American infrastructure is amazingly pitiful compared to Japan. In 10 years in Japan, despite crazy disasters, storms, typhoons, etc., I recall having one brown out... and it may have been a planned one. (Note: I was not in Kanto during the touhoku earthquake stuff.) In California, the power goes out if there's a light rain, and the internet disappears whenever some shit headed PG&E employee accidentally digs through a buried fiber-optic line. "WHOOPSIE! Sorry, but I left my competence in my other pickup!"