ok, lets be honest for a minute here...
Sep. 14th, 2005 11:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
acroyearwe're spoiled in this country.
we're all so uptight about how bad katrina was to new orleans that we lose sight of the big picture. in a BIG way.
the *worst* natural disaster to ever hit this country only killed 8000 people. and that was over 100 years ago.
prior to katrina (which so far is at #10 of most number of deaths in a natural disaster) not one in that top 10 was more recent than 1938!!!
we've had over 65 years where the worst things, death-wise, to ever hit this country were man-made (pearl harbor, which only barely counts, and 9/11). granted, its a reason we reacted to them (and to katrina) so strongly, but still, look at the big picture.
consider the *thousands* of deaths caused by the tsunami. consider how, after hearing of an earthquake in california we here talk of potentially "dozens" of deaths. even for a big one like L.A. 1994 or S.F. 1989.
an earthquake of comparable magnitute in turkey caused over 10,000 deaths. in kobe, japan, over 30,000.
In china, the death tolls from natural disasters can reach a million, easy. unlike America, the worst disasters caused by man in china haven't even come close to what nature has done to her (granted, many of those disasters were worsened by poor engineering).
all things in *SOME* perspective, people, we're seriously spoiled around here.
we worked our asses off to get this way, but we should acknowledge that the hard work of our ancesters in the last 100 years has seriously paid off, and can only continue to pay off if we're willing to continue to work hard to preserve it. when thanksgiving rolls around, be thankful in that pragmatic and inventive spirit, the willingness to see a problem (like surviving a harsh winter) and say "never again", which allowed our ancesters to survive in plymouth and jamestowne. its the reason that when something really bad hits this country, its never as bad as it would have been somewhere else...
source of u.s. data: livescience.com
you want to know what we should do next? look at the pictures of the mile-long bridge of I-10 (probably the 4th busiest interstate in the country, behind 95, 5, and 81). 12 years ago, president clinton started a very specific, and in my opinion very successful, policy of fixing the aging infrastructure of this country, a policy that in my opinion was halted almost immediately under Uncle Newt's congress of '94.
you want to know what we should do next? reactivate that program. double-check every coastal bridge so another I-10 never happens again. especially as it could have happened while people were on it.
(and while we're at it, fix the i-10 ;-) ). the i-12 bypass is only going to work for so long...
we're all so uptight about how bad katrina was to new orleans that we lose sight of the big picture. in a BIG way.
the *worst* natural disaster to ever hit this country only killed 8000 people. and that was over 100 years ago.
prior to katrina (which so far is at #10 of most number of deaths in a natural disaster) not one in that top 10 was more recent than 1938!!!
we've had over 65 years where the worst things, death-wise, to ever hit this country were man-made (pearl harbor, which only barely counts, and 9/11). granted, its a reason we reacted to them (and to katrina) so strongly, but still, look at the big picture.
consider the *thousands* of deaths caused by the tsunami. consider how, after hearing of an earthquake in california we here talk of potentially "dozens" of deaths. even for a big one like L.A. 1994 or S.F. 1989.
an earthquake of comparable magnitute in turkey caused over 10,000 deaths. in kobe, japan, over 30,000.
In china, the death tolls from natural disasters can reach a million, easy. unlike America, the worst disasters caused by man in china haven't even come close to what nature has done to her (granted, many of those disasters were worsened by poor engineering).
all things in *SOME* perspective, people, we're seriously spoiled around here.
we worked our asses off to get this way, but we should acknowledge that the hard work of our ancesters in the last 100 years has seriously paid off, and can only continue to pay off if we're willing to continue to work hard to preserve it. when thanksgiving rolls around, be thankful in that pragmatic and inventive spirit, the willingness to see a problem (like surviving a harsh winter) and say "never again", which allowed our ancesters to survive in plymouth and jamestowne. its the reason that when something really bad hits this country, its never as bad as it would have been somewhere else...
source of u.s. data: livescience.com
you want to know what we should do next? look at the pictures of the mile-long bridge of I-10 (probably the 4th busiest interstate in the country, behind 95, 5, and 81). 12 years ago, president clinton started a very specific, and in my opinion very successful, policy of fixing the aging infrastructure of this country, a policy that in my opinion was halted almost immediately under Uncle Newt's congress of '94.
you want to know what we should do next? reactivate that program. double-check every coastal bridge so another I-10 never happens again. especially as it could have happened while people were on it.
(and while we're at it, fix the i-10 ;-) ). the i-12 bypass is only going to work for so long...
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no subject
Date: 2005-09-16 06:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-16 07:03 pm (UTC)it turns out that the first levee to break was the one that actually HAD been modernized and updated with federal funds. the others broke later as the pressure from the first one snowballed.
whether or not it was updated to handle the flood of a cat-5, i don't know, but it does go to show that simply throwing money at the problem doesn't necessarilly solve it.
for those that couldn't leave because the city and the private industry stopped bussing long before it hit? yeah, THAT was a problem.
as for those that didn't leave because they wouldn't, i have no sympathy.