country, and what happened in the four prefectures in Japan could affect supply chains, manufacturing, and many different economic activities in Japan.

For example, if there are or were many small manufacturing type businesses in the four prefectures that were affected, and they supplied needed parts to other companies in Japan, the supply chains could be significantly affected in the future.

At the same time, many companies provided needed parts to manufacturing companies that were affected in the earthquake areas, then they too will be significantly affected and might not be up and running for some time.

Have a nice day and be safe!