The 'odds' in the far east Asia

1. While having a 2%+ economic growth and an unemployment figure below 3 millions are considered as "such a piece of news to celebrate" here in Europe, HK has an economic growth of 7%+, and everybody gets 6000 HKD from the government having "too much" reserve fund. Similar events have been happening in Singapore and Macau.
2. While having an earthquake in NZ caused its currency to drop 1-2% in a single trading day; An earthquake in Japan, on the contrary, caused its currency to rise 1-2% because people are expecting a high Yen demand for investments in after-disaster reconstructions.