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On Earthquake Safety
Having grown up in earthquake country, the recent spate of them making the news has brought something to my mind. This is pretty important, in terms of politics, and we should all think about it.
The earthquake in Haiti has caused horrible devastation, killing somewhere in the neighborhood of 200,000 people, which is a truly appalling number. The earthquake in Chile, meanwhile, has a present death count in the 700s, which may rise over 1000 when all the bodies are found.
The earthquake in Chile was well over 50x (edit: 63x, precisely) more forceful than the earthquake in Haiti, but 200x less people have died. Why?
Building codes.
Chile is an industrialized country with modern building codes. Modern building codes include significant earthquake safety, such that most people in a modern building during an earthquake are going to be, if not perfectly safe, not in danger of their lives.
Haiti is not an industrialized country, and does not have modern building codes, or really any sort of building codes to speak of (in terms of practical enforcement.)
We could talk about building codes "saving lives" but I think that that's the wrong way to think about it. Here's how I would think about it: Earthquakes do not kill people. Bad building codes, or lax building code enforcement practices, kill people.
The earthquake in Haiti has caused horrible devastation, killing somewhere in the neighborhood of 200,000 people, which is a truly appalling number. The earthquake in Chile, meanwhile, has a present death count in the 700s, which may rise over 1000 when all the bodies are found.
The earthquake in Chile was well over 50x (edit: 63x, precisely) more forceful than the earthquake in Haiti, but 200x less people have died. Why?
Building codes.
Chile is an industrialized country with modern building codes. Modern building codes include significant earthquake safety, such that most people in a modern building during an earthquake are going to be, if not perfectly safe, not in danger of their lives.
Haiti is not an industrialized country, and does not have modern building codes, or really any sort of building codes to speak of (in terms of practical enforcement.)
We could talk about building codes "saving lives" but I think that that's the wrong way to think about it. Here's how I would think about it: Earthquakes do not kill people. Bad building codes, or lax building code enforcement practices, kill people.
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But in a time where "removing government restrictions" is increasingly in vogue, it's important to remember that there are tremendous human costs to the collapse of our civic institutions, even something as simple and apparently worthless as building codes.
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