remember the quake that did damage to LA a few years ago?
Nothing can stop earthquakes, either. And there is still no real way to predict them in advance.
But in California, the building codes prevented the type of tragedy you see in places like Mexico, Turkey, Guatemala, when there are earthquakes, and every building is turned to dust and rubble and the people inside crushed and ground to jelly.
In California, people were able to walk out alive from their shattered buildings.
Afterwards, in places like Mexico, Turkey and Guatemala, people die from epidemics caused by contaminated water.
Not so in the US.
The death toll from the Sumatran tsunami will include people who will die from drinking contaminated water, from eating contaminated food, from being murdered by looters, as occurred in Haiti this summer. Several thousand people died after a hurricane, many from disease and murder.
Loss of electricity will shut down hospitals, and those who are already in the hospitals will die from loss of mechanical support they are now dependent on.
It's all avoidable, and it's too bad. |
