Japan has to reinvent itself after most powerful earthquake in its history

The 127 million Japanese have been living a nightmare for the last three days: earthquake, tsunami and nuclear alert.

Suffering comes to those who are used to suffering. The worst earthquake in Japan history and the world's fifth largest since records began has put one of the world's richest countries in a very difficult situation: the earthquake and the tsunami left thousands dead and tens of thousands missing, with the possibility of a nuclear accident hanging above the heads of the 127 million Japanese.

"The Japanese have been through a lot of hardship over their history, they are resistant to pain. They are a people who have suffered and know how to deal with pain. I am confident they will recover," says the brother of a young man who works for a big investment bank in Tokyo.

On Friday March 11, at 2:46 PM (7:46 AM Romanian time), Japan was hit by a 9-degree earthquake. This is the fifth largest since earthquake records began in 1900. The biggest earthwake was the one in Chile, 9.5 degrees, in 1960.

The very tall buildings in Tokyo swayed, but withstood the quake. However, the tsunami, the huge 10 metre-high wave of water that followed and hit the northeast of the country was devastating. Overall damage is put at 100 billion dollars in a first stage, which accounts for around 2% of the GDP estimated at around 5,500 billion dollars.

However, the big problem now is the Fukushima nuclear power station, 250 kilometres north of the Japanese capital, where a state of emergency has been declared and thousands of people have been evacuated on a 20 kilometre radius.