What could Japan have done to prevent so much damage/death from the earthquake/tsunami?

Question:

Answer:

1) Earthquakes: most of modern Japanese buildings are well prepared for strong earthquakes. In fact, 90% of the people were killed by tsunami, not by the quake itself.
2) Tsunami: 35m-high tsunami this time was totally unprecedented and unpredictable to our regret. .
3) Nuclear power plant accident: could have been prevented if our government and the electric power company in question were cautious enough. The whole nation knows that it was a man-made disaster, not a natural disaster.