main page
"To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
|
click here for a bigger sunset
One small voice in the proud tradition of FreeBlogging*
Monday, May 26, 2003
posted by gbarto at 1:30 PM:
Temblor Hurts 54 in JapanHurt? Hurt? Not killed? Not in the thousands? In a 7.0 quake?
But in Algeria, 6.2 killed 2,200. Perhaps because of something like this:
Algerian Officials Pledge Construction Probe After Quake
BOUMERDES, Algeria — Diggers and bulldozers began demolishing buildings damaged beyond repair by last week's devastating earthquake as the government pledged Monday to investigate why so many new apartment blocks collapsed so easily.Incidentally, they say that unlike previous disasters, Muslim fundamentalist groups in recruit mode have not shown up in large numbers to distribute help, both a good thing and a bad thing.
We are thus again left with that awful revelation that ought serve as a wake-up call to every person who romanticizes the simplicity of the third-world and who scorns our cold, uncaring Western world and its "fascist capitalist" model. These quaint third-world government and social systems kill. Western capitalism allocates to every person the possibility - however remote - of being wealthy one day, gives every person a vote in pitching the bastards out of office and a God-given right to raise bloody hell if they're upset about something. And things happen. San Francisco, 1906 (?), happens and we begin thinking about public responses to earthquakes. Seismic technology comes and we start watching for them, figuring out where they're likely to happen, then, in time, designing buildings that sway with them. Kobe happens and Japan begins building those kinds of buildings. And so, 7.0 in Japan injures 54. 6.2 in Algeria kills 2,200. What's the difference? The awful, capitalist model of Japan values people enough to build these expensive buildings and, its recession notwithstanding, generates the money needed to do so.
* * *
French Elections, 1st round
Second round special page
Second Round Results Map
The TurkeyBlog main page contains only the 20 most recent entries.
To go further back, check the archive in the right hand bar.
