In the famous words, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”, our founding father Benjamin Franklin demonstrates his knowledge of principles that would develop the infrastructure of public health preparedness centuries later.

The most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan struck at 2:46 PM local time on Mar. 11 near the city of Sendai. The US Geological Survey measured the earthquake at an 8.9-magnitude, and has been followed by dozens and dozens of aftershocks. Friends located in Tokyo, 200 miles from the epicenter, reported long, eerie shaking and multiple evacuations.