Niigata...Japan's favorite punching bag

Niigata just has to be the most cursed, battered, back-handed and wretchedly disaster-prone prefecture in all of Japan. I don't understand why the natural forces have to be extruciatingly extreme here. The last couple days saw some of the heaviest rainfall I've ever noticed in my life. I thought it was just torrential rain, but apparently it has led to floods and landslides (nothing that I noticed around here though)...in this area and down the plains. I guess some people in Tokamachi were evacuated. Annie couldn't come into town last night because all the trains were suspended because of landslides, which were set up because the landscape was changed by the big earthquake followed by the huge snowfalls. Oh, and I forgot to mention the little 4.9 earthquake we just had on June 20...it wasn't that strong in Tokamachi but was epicentered down the river closer to Nagaoka...it damaged a few buildings and hurt a woman. Would somebody please stop beating the crap out of Niigata? Here's the link for the floods: http://www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20050629a7.htm