Tag Archives: earthquake

Random Disaster

Posted on by ninjanurse

Two earthquakes struck southern Spain today, the worst in fifty years.

The earth moves all the time, and sometimes by chance earthquake strikes in a populated area.

Large chunks of stone and brick fell from the facade of a church in Lorca as a reporter for Spanish state TV was broadcasting live from the scene. A large church bell was also among the rubble, which missed striking the reporter, who appeared to be about 30 feet (9 meters) away when it fell. The broadcaster reported that schoolchildren usually gather at that spot around that time, and if it had happened 10 minutes later, a “tragedy” could have occurred.

With eight billion of us living on Earth, and instant communication, bad news travels fast. Prepared or unprepared, life is so random.

Thinking of Japan

Posted on by ninjanurse

It’s been a crazy day, riding around on potholed roads listening to the radio. Reports from Japan of people without shelter in freezing temperatures, without water, food, electricity. Without any idea of what the next day will bring.

Japanese architecture, I’ve always heard, is based on centuries of experience with earthquakes. No doubt the crisis would be far worse if not for countless adaptations to a region where the earth is unstable.

All the technology we depend on wiped out by nature. Some of the technology coming up against the laws of nature and proving unwise.

I’m thinking of the people there, and hoping the worst is soon over.

Earthquake in Chile

Posted on by ninjanurse

Associated Press reported that a new apartment building fell over backwards, with the wall becoming ceilings and sixty people trapped inside.

What sense can we make of this disaster?

Wikipedia has the news and the geology in one site. Weeks ago churches and aid groups came forward for Haiti, and will again for Chile. There’s no law of nature that earthquakes must be infrequent.

Reality-Based Explanation

Posted on by ninjanurse

The Asian Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and the Haitian Earthquake were all acts of nature. The extent of the suffering and damage was worsened by human failings. In hindsight, the loss of life could have been far less if warnings had been taken seriously, but you would have to go back decades to unravel the tangle of bad decisions and events that left people unprotected from natural disasters.

Salon.com has some background on the politics and architecture of Haiti. War, corruption and greed play in to all three of these recent disasters. We know what is wrong and how to fix it, but are we able to trade short-term gain for wisdom?