The earthquake and tsunami in Japan has caused untold amounts of damage and suffering, to infrastructure, industry, and most importantly, the human cost of it all. The disruption of industrial and manufacturing output, right now, seems to pale in significance to the other aspects of the crisis that is unfolding right now, but will only add more pain for the country that is already struggling economically.
Sony and other companies have already signalled that production of certain products will be disrupted, as factories in the north-eastern parts of the country, where most of the damage from the disaster has occurred, have shut down due to various reasons.
Sony has Blu-ray disc production plants in that region, where production has been halted and personnel evacuated. Blu-ray player production may also be affected, as a factory producing semiconductor lasers has also been shut down.
Nintendo on the other hand has said that the planned US launch of their new portable 3D game console, the 3DS, will go ahead. Nintendo says that stock is not an issue at the moment with the gaming giant claiming that there will be enough stock on hand for the US launch. The 3DS is also manufactured in China, and so production will not be as affected.
For information on the quake, including the latest news, updates and donation information, please refer to Google's 2011 Japanese Earthquake page.
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