MANILA, Philippines – Thanks to the Internet and cable television, the 8.9-scale earthquake that hit Japan a few days ago became the world’s biggest ever real-time, reality TV event.

The images we saw on TV, on YouTube, and other video-sharing sites online beat the best that Hollywood effects technicians can ever put together.

The visual illusions we saw on some of the most recent tragedy and sci-fi films cannot hold a candle to what actually happened in Japan.

And if only there weren’t hundreds (I hope not thousands) of casualties, it would have been the perfect learning aid for wannabe visual effects artists.

Meanwhile, the earthquake and the resulting tsunamis also provided a jarring and learning glimpse into what similar catastrophes can do to our IT systems, telecommunications networks, gadgets, and devices.

Google’s Tsunami Alert

In an unusual, though very timely, move, Google put on its home page a tsunami alert after the massive earthquake in Japan. The warning told users of the world’s most famous search engine which countries were likely to be hit by the tsunamis and what times were these giant waves likely to hit their respective shores.

Google also launched a crisis-response page, which includes a person finder application in English and Japanese languages. The Web page also includes emergency phone numbers that link to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center and online message boards in Japan.

This corner thinks Google has done a great job.

Disaster Tests IT Systems

The March 11 earthquake also served as a wakeup call for IT managers. After the earthquake and the tsunami that followed it destroyed or severely damaged several cities and towns on Japan’s Honshu island, there were reports of utilities and communications links felled or slowed down by the catastrophe.

The disaster also reminded IT managers to ensure their business continuity systems would kick in if and when such a disaster occurs. Clearly, the earthquake showed that complacency is never an option — because disasters can always happen (and they do happen) without any warning.

Semiconductor Took a Hit

The earthquake, some analysts believe, will also have quite an adverse impact on the semiconductor market. Japan (and Taiwan) accounts for a huge part of the global semiconductor manufacturing, and even the slightest downtime will certainly affect supply and prices, at least in the short term.

To illustrate, at least 40 percent of the NAND flash memory chips and 15 percent of DRAM supplies worldwide are made in Japan. These parts are much needed in the manufacture of consumer electronics devices such as computers, smartphones, and tablet PCs.

The next few weeks will tell us more about the earthquake’s impact on the IT manufacturing sector.

That’s all for the meantime, folks. Join me again next time as we keep on watching IT.