The Earthquake in Japan

An earthquake is “a shaking of the ground caused by the sudden breaking and movement of large sections (tectonic plates) of the earth’s rocky outermost crust”. Earthquake occurs when the tectonic plates collides or slides past each other. These earthquakes can affect us and can cause the country to spend billions of money on the damages.   For example, the 2011 East Japan’s earthquake caused more than $309 billion on the damages, killed more than 15,782 people, injured 4,086 people, over 22,000 fisherman boats were sunk or damaged, and over 300 ports were damaged.
In many cases earthquake cannot be prevented but being able to reduce the damage and affects caused seriously may be significant. Japan’s earthquake is one of the recent major natural disasters and this natural disaster however, can become serious threat to the humans. I have searched up from a variety of websites and found an interesting interview of a CBC reporter interviewing an eyewitness in Japan.   Also I have found some interesting points from the website “THE ROOT”. I am curious about whether the earthquake damages could have been reduced at all. If so, why was the Prime Minister of Japan not prepared for the earthquake? If they were prepared for the earthquake would the damage have been reduced and the radiations not have been released?
To summarize my ideas, earthquakes can cause billions of dollars in order for the damage to be fixed and kills over thousands of millions of people’s lives each year. The effects of earthquakes may not be preventable but can be reduced. Was the earthquake damage reducible? If so, why was the Prime Minister of Japan not prepared for this earthquake? If they were prepared for the earthquake would the damage, for example the power plant in Fukushima, been reduced?