Japan’s tragedy keeps on unfolding before our eyes. By now it is the threat of nuclear contamination that fills us with fear and the original earthquake and tsunami have had to take a back seat. But in a fascinating film on BBC 2 last night a geologist explained a little about how earthquakes happen and how devastating they can be.

Possibly the most remarkable fact was that Japan suffers about a third of the world’s quakes and just two days before the ‘big one’ they had experienced a tremor measuring just over 6. So the question on my mind as I watched the film was this – why have they built so many nuclear reactors in their country? True – they have become very adept about designing buildings that have an amazing ability to withstand earthquakes. Even their tallest skyscrapers merely swayed as the shocks hit. But has this engineering feat led to hubris?

All over the world humanity has been determined to dominate the earth – its resources and power. But time and again we have seen that while success is commonplace, when things go wrong the results are catastrophic. A simpler and a humbler living might well be beneficial.