Before the disaster, Japan issued about $1.5 billion in earthquake-related catastrophe bonds as a risk-management device: the debt is canceled if a precisely defined seismic event occurs. This design helped spread the earthquake risk from Japan to foreign investors, who could accept the risk and were enticed by higher expected yields.
在灾难发生之前，日本发行了大概15亿美元地震相关灾难债券作为其风险管理机制：他们对地震相关灾难进行了精确界定，一旦这样的灾难发生，这些债券就不能被兑现。而这一金融设计确实有助于将地震风险分散到那些能承担风险并且追求高额回报的外国投资者身上。