Japan now finds itself in the unhappy position of occupying the top two places in this Economist table of the world's costliest natural disasters of the past 45 years. Some estimates are putting the likely economic cost as being an even greater sum than appears on the chart, at more than $300bn.

The crisis isn't over yet, along with the potential for further shocks - this morning the north east of Japan was hit by another magnitude six quake and at the time of writing the damaged nuclear power facility had again been evacuated. The extent of the likely after-effects of the monster quake and tsunami is still an emerging picture.

The disruption within Japan itself is obvious, but unlike the badly-hit automobile manufacturers thus far printing industry suppliers appear to have avoided major problems. Komori implemented a short hiatus in production at its factories due to parts from third-party suppliers being unavailable, and in its results yesterday Xaar said there was no immediate impact on its business, but with various key suppliers and licensees located in Japan it will be monitoring the situation closely.

Keeping a close eye on the emerging situation is the only pragmatic approach for printco owners located thousands of miles away from this disaster, yet inextricably linked to it due to global supply chains. At the moment there are more unknowns than knowns, and in our just-in-time manufacturing, low-stock holding world, it's unlikely there will be warehouses full of spare bits and piece 'just in case' either.

Certainly business owners should do what they can to check the ongoing availability of any key components or consumables that have a 'made in Japan' label - while also making themselves aware of any crucial items where the Japanese element may be less obvious. That General Motors plants in Spain, Germany and the USA have been forced to halt production due to a shortage of parts from Japan gives some indication of the wider implications.