The future is not ours to see? With data, yes!

Abstract

At 2:46 pm, March 11, 2011, it was certainly a biggest earthquake I ever experienced in my lifetime and it was the same for most of the people living in Japan. The biggest hit was with the magnitude of 9.0 (5.5 in Tokyo), followed by the multiple waves of 15 m-Tsunami to the East Japan, which took over 15,000 lives away in a short time. There was also simultaneous damage on the nuclear reactors leaving much concern not only to the people in the area, but also to the people in other countries. It will take time until it is settled, at least half a year or more according to the governmental sources. Was it possible to predict this disaster? Many geological scientists with formulas and statistics said that the prediction was not possible because the magnitude was way beyond their calculations. Almost all the sea banks around the towns which was devastated by last tsunami, had been built to cope with tsunami up to 6 m, which was considered to block most tsunami imaginable at that time. Their study is based on the tsunami in 1896 and 1933 where its height was less than 5 m. On the other hand, some historians have found the old literature of earthquake (M8.3) in the year of 869 when the following tsunami was as high as that of the last one. A few geologists has been announcing, since 2007, the risk of the greater tsunami after their survey on the sediments of the huge tsunami in 869. It was unfortunate that their alarm were not recognized then by most of the geologists nor utilized for building higher sea banks. And ‘The Tsunami’ reappeared as it was precedent 1142 years ago. Through study of the past data should have made some differences. In the field of Pediatric Dentistry, we deal with growing children and growth evaluation and prediction is essential to establish proper diagnosis, treatment planning and even the prognosis assessment. However, there were limited sources of data for prediction of tooth and jaw growth, at present, to make reasonable prediction of the future growth of child teeth, dentitions and jaws. (‘Bolton Study Data’ and ‘Michigan Growth Data’ are rare examples.) More data are still needed for the prediction of other ethnic group of children. The modern science needs data sets, and only then the prediction will be feasible.