But on that fateful Friday, when the North American plate slid over the Pacific plate along a subduction zone running 130km (80 miles) off the Pacific coast of northern Japan, the shock leapt from the first segment to a second and on to a third, extending the fault zone some 400km and increasing its intensity more than 30-fold.

ECONOMIST: The myth and reality of the Japanese earthquake

But it's not all the fault of the euro zone.

WSJ: Euro Crisis Clouds Global Outlook

The police said an electrical fault was the likely cause for the fire in the Ashulia industrial zone.

BBC: Bangladesh clothes workers die in factory fire

The Tories may point out that the unexpectedly suicidal economic policy in the euro zone, Britain's main market, is hardly their fault.

ECONOMIST: British politics