Earthquake

Shikoku of course did not feel the earthquake.  But its effects are slowly being felt.  A lot of the large events, gatherings, and festivals have been cancelled.  Nationwide forum that was supposed to be held at Tokushima was cancelled, probably because so many of the people cannot attend the forum due to the earthquake damage and its effects on the traffic.  Music festival that was supposed to be held at the Kurashiki was cancelled, because the musician groups that was supposed to perform were from the area hit by the earthquake.

But some of the events that has been cancelled does not seem to make much sense.  For example, a flea market in Ikeda?  I would think only locals would attend such event.  Or the burning of the Shizokua Kogen area to maintain the grassland?  The timing of the burning is important in maintaining the grassland.

Sure many people would be unable to attend the national forum, but I would think there would be even more reason to hold a large gathering, to ask people for their donations in helping out the people affected by the earthquake.  The same could be said with the flea market.

What can be gained from cancelling the events?  Is this not the time to work even harder for the economy so that we can continue to help the suffering people?

Sure there may be people who would say, "we should not be holding festivals and such when others are suffering," but cancelling the events is not going to help anybody, and it could even make things worse by slowing down the economy.  Are we trying to save ourselves or the people hit by the earthquakes?