Why+didn't+Japan+make+their+wall+bigger??

Why didn't Japan make their wall bigger? **Japanese company Okumura used extensive supercomputer simulations to design its Metallic Roller Bearing, which allows the ground to shake back and forth under a building without transferring that energy upward. (Source: Okumura Corp.)** The sea walls are high enough to protect cities and important assets like nuclear reactors from tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes and other natural disasters. The sea wall protecting the nuclear reactors at Fukushima in Japanese was breached by a recent tsunami because its height was calculated with 1960s geology, according to Mary Olson, a scientist at the ****Nuclear Information and Resource Service****. If modern supercomputer simulations were rerun, then the current nuclear disaster could have been averted with more technologically advanced sea walls. Smarter cities around the world will hopefully take the disaster in Japan as a wake-up call to update their own tsunami assessments using modern supercomputer simulations that validate whether their sea wall design is adequate. The Katrina disaster in New Orleans demonstrated that if the United States had replaced its antiquated earthen levies, it could have averted the disaster caused by that hurricane. New levies are finally being built to protect New Orleans, but every city worldwide should insist that its tsunami, earthquake, hurricane and other natural disaster preparedness is brought up to 21st century standards. http://www.smartertechnology.com/c/a/Smarter-Strategies/Smarter-Cities-Simulating-JapanSized-Tsunamis/

Massive antitsunami seawalls tend to be located in harbors and number around a dozen nationwide, Mr. Kawata said. But smaller seawalls, often reaching as high as 40 feet, and other structures extend along more than 40 percent of the nation’s coastline, according to figures from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. The height of seawalls varies according to the predictions of the highest waves in a region. Critics say that no matter how high the seawalls are raised, there will eventually be a higher wave. Indeed, the waves from Friday’s tsunami far exceeded predictions for Japan’s northern region. Seawalls also tend to be built in areas that have suffered tsunamis. But because seawalls cannot be constructed along all of a community’s shoreline, they tend to be clustered along stretches that have been directly hit, leaving other areas exposed. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/14/world/asia/14seawalls.html?_r=2&pagewanted=2