3.30.2011

Dubai a willing host as Chinese go cruising || The National

Dubai a willing host as Chinese go cruising

Daniel Bardsley (Foreign Correspondent)

Last Updated: Mar 27, 2011

Dubai is established as a global tourist destination but its importance as a stopping-off point for cruise ships is relatively new.

In 2001, just 7,000 cruise ship passengers visited the city, a mere drop in the ocean compared with the 3.6 million tourists in total who arrived that year.

The emirate last year hosted 8.7 million hotel guests, well over double the figure of a decade ago. This increase, while impressive, is put into perspective by the 55-fold growth in cruise ship tourists over the same period, with 390,255 enjoying Dubai as a port of call last year.

The total number of passengers last year was nearly 50 per cent up on 2009's figure of 262,740, with the increase no doubt helped by the launch of Dubai's new cruise terminal.

In future, more of the hearty seafarers who stride happily along their ship's gangway to enjoy a few hours or days of desert safaris and shopping in Dubai are likely to come from China.

Some cruise lines are already offering 25-day no-expense-spared voyages that begin in China and end in Dubai

Other Chinese tourists are splashing out on fly-cruises that see them jet in to the Middle East and then go cruising for a few days - with Dubai often the place where the voyages start and end.

It has been much easier for Chinese travellers to visit the UAE after Beijing's decision in 2009 to give the Emirates "preferred destination status", meaning visa and other red-tape restrictions have been made less onerous.

"In the recent spring festival, we had several groups who travelled to Dubai to take a cruise to Oman or Qatar, then back to Dubai," says Eric Li, the manager of the Middle East and Africa section of Beijing Jin Jiang International Travel.

Increases in the number of cruise-ship visitors from China are part of a wider expansion in the popularity of cruises among residents of the Asia-Pacific in general. Growth is outstripping expectations.

In 2005, UK-based consultants predicted that 2 million people would be taking cruises annually in Asia by 2015.

Late last year, Soo Kok Leng, the chairman of the Singapore Cruise Centre, said these estimates had proved to be way out, forecasting instead the figure would be closer to 7 million.

Less than a year ago, several countries in the region, among them China, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea, formed the Asia Cruise Terminal Association to allow the region to pool expertise and improve standards.

It is no surprise that China's business capital, Shanghai, has seen dramatic increases in the number of cruise ship tourists sailing in.

The cruise operator Royal Caribbean said passenger volumes at Shanghai increased more than 250 per cent in 2009, and as with Dubai, increases have been encouraged by the opening of an international cruise terminal. The number of cruise passengers visiting Chinese sea ports is now running at about 600,000 a year.

Reports indicate China has encouraged growth by making it easier for Chinese ship operators to run cruises, by simplifying customs procedures and by easing the paperwork burden on foreign companies sailing into its ports.

Yet there remains vast scope for further expansion of the industry in Asia. Up until now, the numbers of people taking cruises around the continent has been modest compared with the global total.

The Cruise Lines International Association predicts 16 million people worldwide, three quarters of them from North America, will embark on cruises this year, up 6.6 per cent on last year.

That Chinese are more keen and financially able to travel outside their country is beyond doubt. Last year, 56 million tourists from the mainland travelled abroad, an increase of 8.3 million or 17.5 per cent on 2009's figure of 47.7 million.

Regional destinations, including Taiwan, South Korea and Japan, were the most popular, and many cruise operators are catering to this fondness for relatively local destinations. "A lot of people choose to cruise from Tianjin or Shanghai to Korea or Japan," Mr Li says.

While the much higher cost of European or Caribbean trips is one barrier, language is another reason why Chinese cruise ship passengers like to take shorter cruises from their home country. Chinese travellers taking voyages on the other side of the world often find that few passengers or crew can speak their language.

Things might however be easier for Chinese travellers in future. Just as many UAE hotels have hired Chinese staff to cater to guests from the world's most populous country, so cruise companies have indicated, in discussions with Mr Li's firm, a willingness to employ more Mandarin and Cantonese-speaking crew. This is vital, he says, if they are to attract Chinese passengers.

"There are [Chinese] people who are interested in European and North American cruises, but they fear the language barrier," Mr Li says.

"Sometimes the films and other things are all in English. They feel bored because there's nothing in Chinese."

 

business@thenational.ae

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Very interesting article about the Chinese adventuring abroad as they growth wealthier. Few people appreciate the fact that foreign travel for leisure purposes is a very new concept to mainland Chinese. In fact, I believe it was only made "legal" to travel on vacation to the US within the last 5 years.

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3.22.2011

The 10 Most Innovative Companies in Health Care | Fast Company

This post was written by Ellen McGirt and Chuck Salter.

01 / Epocrates >>

For creating software that gives doctors and nurses instant information on drug-to-drug interactions, treatment recommendations, and more on their mobile devices or laptops. Coming up: mobile access to electronic health records.

02 / SynCardia Systems >>

For giving mobility to artificial-heart recipients. Syncardia makes the world's only FDA-approved completely artificial heart. Now, thanks to a 13-pound portable power supply, recipients can leave the hospital for the first time and return home. During a ten-year study for the FDA, 79 percent of patients successfully lived on the man-made heart until receiving a human heart transplant.

03 / Voxiva >>

For developing mobile apps that coach users through everything from smoking cessation to diabetes management. The company recently worked with the U.S. government to launch Text4Baby, a mobile education program for pregnant women, and its work in poor countries like Rwanda has been a lifeline.

04 / Cleveland Clinic

For rethinking the entire hospital experience, from the buildings to the hospital gown, with an eye to delivering a better patient experience. Ombudsman complaints dropped over 40% last year (versus 2009), patient satisfaction scores have gone up, and medical outcomes have been better across the board.

05 / SafePoint

For providing a solution for one of the most intractable global health care issues: reused syringes, which render most injections in India, Pakistan, and Africa--and a growing number in the U.S.--unsafe and sometimes fatal. Inventor Marc Koska's low-cost syringe can't be reused--one use, it locks in place. Now, after eight years in the marketplace, Koska has licensing agreements with 14 countries and SafePoint's global awareness campaigns have reached over 500 million people.

06 / Envoy Medical

For creating the first FDA-approved surgically implanted hearing system to address hearing loss caused by aging, noise and viral infections. Placed under the skin behind the ear, the Envoy device comprises a sound processor, sensor, and driver that convert vibrations in the ear into electrical signals that are processed so they're perceived as sound.

07 / GE >>

For promising to revolutionize diagnosis with the Vscan, a mobile, pocket-size ultrasound machine the size of an iPod, connected to short wand. It works just like the bulky conventional ultrasound machine, providing an instant visual image (in color or black and white) inside the body, beyond a patient's vital signs.

08 / PharmaSecure

For coming up with cost-effective protection against counterfeit drugs, which are especially prevalent in developing nations. Each individual drug package is stamped with a unique code and phone number. Consumers submit the code via text message, and PharmaSecure confirms the drug's authenticity. The service launched last year and is currently being used in India, where the government has moved to mandate the technology. Under the law, PharmaSecure expects to produce up to a billion security codes drug drugs this year.

09 / Neurovigil

For building a database of brainwave activity to help researchers recognize disease patterns in people affected by neural or nervous system maladies. The company's iBrain headband, worn at night, uses wireless electrodes to capture brainwaves. NeuroVigil's software interprets the data to produce a map of activity during sleep that's richer than anything previously available. Such tech could both help researchers identify biomarkers for early diagnosis of cognitive disorders (such as Parkinson's) and reveal how drugs affect the brain, a crucial step toward personalized medical treatment.

10 / Second Sight Medical Products

For its ground-breaking retinal-implant technology, which recently hit the European market. FDA approval is pending.

Browse our list of The World's Most Innovative Companies 2011

[Photograph by: Psyberartist]

Posted via email from Brian T. Edwards || Posterous

3.21.2011

HealthGrid11 in Bristol, England || June 27

3.20.2011

Latest Directives From the Ministry of Truth, March 10-18, 2011

The following examples of censorship instructions, issued to the media and/or Internet companies by various central (and sometimes local) government authorities, have been leaked and distributed online. Chinese journalists and bloggers often refer to those instructions as “Directives from the .” CDT has collected the selections we translate here from a variety of sources and has checked them against official Chinese media reports to confirm their implementation

State Council Information Office: Article from China-Tibet Web

March 18, 2011

From the State Council Information Office: All websites are requested to repost, in its entirety and in a prominent location, the article from China-Tibet Web, “Can Seeds of Enmity Bear Fruits of Harmony?”  It is not permitted to change the title, and the article must remain up until March 19, 10:00 am.

国新办:中国西藏网文章

国新办:请各地网站在首页最醒目区统一转发中国西藏网的《仇恨的种子能结出和谐的果实吗》一文,不可改标题,并且保留到19日10时。

State Council Information Office: Radiation Levels in Urban Areas

March 16, 2011

From the State Council Information Office: Starting on March 17, all websites are requested to prominently repost on their front pages information regarding radiation levels in main urban areas, provided by the Environmental Protection Department.  This information must be placed in a fixed location, and note that it must be updated every day.  All provincial-level Internet surveillance and propaganda Departments are requested to strictly examine websites under their jurisdiction, and strictly enforce the demands of this notice.

Every day, all websites that provide cell-phone reports must also issue, “Daily Radiation Levels in Main Urban Areas From the Environmental Protection Department (Office of National Nuclear Safety).”  All mobile phone companies must understand that this is a political duty, and immediately implement it.

国新办:城市环境辐射水平

国新办:所有网站请从3月17日起在首页要闻区突出转发环保部发布的全国主要城市环境辐射水平信息,此信息必须置于固定位置,注意每日必须进行更新。各省网管,网宣部门请严格检查属地网站,对照本要求严格执行。

所有设有手机报的网站,也需要每天转发“环境保护部(国家核安全局)发布每日全国主要城市环境辐射水平”。所有手机运营商必须理解这是政治任务,立即执行。

Central Propaganda Department: Property Taxes

March 14, 2011

From the Central Propaganda Department: Regarding Shanghai’s and Chongqing’s experiments with initiating property taxes, opinions that property taxes steal money are not to be reported or hyped.

国新办:房产税

中宣部:对上海重庆启动房产税试点,说房产税是抢钱的言论不报道不炒作

State Council Information Office: Unilateralism, Hillary Clinton style

March 14, 2011

From the State Council Information Office: All websites are requested to repost, on the front page and in a prominent position, the story, “Internet Freedom: Unilateralism, Hillary Clinton style.”  It is not permitted to change the title, and the article must stay on the front page until March 15, 6:00 am.

国新办:希拉里式的单边主义

国新办:请各网站在首页最醒目位置转载“互联网自由:希拉里式的单边主义”,不可以改标题,文章必须保持在首页至3月15日晚6时。

State Council Information Office: Concern and Love for Tibetan Students

State Council Information Office: Concern and Love for Tibetan Students

State Council Information Office: All websites must post on their front page news section the article, “For 33 years, 75-year-old Professor Yang Changlin has Shown Concern and Love for Tibetan College Students in Almost 10,000 Instances.” Leave this article up until the day after tomorrow (the 15th) at 6 pm.

国新办:请各网站在首页要闻区突出转发《75岁教授杨昌林33年如一日关爱高校藏族学生近万人次》,保留至后天(15日)下午六时。

March 13, 2011

From the State Council Information Office:

Central Propaganda Department: Large Earthquake in Japan

March 13, 2011

From the Central Propaganda Department: Media must solidly grasp reporting on disaster conditions after the large earthquake in Japan, and objectively and quickly report on trends as they develop.  Place particular emphasis on grasping the relationship between anti-seismic and relief efforts for the Japan and Yunnan earthquakes and propaganda reporting for the national meetings of the “Two Congresses.”  Do not weaken the theme of reporting on the Two Congresses.

We must fully propagandize the state of the rescue work that our teams have initiated in Japan.  We must closely follow the circumstances of Chinese people and overseas Chinese in Japan.

Do not deliberately criticize or champion the actions of the Japanese government, and do not make any comparisons with anti-seismic and rescue efforts in our country.  Give scientific explanations of the explosions and leaks at the nuclear facilities.  Do not play up or casually speculate and analyze the influence of leaks on China.

中宣部:日本特大地震

中宣部:媒体要稳妥把握对日本特大地震灾情报道,客观,及时报道灾情动态信息。注意把握好日本地震和云南地震的抗震救灾和全国两会宣传报道的关系。不要冲淡了两会报道的主题。

要充分宣传好我救援队在日本开展救援的情况。要密切关注我在日华人,华侨的情况。

不要刻意批评或赞扬日政府的有关行为,不要和我国的抗震救灾对比。对日核设施泄露及爆炸要做科学解读。不过分渲染,不随意猜测和分析泄露对我国的影响。

Central Propaganda Department: An Illegal Gathering in Shandong

March 12, 2011

From the Central Propaganda Department: On March 13, there will possibly be illegal gatherings and activities in Jinan, Qingdao, Yantai, Weifang, and Rizhao.  Do not give interviews or reports.

中宣部:山东非法集会

中宣部:3月13日济南、青岛、烟台、潍坊、日照可能有非法集会活动,不采访不报道

Central Propaganda Department: The Super Moon

March 12, 2011

From the Central Propaganda Department: Media are not to hype the super moon.  It is not permitted to draw connections between the moon, earthquake, fires, and other natural disasters.  It is allowed to use scientific explanations circulated by the Xinhua News Agency, and purely astronomical information issued by expert Departments can be published.

中宣部:超级月亮

中宣部:媒体不要炒作超级月亮。不可把超级月亮与地震,火灾等自然灾害相联系。可用新华社所发稿件做科学解读,权威部门发布的纯天文学内容可刊发。

Central Propaganda Department: Housing Rationing in Shenzhen

March 12, 2011

From the Central Propaganda Department: Media are not to hype questions about housing rationing in Qiaoxiang Village and Shenyun Village, Shenzhen.  Related information should use information from Shenzhen authorities as the standard.  Do not give independent interviews or commentary.

中宣部:深圳房屋配售

中宣部:媒体不炒作深圳侨乡村,深云村房屋配售问题,有关情况以深圳权威部门的信息为准,不自行采访和评论

Central Propaganda Department: The Yunnan Earthquake and the Two Congresses

March 12, 2011

From the Central Propaganda Department: For the Yunnan earthquake, we must mainly report on the active rescue activities of political leaders.  We absolutely must not allow the earthquakes to dilute the message of the Two Congresses.  We cannot report on representative members being absent from the meetings.

中宣部:云南地震和两会

中宣部:云南地震必须主要报道领导人积极救灾;必须不能让地震冲淡两会;必须不能报道代表委员开会缺席。

Central Propaganda Department: Cultural Industrialization

March 12, 2011

From the Central Propaganda Department: In related reports, media cannot use the term “cultural industrialization.”

中宣部:文化产业化

中宣部: 媒体在有关报道中不要使用文化产业化的提法

Central Propaganda Department: Family Planning

March 12, 2011

From the Central Propaganda Department: Media are not to hype family planning problems.  Do not report on the issue of having two children.  Policy changes on famiy planning will use information issued by authorities as the standard.

中宣部:计划生育

中宣部:媒体不得炒作计划生育问题,生二胎话题不做报道。计划生育在政策调整以权威部门发布信息为准。

The State Administration of Radio Film and Television: Direct Television Broadcasts From Outside our Borders

March 12, 2011

From The State Administration of Radio Film and Television: It is not allowed to directly broadcast television programs originating from outside our borders.  If there are currently any such broadcasts reporting on the earthquake in Japan, immediately cut them off.

广电总局:境外电视直播

广电总局:不得直播境外电视节目。如有正在进行的日本大地震相关的境外直播,请立即下线。

Central Propaganda Department: The Earthquakes in Yunnan and Japan

March 12, 2011

From the Central Propaganda Department: When reporting on the current earthquakes, media are not to compare the earthquake in Yunnan with the earthquake in Japan.

中宣部:云南和日本地震

中宣部:各媒体在报道目前地震事件的时候不得把云南地震跟日本地震做比较。

Shanghai Propaganda Department: Han Han

March 12, 2011

Shanghai Party Committee Propaganda Department: Activities and comments related to Han Han, beyond his car racing, are not to be reported.

上海宣传部:韩寒

上海市委宣传部:有关韩寒的活动和言论,除了赛车以外的不报道。

Central Propaganda Department: He Hongsang, Macau Gambling King

March 11, 2011

From the Central Propaganda Department: Do not report on the partitioning of household assets of He Hongsang, the gambling king of Macau.

中宣部:澳门赌王何鸿桑

中宣部:不报道澳门赌王何鸿桑家庭财产分割案。

Central Propaganda Department: Taxi Strike in Lanzhou

March 11, 2011

From the Central Propaganda Department: Do not report on the taxi strike in Lanzhou.

中宣部:兰州出租罢运

中宣部:不报道兰州出租车罢运事件。

Central Propaganda Department: Exchange Student in Norway Injured While Parachuting

March 11, 2011

From the Central Propaganda Department: Do not report on the incident of an exchange student in Norway injuring himself after parachuting from a tower at the Chinese Academy of Science.

中宣部:挪威留学生跳伞受伤

中宣部:不报道挪威籍留学生在中科院高塔跳伞受伤一事

Central Propaganda Department: Xu Commits Suicide

March 11, 2011

From the Central Propaganda Department: Do not report on the suicide and death of Xu, Assistant Director of the Testing Center at the National Administration College.

中宣部:徐某自杀

中宣部:不报道国家行政学院考试中心副主任徐某自杀身亡事件

Central Propaganda Department: Delegate Absences at the Two Congresses

March 11, 2011

From the Central Propaganda Department: Do not report on the absences of delegates from the Two Congresses.

中宣部:两会代表缺席

中宣部:不报道两会的代表委员开会缺席一事

Central Propaganda Department: Tax Evasion by Ma Zhongqi

March 11, 2011

From the Central Propaganda Department: Do not report on the case of tax evasion by Ma Zhongqi in Huaiyuan county, Ningxia.

中宣部:马衷琦逃税案

中宣部:不报道宁夏海源县马衷琦逃税案

Central Propaganda Department: Standardization of Proposals at the Two Congresses

March 11, 2011

From the Central Propaganda Department: Do not report on the need to standardize responses to proposals and motions at the Two Congresses.

中宣部:两会议案程序化

中宣部:不报道需将两会议案和提案回复程序化的话题

Central Propaganda Department: Coal Mining in Shanxi

March 11, 2011

From the Central Propaganda Department: Do not report on the sinkholes caused by coal mining in Shanxi.

中宣部:山西采煤

中宣部:不报道山西因采煤引发的地陷。

Central Propaganda Bureau: Mismanagement of the Automobile Industry

March 11, 2011

From the Central Propaganda Department: On March 9, China Management Report (Zhongguo jingying bao) and Southern Metropolis (Nanfang dushi bao) report on Huang Qifang’s criticism that some people have mismanaged the automobile industry.  All newspapers are not to re-publish or report the story.

中宣部:胡搞汽车业

中宣部:三月九日中国经营报和南方都市报报道黄奇帆批评有人胡搞汽车业的稿件,各报不转不报

Central Propaganda Department: Chunxiao Gas Field

March 10, 2011

From the Central Propaganda Department: Do not report on extractions in the Chunxiao gas field by the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (Zhonghaiyou).

中宣部:春晓油田

中宣部:对中海油在春晓油田开采一事不做报道

In China, several political bodies are in charge of Internet content control. At the highest level, there is the , which ensures that media and cultural content follows the official line as mandated by the CCP. Then there is the State Council Information Office (), which has established an “Internet Affairs Bureau” to oversee all Websites that publish news, including the official sites of news organizations as well as independent sites that post news content.

This “Internet Affairs Bureau,” sends out very specific instructions to all large news websites daily, and often multiple times per day. Those instructions do not always mean that related contents are completely banned online, but they instruct websites to highlight or suppress certain type of opinions or information in a very detailed manner.

Chinese journalists and bloggers often refer to those instructions, as well as other type of censorship orders to media and websites, as “Directives from the .” The  (or Minitrue, in Newspeak) is one of the four ministries that govern Oceania in George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. In the Chinese blogosphere, it is the online nickname for the  and generally speaking, all other subordinate propaganda agencies including Internet supervision departments.

Today, it’s been said that news does not break, it tweets. For the officials in the the , the news is that their supposedly confidential instructions get tweeted as well.

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How’s Your Chinese Coming Along?

China’s 12th Five-Year-Plan – Will It Help With the Global Trade Imbalance?

Amongst all the political upheaval in the Middle East and North Africa, with people rising against dictatorial regimes in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen and elsewhere, this week China embarked on its annual legislative session.  The legislative session of the National People’s Congress, which officially enacts legislation, will rubber-stamp the government’s 12th Five-Year-Plan (2011-2015), which was decided at the Communist Party meeting in October, 2010.

Details won’t be made public until the conclusion of the legislative session (which usually lasts 10-14 days), but some elements of China’s next five-year economic plan have been made public.  The three elements worth highlighting are a lower growth rate and a more balanced/sustainable economic model, meaningful reductions of pollution through better energy conservation, and a more aggressive fight against inflation.

A New Growth Model:

  • Set a GDP growth target of 7% (down from the current actual GDP growth rate of 10%).  To do that, the government will have to divert money away from construction and corporate subsidies, and instead use public funds to increase household incomes.
  • Cut import tariffs to reduce input-costs, while boosting consumer demand and reducing China’s reliance for growth on exports which generates trade surpluses and contributes to the global trade imbalance.
  • Improve the income of farmers and migrant workers, who have benefited the least from China’s phenomenal economic growth, by increasing minimum wages.  In particular, provinces across China have announced a string of double-digit wage increases this year as part of the government desire to increase incomes among the rural regions and migrant workers in the cities.
  • Increase spending on health-care and full nationwide social welfare insurance to reduce the need for “precautionary savings” and encourage more Chinese consumer spending.
  • Raise the minimum threshold for personal income tax.  This could exempt hundreds of millions of people from having to pay taxes, and boost household spending.

New Energy Priorities:

  • Introduce targets for energy efficiency and consumption that will push China’s energy consumption from non-fossil fuel sources to 12% by 2015.  Key sectors expected to benefit include: hydro and nuclear power, power grid technology.
  • In particular, there will be significant growth in nuclear power (from 10 GW to 40 GW), 63 GW of new hydroelectric power, 48 GW of wind capacity and 5 GW of solar power.  Unfortunately, coal generation will continue to provide 260 GW, although its share of China’s energy mix is expected to fall from 72% to 63%.
  • Double the share of natural gas in Chinese energy consumption to 8% by 2015, up from 4% that it was last year.  This will make China a natural buyer of large quantities of Russian gas, and an inevitable competitor to Europe, which already relies heavily on gas from Russia.
  • Introduce taxes of up to $820 (up from just $100) on vehicles with larger than 2 liters (energy inefficient) engines.
  • Introduce a tax linked to carbon emissions, first via pilot programs in special regions and industries.

Fighting Inflation:

  • The most important short-term priority for the government is to address increases in food price, which Beijing intends to do through price controls.
  • In order to control inflation, the government intends to keep using the tools and methods that it has been employing thus far: manage liquidity, use price controls, curb real-estate speculation, and “adjust and improve” property tax policies.  Furthermore, the budget for this year shows a 35% increase in spending on low-income housing.
  • However, no specific lending targets for banks have been outlined by the government yet.  New loans topped a 7.5 trillion RMB ($1.1 trillion) ceiling last year and excessive bank lending is considered by some to be a contributing factor to China’s inflation.

Analyst are already predicting that this Five-Year-Plan will be the most significant in China’s modern history, marking the moment that China finally decided to abandon its fast export-led growth strategy in favor for a more sustainable growth model.  However, this new effort by China to rebalance its economy in not addressing the root cause of its monetary problem (inflation), and will not facilitate the rebalancing of global trade, which has been so critical to the overall world recovery.

The root cause of China’s inflation is its weak-currency policy, which is feeding an artificially large trade surplus.  This policy hurts both China by producing an overheated, inflation-prone economy, and the rest of the world by increasing unemployment in many other countries.

Theoretically, inflation is the market’s way of undoing currency manipulation.  According to Paul Krugman, China has been using a weak currency to keep its wages and prices low in dollar terms; market forces have responded by pushing those wages and prices up, eroding that artificial competitive advantage.

China’s leaders are trying to prevent this outcome, to protect exporters’ interest, and because inflation is even more unpopular in China than it is elsewhere.  Don’t forget that it was inflation that fueled public discontent with the government, bore the 1989 protests in Tiananmen Square.

China is already hurting its citizens through financial controls.  For example, interest rates on bank deposits are limited to just 2.75 percent, which is below the official inflation rate of 4.9%.  Rapidly rising prices, even if matched by wage increases, are making the situation much worse for Chinese consumers.

Unfortunately, Beijing is not willing to deal with the root cause and let the RMB rise.  Instead, they are trying to control inflation by raising interest rates and restricting credit.  This is destructive for China, because credit limits are proving hard to enforce and are being further undermined by inflows of hot money from abroad.  With efforts to cool the economy falling short, China has been trying to limit inflation with price controls, which also rarely work.

Furthermore, this is destructive from a global point of view as well: with much of the world economy still depressed, the last thing the world needs is major players pursuing tight-money policies.  The solution to China’s monetary problem (and to the global recovery) is to let the currency rise!

But, any rebalancing efforts will face serious opposition from special interests domestically, primarily the State Owned Enterprises and regional and local officials.  The SOE’s benefit from lax environmental regulations, cheep energy and government subsidies, and an overall export led growth strategy.  On the other hand, local officials are not always willing to change, have old ideas about growth and tend to favor pet projects that need massive investments.  Couple that with China’s one-party state that refuses to do anything that looks like giving in to U.S. demands, and you have a recipe for certain continuation of the status-quo.

The focus of the new Five-Year-Plan is promising, but its success is questionable.

Very interesting...

Posted via email from China Wakes || Posterous

News 3/18/11 || HISTalk Mobile New Roundup

The new iPad 2, in combination with other tablets and wireless devices, will make 2011 a banner year for mHealth. Layer in the FDA’s Innovation Pathway to speed device approval and the amount of investment money going into mHealth, and we’re going to see a lot of very cool products. The big question mark to me remains payment reform and how all this will be funded (individuals, payers, ACOs, pharma) once we try to go beyond the pilot stage. Obviously we’ll see some big winners, but we’ll also see some very cool products without viable business models.

This KevinMD guest post attempts to subdue the excited about and predictions for the iPad in enterprise healthcare. The reasons cited why the iPad won’t dominate are: 1) IT department unease with Apple products; 2) good, native iPad EMR software doesn’t exist; 3) interoperability; and 4) cost-benefit for execs. The points are valid in the enterprise and the author is writing as an ICU nurse, though these don’t really apply to outpatient or office settings where products like DrChrono already exist.

More DrChrono news, which seems to be getting more and more frequent. This story is about how DrChrono came to be and where it is going in terms of features and an app store platform. The video above shows the speech recognition feature of DrChrono. Have you ever heard a doctor speak that slowly, especially when dictating?

Stanford Hospital (CA) begins receiving remote, in the field ECGs from paramedics ahead of arrival at the emergency department. The system is built on Physio-Control’s LifePak.

Preventice is collaborating with Mayo Clinic to develop mobile apps for patients and providers. The first, called CARD, provides information about chemicals and other allergens contained in skin care products. It’s always nice when an mHealth developer can get the backing of a big name content organization like Mayo.It’s a big part of why I think Healthrageous will be very successful.  Starting a health-related company in Rochester, MN or Cambridge, MA is a very strategic move.

Care4Kids

Akron Children’s Hospital releases Care4Kids iPhone app (free). The app lets you find information about doctors and facilities as well as store medical and insurance information. As an added bonus, you can use the app to earn one free parking pass.

Health-e-Access, a telemedicine service offered by the University of Rochester Medical Center’s Golisano Children’s Hospital, is found to reduce the number of missed school days for kids and consequently missed work days for parents. The program provides telemedicine access to schools, child care centers, and community centers.

A trial of telemedicine care for HIV patients finds it to be equivalent to standard, office-based care in terms of clinical outcomes and quality of life. The virtual study group felt they had improved access to clinical data. With HIV becoming a chronic disease, at least in developing countries, this might serve as a good alternative method for care, especially if cost is found to be equivalent or less.

The VMWare View video above depicts the use of the software to enable iPad access to MEDITECH at Children’s Hospital of Central California. According to the video, which is promotional for VMWare, this was the only way for the hospital to securely deploy iPads.

Community Hospital (NE) begins testing telestroke services provided by Great Plains Regional Medical Center.

GE and partner MedHelp have a suite of free apps available to consumers that GE hopes will “spark a healthcare revolution.” The data, whether about moods or diet or activity, is helpful, but needs to be analyzed if a doctor is going to be able to use it. In the limited time a doctor has with a patient, they don’t have time to walk through a journal from a patient — they need an intelligent summary.  

It’s hard to escape all the healthcare-related tablet talk out there. This post presents a platform, WebOS (formerly Palm) that hasn’t gotten much attention because it is not Apple or Google. HP now owns it and is building mobile tablet hardware that uses WebOS. The author thinks HP and WebOS has a real shot to take back some ground from Apple, citing the open source nature of WebOS and the lack of approval needed to distribute apps. I have to say I don’t agree, and as we covered last week, lack of app approval hurts more than helps in healthcare.

Travis Good is in his final year of an MD/MBA program and is involved with multiple health IT startups.

Filed under News on March 18, 2011 | Permalink

Posted via email from HealthGrid Blog

3.18.2011

Mergers & Inquisitions || Bottles and Bottles? How You Really Win Clients and Land Mega-Deals as an Investment Banker

Bottles and Bottles? How You Really Win Clients and Land Mega-Deals as an Investment Banker

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How Investment Bankers Win ClientsWhy does the mainstream media hate Wall Street so much?

You can think of dozens of reasons, but one of the biggest is that they don’t understand what bankers really do to earn their fees.

They see news of million-dollar bonuses and assume that financiers earn those bonuses by sitting around and playing Monopoly.

But you don’t earn massive fees by playing board games all day – it’s a process that takes years, which is one reason why bankers make the money they do.

And the infamous “pitch” has very little to do with it.

It’s All About the Pitch, Right?

The most common, wrong suggestion I’ve seen before is that “Bankers win clients by pitching them.”

But that’s like saying that you got into Harvard or Oxford by submitting a really good application – technically true, but not the full story.

Yes, the application is critical and if your essays suck, you’re screwed – but you got into a top school because you spent years developing the skills and experiences to do so, and you then presented them in the best possible light.

It’s the same with winning clients as a banker: your pitch needs to be on-point for you to win the deal, but the process of putting yourself in the position to pitch for the deal starts long before that.

What Really Happens

As you move up from Associate to VP and beyond, gradually you’re tasked with more and more sourcing work: finding potential clients, getting to know them, and then pitching for a deal when the time is right.

Managing Directors spend almost no time on deal execution – unless it’s a massive transaction that requires their involvement – and instead spend most of their time on finding new clients and serving existing ones.

If you already work with a company on all their M&A deals and your bank has been advising them for the past 20 years, you’ll probably continue to do so in the future.

Like legacy admissions in university or Roger Sterling and Lucky Strike, it’s a good bet that you’ll receive the benefit of all that history unless you make a colossal screw-up.

So it’s more interesting to look at how you find new clients – companies your bank has never worked with before.

This entire process is more applicable to smaller firms than to bulge bracket banks, because there the “legacy” factor is high and you mostly work with huge companies that everyone already knows about.

But even at huge firms, you still need to find new clients because existing companies get acquired, merge, and go out of business all the time.

Lead Generation

In sales, a “lead” is just a potential customer – someone who might sign up for the products or services you’re offering.

It’s the same idea in banking, but since your leads are fewer in number and are worth much more, some strategies don’t work so well.

What Doesn’t Work

Strategies like online marketing (paying for ads on websites, Google, Facebook, etc.), TV/radio/direct mail advertising, and posting flyers would never work.

It may sound silly to even point this out, but I’ve actually seen some banks use Google AdWords to market themselves to clients and I have no idea why they bother.

All these methods are too impersonal – it’s like walking into Armani and having a robot display a list of recommended clothes for you rather than having a real live person greet you, chat for a while, find out what you’re looking for, and then suggest something good.

When the number of clients is low and the per-client value is high, you need to get very personal to make deals happen.

PE / VC / HF Referrals

One way to do this is to go through your friends on the buy-side, see what portfolio companies they have, what sectors they’re interested in, and who else they’ve been speaking with lately.

Let’s say you’re an MD who has worked with a private equity firm for 10+ years. At your next catch-up meeting with them, you might casually ask how their portfolio companies are doing (translation: are any of these companies ready to sell, refinance debt, or go public?).

If the PE Partner likes you and wants to give you business, he might refer you to the CEO or CFO and say, “Hey portfolio company, this banker’s good – you should get to know him.”

Or if a deal is imminent, he might tell you directly: “They’re going public next year, and the pitch is coming up next month – we’ll be sure to include you.”

In tech and healthcare groups, venture capitalists are arguably more important and bankers get referrals to startups via VCs.

Cold-Calling/Emailing

Just like with your own networking efforts, cold-calling is less effective than meeting in-person first or getting referrals – but sometimes it works.

You’re far more likely to see cold-calling at smaller banks where you have to fight for every deal - and if you’re a summer analyst there you might get tasked with poring through lists of companies and finding contact information.

Cold-calling is also more common at small and middle-market private equity firms, some of which are notorious for making their newly hired associates cold-call companies all day long.

Conferences

Bankers also spend a lot of time on the conference circuit, meeting with executives at events (CES, Davos, etc.).

These are like information sessions: if you can stand out from everyone else and then follow-up appropriately, your chances of success go way up.

The real action at conferences happens offstage, so bankers skip keynotes and panels and schedule as many 1-on-1 meetings as possible during the day.

Inbound

Wouldn’t it be nice if banks just called you when they wanted to hire someone?

When companies want to sell or raise capital, they sometimes contact banks directly – this scenario is much more likely when a lesser-known company wants to work with a bulge bracket bank and has no other way to get on their radar.

Sometimes investors also contact bankers directly and provide the introduction, especially if they’re pressuring the company to sell so they can realize their returns.

Wining & Dining: Building the Relationship

Once you’ve contacted or been contacted by the executives at this potential client, you need to build the relationship.

If it’s an inbound contact and they urgently need to sell or raise capital, you won’t do this and you may be asked to pitch for the business right away.

But if the deal is further off in the future, you need to take time to build trust and convince the CEO that you’re not just another Gordon Gekko or Patrick Bateman character waiting in the shadows to decapitate him and steal all his money.

You do that by:

  • Coming up with acquisition ideas and meeting with the executives to discuss what areas they might want to expand into.
  • Giving market updates to the executives and telling them what’s going on in the M&A or capital markets.
  • Meeting casually for lunch or dinner to catch up on what the company has been doing and their future plans.
  • Being “on call” to answer whatever questions they have, whenever they have them.

The tricky part is that you don’t get paid for any of this – and the entire process could take years before you see any revenue.

Sure, making $10 million on a single deal sounds great – but if it takes 10 years of relationship building to get there, the NPV is much lower than $10 million.

This is the slowest and most extended part of the “client-winning” process, and if you’re not interested in relationships, this is where you’ll fail.

But if you like meeting and greeting and can’t stand Excel, then you might make a great MD – even if you’re a lousy analyst.

Deal Time

How does a company decide when it should sell, buy another company, go public, or raise capital?

Sometimes it’s forced to sell by investors who want to realize their returns (Amazon / Zappos) – going back to our theme of NPV, the longer an investment stays unrealized, the harder it is to get solid returns.

Other times the executives reach the decision themselves – the CFO looks at their cash flow projections and realizes their burn rate is too high, so they decide to raise debt or equity.

And still other times, bankers “plant” the idea in the CEO’s mind.

While you don’t have to plant this idea in a dream within a dream within a dream within a dream, you do have to be subtle about it – going out and blatantly pitching an LBO won’t work even if you really want a PE firm to buy the company you’re speaking with.

Instead, bankers are more likely to make casual references to private equity firms and leveraged buyouts elsewhere in the market when they meet with the company to discuss other topics.

Over time, if the CEO and Board buy into the idea or show interest, the bankers keep selling them on it and gradually start to reveal more and more information.

The best bankers – the true rain-makers – are the ones who are best at “selling” the company on a transaction, even if the management team had no interest initially.

Regardless of whether the idea was planted or original, once the company decides it’s ready to sell or raise capital, it then pits bankers against each other in a bake-off.

The Pitch

Sometimes if a company has a special relationship with just 1 banker and has never spoken to others, it will skip the pitch and give the business to that banker.

But that’s more common at private and smaller companies where there’s not as much oversight from the Board of Directors – at anything bigger the Board usually requires the management team to solicit competitive offers.

At this point they would contact all the bankers they’ve gotten to know over the years and tell them what they’re planning, send over relevant financial information, and invite them to pitch for the deal.

The number of banks invited depends on the deal type – IPOs have many banks, whereas in M&A deals there’s just 1 or 2 advising the buyer and seller – and whether or not the company wants to stick with the bankers it knows best or go for a broader set.

Who Wins the Deal?

This must come down to whether or not you’ve dotted all the i’s and crossed all the t’s in your pitch book, right? And whether or not you remembered to change the font size on every single page, right?

Nope – most of the time the pitch book itself is irrelevant to winning the deal, even if you pulled 4 all-nighters to create it.

What matters is how much the company likes the senior bankers, what the senior bankers say, and how they say it – and what they say compared to the other bankers pitching for the deal.

Let’s say you go in and claim that the company is worth $500 million and that you can complete the sale process in 6 months. Then another banker goes in and says the company is worth $400 million and that the sale process will take 12 months.

You might assume that you’ll win since your claims are more aggressive and will result in a better price for investors – and sometimes that’s true.

But the CEO and other Board members/executives could also look at your pitch and think that your numbers are unrealistic and that you’re not being honest – especially if everyone else there is predicting lower valuations.

So you need to use a careful blend of salesmanship and pragmatism to win deals.

After the Pitch

There may be a clear “winner,” but more often than not, the company will follow up with multiple banks to see what the fee structures are like and what their recommendations are in more detail.

For smaller companies and deals, the fees make a bigger difference and sometimes a bank will win the deal by promising lower fees or a structure that rewards them for better results (e.g. 0.75% under $500 million and 1.5% for the amount above $500 million).

Most of the time, though, it comes down to all of the above factors and the company considers everything when making a decision.

This is not a rational or logical processjust like selecting which applicants will receive interviews, it’s random and fraught with emotion.

If you think executives are rational just because hundreds of millions or billions of dollars are involved, nothing could be further from the truth – sometimes the more money that’s involved, the less rational the deal (AOL / Time Warner).

Sample Timeline

Putting everything together, here’s an example of how you, after you become a Managing Director, might meet a CEO, develop the relationship, and then pitch for the deal:

5 years ago you were having a catch-up meeting with a local VC and he mentioned that a tech startup in their portfolio was hot and would change the world of online media.

He gave you an introduction, so you met with the CEO, learned about his vision for the business, and got an idea of the company’s financial performance.

A year later, you caught up with the CEO once again and gave him an update on the capital markets and what IPOs were pricing at. The company was not yet cash flow-positive, but they had killer revenue growth.

The next year (3 years ago), the IPO markets were closed but the CEO wanted to use his stock to acquire smaller competitors – so you ran a buy-side M&A process for him over the course of 6 months. It never went anywhere since they couldn’t find anything good and got distracted by other issues.

Then, 2 years ago, the company finally turned cash flow-positive and started thinking about an IPO, which they told you about during your quarterly meeting with them.

You made your analyst monkey stay awake for 60 hours straight to prepare a 200-page pitch book laying out all the nuances, but then the CEO decided to hold off until the market got better.

Finally, a few weeks ago the CEO contacted you again just before another meeting and said that they are now serious about selling and want to hear your thoughts – so he invited you in to pitch for the deal.

Got Risk?

Not only did this process take 5 years, but there’s no guarantee that this planned sell-side M&A deal will even happen – or that the mandate will go to your bank.

Maybe no one will be interested; maybe the CEO will change his mind yet again; or maybe investors will pressure them to go public instead.

And you ran a failed buy-side M&A process for them a few years ago.

This is why investment banking is such a tough business: you could do everything right for 5 years and still lose the deal because your fees are 0.1% too expensive, or because the CEO gets emotional and happens to like an unknown banker more.

Wait, This Sounds Boring!

One time I was explaining this process to a friend who was still in university and he said, “Wow that sounds boring – I’d rather do modeling and analytical work.”

If your IQ is higher than your EQ, it may not sound too appealing to develop relationships like this and constantly pitch for new business.

But as Jonathan Knee points out in The Accidental Investment Banker (highly recommended), all deals start to look the same after a while.

You learn a lot at first and valuing and modeling companies seems exciting when you’re new, but they become routine and boring once you’ve done them 500 times.

We’re more interested in stories and inter-personal drama than we are in staring at Excel all day – so even if the process above doesn’t sound interesting right now, you may change your mind in a few years.

You might assume that you should move to the buy-side if you’re not interested in any of this, but that’s only partially true – in PE and VC you still do a lot of relationship-building, meeting with new companies, and so on.

So if it’s really not your cup of tea, think about hedge funds or trading – where you can make bank without talking to people or leaving your 8 computer screens.

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3.11.2011

Japan earthquake and tsunami: Fears of massive death toll || Mail Online

Victims of the killer megaquake: Over 1,000 feared dead after tsunami sweeps Japan

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 12:56 AM on 12th March 2011

  • Towns burn furiously as devastation continues into the night
  • Quake now said to have measured 9.0 on Richter scale
  • Magnitude 6.6 aftershock causes buildings in Tokyo to sway
  • Death toll expected to exceed 1,000 with many more injured
  • Ship carrying 100 passengers swept away by tsunami
  • Four million people without power in Tokyo alone

More than 1,000 people are feared to have died after the sixth largest earthquake in recorded history devastated Japan.

The massive earthquake - 8,000 times stronger than the one that hit New Zealand last month - sent a catastrophic 33 foot tsunami hurtling across the Pacific Ocean.

Last night the strength of the quake increased to a staggering 9.0 on the Richter scale.

Thousands of people were also forced to flee for their lives as the 100mph wall of water bore down on them, sweeping away everything in its path.

Alight: As night fell across the country, the fires gave the sky an orange glow as they continued to burn among the rubble of destroyed buildings

Alight: As night fell across the country, the fires gave the sky an orange glow as they continued to burn among the rubble of destroyed buildings

White hot: Two fires glow like molten lava amid the devastated houses in Yamada town

White hot: Two fires glow like molten lava amid the devastated houses in Yamada town

Last night, huge fires burned unabated across large parts of the country as damaged oil refineries and gas works billowed black smoke into the sky.

Half the country was understood to be without power, with four million homes in Tokyo alone being cut off, while the army has been deployed to the quake-hit areas to help relief efforts.

However those relief efforts were hampered by at least 50 reported aftershocks, including a 6.6 magnitude tremor which hit Tokyo and caused already damaged buildings to shake further.

Elsewhere, two high-speed bullet trains were missing alongside a cruise ship carrying 100 passengers that was swept away when the wave hit. One of the trains was reported to be carrying 400 passengers.

A state of emergency was declared at a nuclear power plant in Fukushima after the quake caused the cooling system to fail.

Tonight, the Japanese government confirmed that they would release radioactive vapor to ease high pressure that had built up inside the reactor.

Billowing: A plume of black smoke fills the sky as a huge fire burns at the oil refinery at Chilba City

Billowing: A plume of black smoke fills the sky as a huge fire burns at the oil refinery at Chilba City

Stranded: Hundreds of people were forced to make themselves at home on the floor of the Haneda Airport following the earthquake and tsunami

Stranded: Hundreds of people were forced to make themselves at home on the floor of the Haneda Airport following the earthquake and tsunami

Split down the middle: Workers inspect a section of road that was torn in half by the force of the earthquake

Split down the middle: Workers inspect a section of road that was torn in half by the force of the earthquake

Between 200 and 300 bodies have been found in Sendai city, while another 151 were confirmed killed, with 547 missing. Police also said 798 people were injured.

The tsunami struck Sendai, which has a population of about one million, on the north east coast  early yesterday morning.

It followed the earthquake which hit at 2.46pm local time (0546 GMT) at a depth of six miles, about 80 miles off the eastern coast, Japan’s meteorological agency said. The area is 240 miles (380km) north east of Tokyo.

Japan is better prepared than anywhere else in the world, with its buildings specifically designed to withstand earthquakes, but many were simply swept away.

Buried: The mud the tsunami dredged up left countless cars submerged and tossed others around, some with their drivers and passengers still inside

Buried: The mud the tsunami dredged up left countless cars submerged and tossed others around, some with their drivers and passengers still inside

Derailed: Volunteers struggle through debris that litters railway lines in Japan, where bullet trains were missing with hundreds of passengers feared dead

Derailed: Volunteers struggle through debris that litters railway lines in Japan, where bullet trains were missing with hundreds of passengers feared dead

And, with the death toll rising, it is feared thousands more are at risk as the true scale of the devastation, which could total £9billion, becomes apparent.

Kesennuma, a town of 70,000 people in Miyagi, burned furiously into the night with no apparent hope of being extinguished, Japan's public broadcaster NHK said.

Upturned and partially submerged vehicles were seen bobbing in the water, some with drivers and passengers inside.

Buildings, including a hotel with 100 guests inside, collapsed and tens of thousands ran from office tower blocks into the streets as the earth beneath them shook. One said it was as if they ‘were standing on the deck of a ship in a storm’.

Utter devastation: Flames engulf houses in Sendai, Miyagi, after they were swallowed up by enormous waves that swept through Japan after a massive earthquake this morning

Utter devastation: Flames engulf houses in Sendai, Miyagi, after they were swallowed up by enormous waves that swept through Japan after a massive earthquake this morning

Terrifying: The tsunami slams into the shore line along Iwanuma in northern Japan after the 8.9 earthquake struck today

Terrifying: The tsunami slams into the shoreline along Iwanuma in northern Japan after the 8.9 earthquake struck today

Overwhelmed: The tsunami engulfs a residential area in Natori, Miyagi

Overwhelmed: The tsunami engulfs a residential area in Natori, Miyagi

Cars trying to escape the wall of mud and water were picked up and carried along. Some disappeared beneath while others were tossed and turned in the waters.

More than 300 homes were washed away in Ofunato City alone. Television footage showed mangled debris, uprooted trees, upturned cars and shattered timber littering streets.

Hundreds of Britons are believed to be in the country. Many have spoken of the terrifying moment that the quake struck.

Jide Obandina, a 29-year-old teacher originally from Shropshire and now living in Tokyo, told how he fled a gym in the skyscraper district of Shinjuku.

‘It started getting intense and I got up and started walking out briskly,’ he said. ‘About halfway down the corridor it kicked in, there was a roaring noise and stuff was falling all around me. That was when I ran for my life.

Cataclysmic: A whirlpool formed by tsunami waves at a port in Oarai, in the state of Ibaraki

Cataclysmic: A small fishing vessel is dragged towards the vortex of a whirlpool formed by tsunami waves at a port in Oarai, in the state of Ibaraki

Washed away: These cars were about to be shipped from Hitachinaka City but instead were washed away by the flood

Washed away: These cars were about to be shipped from Hitachinaka City but instead were washed away by the flood

‘There is nothing more terrifying than being surrounded by huge buildings that could come down on your head. You could hear them creak and groan. It was terrifying.’

Among Britons trying to reach loved ones, which proved difficult due to phone line disruption, were relatives of graduates on the Japan Exchange and Teaching (Jet) programme. A co-ordinator at the London office said between 300 and 400 Britons were in Japan.

English teacher Jenny Tamura Spragg, 33, described how the quake hit in the middle of a school lesson with a class full of 14-year-old pupils.

As she hid under a desk she thought: 'This is it, the end.'

Mrs Tamura Spragg, originally from Cardiff, said: 'The shakes started off slowly, but progressively got stronger.

 

'The children were in a desperate panic when we decided to tell them to hide under their desks. Some children were crying.

'When I finally got under a desk myself, I had time to think while the continuous tremors seemed to go on forever.

'The thought 'This is it, the end' did cross my mind as a potential reality.

'Aftershocks were quite severe for a few hours after.'

Mrs Tamura Spragg, who lives in Kumagaya, Saitama, and has been in Japan for 10 years, continued: 'People here are very calm - very Japanese, so to speak.'

Japanese people have also spoke of their terror when the earthquake and tsunami struck.

Osamu Akiya, 46, was working at his Tokyo office when the quake hit.

It sent bookshelves and computers crashing to the floor, and cracks appeared in the walls.

‘I’ve been through many earthquakes, but I’ve never felt anything like this,’ he said.

Closed: Sendai Airport in north-east Japan was one of the first places to be swamped by the tsunami that raced inland following the quake

Closed: Sendai Airport in north-east Japan was one of the first places to be swamped by the tsunami that raced inland following the quake

Eruption: Flames rise from an oil refinery iin Ichihara, Chiba

Eruption: Flames rise from an oil refinery iin Ichihara, Chiba

A woman with a baby told television crews: ‘I was unable stay on my feet because of the violent shaking. The aftershocks gave us no reprieve. Then the tsunamis came when we tried to run for cover. It was the strongest quake I experienced.’

'I was terrified and I'm still frightened,' said Hidekatsu Hata, 36, manager of a Chinese noodle restaurant in Tokyo's Akasaka area. 'I've never experienced such a big quake before.'

Asagi Machida, a 27-year-old web designer in Tokyo, was walking near a coffee shop when the earthquake hit.

'The images from the New Zealand earthquake are still fresh in my mind so I was really scared. I couldn't believe such a big earthquake was happening in Tokyo.'

Major roads to the worst-hit coastal areas were severely damaged and communications, including telephone lines, were snapped.

Train services in North-East Japan and in Tokyo, which normally serve 10million people a day, were also suspended, leaving many passengers stranded in stations or roaming the streets.

Seismic shake: A technician at the French National Seism Survey Institute points at a graph pinpointing the moment the earthquake struck

Seismic shake: A technician at the French National Seism Survey Institute points at a graph pinpointing the moment the earthquake struck

This graphic, issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, shows the height of waves from the tsunami as it travelled across the Pacific basin

This graphic, issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, shows the height of waves from the tsunami as it travelled across the Pacific basin

Detailed map locating damage caused by a powerful earthquake which struck off Japan on Friday.

Detailed map locating damage caused by a powerful earthquake which struck off Japan on Friday.

THE WORST QUAKES IN HISTORY

1. Valdivia, Chile, March 22, 1960 (magnitude of 9.5)

2. Prince William Sound, Alaska, USA, March 27, 1964 (9.2)

3. Sumatra, Indonesia, December 26, 2004 (9.1)

4. Kamchatka, Russia, November 4, 1952 (9.0)

5. Arica, Chile (then Peru), August 13, 1868 (9.0)

Dramatic footage showed the surge washing away cars, a bridge and buildings at the mouth of the Hirose-gawa River, which flows through the centre of Sendai, while a roof caved in at a graduation ceremony in Tokyo.

The large ship swept away by the tsunami rammed directly into a breakwater in Kesennuma city in the Miyagi region, according to footage on public broadcaster NHK, and numerous people are believed to have been injured.

Prime Minister David Cameron said the Japanese earthquake was a 'terrible reminder of the destructive power of nature' and pledged to help the country.

He added: 'Everyone should be thinking of the country and its people and I have asked immediately that our Government look at what we can do to help.'

The Queen sent a message to Emperor Akihito, saying: ‘I was saddened to hear of the tragic loss of life caused by the earthquake which has struck North-East Japan today.’

And American President Barack Obama also pledged U.S assistance to the country after what he called a 'catastrophic' disaster.

'Our hearts go out to our friends in Japan and across the region, and we're going to stand with them as they recover and rebuild from this tragedy,' the President said during a White House news conference.

Destroyed: Resident clamber through the wreckage of houses in Iwaki, Fukushima which have been reduced to rubble by the earthquake

Destroyed: Resident clamber through the wreckage of houses in Iwaki, Fukushima, which have been reduced to rubble by the earthquake

Giant fireballs rise from a burning oil refinery in Ichihara, Chiba Prefecture (state) after Japan was struck by a strong earthquake off its northeastern coast Friday, March 11, 2011.
Giant fireballs rise from a burning oil refinery in Ichihara, Chiba Prefecture (state) after Japan was struck by a strong earthquake off its northeastern coast Friday, March 11, 2011.

Wave of destruction: Giant fireballs rise from an oil refinery in Ichihara, Chiba, that was shaken by the tremors from the catastrophe

Tide: Mud and debris caught up in the encroaching tsunami wave that crashed into the Japanese mainland rushes through the tarmac carpark at Sendai airport today


Muddy tide: Mud and debris caught up in the encroaching tsunami wave that crashed into the Japanese mainland rushes through the tarmac car park at Sendai Airport today

Speaking on national television, Japanese prime minister Naoto Kan said: 'I offer my deepest sympathy to the people who have suffered the disaster.

‘Regarding our nuclear facilities, some of the plants have stopped automatically but so far no radioactive material has been confirmed to have been leaked to the outside.

‘Given the situation an emergency disaster response has been set up with myself as the head

‘We will secure the safety of the people of Japan. We ask the people of Japan to continue to be cautious and vigilant. We ask the people of Japan to react calmly.'

Sendai airport, north of Tokyo, was inundated with cars, trucks and buses and thick mud covered its runways.

Creeping dread: In this image from Japan's NHK TV video footage, houses are washed away by tsunami in Sendai as the waves power ashore

Creeping dread: In this image from Japan's NHK TV video footage, houses in Sendai are washed away by the tsunami as the waves power ashore

Tokyo’s main airport was closed. A large section of the ceiling at Ibaraki airport, about 50 miles from Tokyo, fell to the floor with a powerful crash.

UK airlines cancelled flights to the Japanese capital yesterday but London-bound BA flights from Hareda and Narita landed safely back in the UK, having left before the earthquake struck.

Virgin said its daily London-Tokyo service would not operate today or tomorrow and that a decision on when flights to Japan would resume would be made over the weekend.

Thirty international search and rescue teams stand ready to go to Japan to provide assistance following the earthquake, the United Nations said.

'We stand ready to assist as usual in such cases,' Elisabeth Byrs of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance told Reuters in Geneva.

'Thirty international search and rescue teams are on alert and monitoring the situation and stand ready to assist if necessary.'

Streets are flooded after a tsunami and earthquake in Yamamoto town, Miyagi Prefecture, March 11, 2011.
Yurikamome train passengers walk on the elevated track towards Shiodome Station in Tokyo's Shiodome district

The impact of the quake is shown (left) while Yurikamome train passengers walk on the elevated track towards Shiodome Station in Tokyo's Shiodome district

Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world's most seismically active areas. The country accounts for about 20 percent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater and on average, an earthquake occurs every 5 minutes.

But yesterday's quake surpasses the Great Kanto quake of September 1, 1923, which had a magnitude of 7.9 and killed more than 140,000 people in the Tokyo area. Seismologists had said another such quake could strike the city any time.

A 1995 quake in Kobe caused $100 billion in damage and was the most expensive natural disaster in history.

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I've seen some comments that imply that there seems to be an increase in severe earthquakes over the years. Some people claim this is because of man's abuse of the earth and some say it is the biblical end of times. Do some research people. I scoured the NOAA Significant Earthquake Database and counted the number of earthquakes of magnitude >= 8.0 by decade. See the data in the table below. This shows that the "mankind is the problem" people and the "god is punishing us" people are ill-informed. Things were much worse in the 1900s and the 1910s. Must have been all those cars on the roads back then or god seemed to hate us a lot more back then. Let's try and concentrate on what we can do to help the survivors instead of pushing our personal agendas. 1900s 29 1910s 19 1920s 6 1930s 12 1940s 12 1950s 11 1960s 9 1970s 6 1980s 4 1990s 6 2000s 12 2010s 2 so far (on pace to be about 10)

- Martin, Sacramento, 12/3/2011 03:59

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I'm telling you, Doomsday 2012 is approaching! - Eeek, London, ------------- Everyone is going to have their own personal Doomsday so you are right in a way.

- Davo, Santa Rosa, 12/3/2011 03:54

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21.12.2012 is not the end of the world, it is the end of the Atlantis experiment. So we are now at the end of something that went badly wrong. The world is now experiencing a complete shift, releasing negativity and pain (includling humans), hopefully after this date we will then be able to move forward into a new era x

- Just , to let you know, 12/3/2011 03:08

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Nostradamus didn't predict these disasters Christ did. - Maureen Masi, Ex pat Pennsylvania u.s.a., 12/3/2011 02:07 ------------------------------------------ And what exactly makes you think Christ predicted these specific times? After all, in 1950 - 1965 seven of the 20 most powerful earthquakes in history happened. Not to mention there were dozens of wars, and the great Cold War going on. What makes you think now is so much worse than then? -------------------------------- And if you really want to compare disasters, try comparing against the early 1800s when you have huge earthquakes, tsunamis, wars, famine because of the Little Ice Age, and the largest volcanic eruption ever known at Tambora which resulted in The Year Without A Summer. --------------------- Your little "Jesus predicted this" only works if you forget all of the times in the past 2,000 years that times were worse than now.

- Completely Average, Somewhere, 12/3/2011 03:00

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Just learned that the Japanese government does not reject the possibility of a significant radiation leak form the two nuclear power plant. That is very disconcerting, very worrying indeed.

- Elijah, Japan (Expat), 12/3/2011 02:21

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R-Johnny Johnston Ex pat brit middle of nowhere somewhere in africa. Nostradamus didn't predict these disasters Christ did. Oh and so did the american prophet Edgar Casey. We're constantly getting warned here int he northeastern usa that it is not if there is a devastating earthquake followed by a tsunami. It's when!

- Maureen Masi, Ex pat Pennsylvania u.s.a., 12/3/2011 02:07

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This is one of the most epic events of the 21st century. Combined with the covered up earthquakes at Yellowstone from last week we should all be very worried about what Mother Nature is telling us right now...

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