impact of Japan quake on travel and tourism industry

As everybody must know, on friday afternoon (local time) an earthquake hit Japan with a magnitude of 8.9 on he Richter scale. Followed by a tsunami, a major part of the island has been devastated. This article, posted by the USA today the day of the disaster, provides information about the potential effect on the tourism and travel industry but no one can say exactly what will be the impact on the economy of the industry. The US government has requested that "citizens avoid tourism and non-essential travel to Japan through April 1" because they fear aftershocks that are usual after such a strong quake. It means that Japan will have a lack in their economy. First, the country has experienced an earthquake which has created a panic in the capital even if Japan is very well prepared to this kind of natural disaster; however, it was so big that it destroyed roads and buildings. But the most devastating was the tsunami which completely swallowed some cities on the East and North coasts of the island. 10 meters high waves have reach the coast and the impact was that waves have continued on the Pacific and have affected the island of Hawaï and West coast of the American continent.
These kind of natural disaster have a great impact on economy and on tourism. The country has to rebuild and repair damages so all the energy and economy of the country will fit in the reconstruction. Tourism cannot happen if the country is not able to welcome visitors. In this article, we learn that Disneyland, the big amusement park in the capital has been forced to close its door for about 5 hours with thousands of visitors because they could not go back to their cars fearing aftershocks and stones falling from buildings. The park did not have major damages.
We cannot quantify the impact on the industry but a second major events happened on saturday on the East Coast of the island, a nuclear power plant has exploded which might let radioactive gazes escape from the plant. This would create another negative impact for the industry.
Japan is facing a very bad period in its history and it might be the worse period for the economy since the Second World War.

A lot of countries are mobilizing to help the Japanese population in order to rebuild the country as soon as possible.

A thought for Japan