Thoughts about the Tsunami
OK, I know I'm a little late on this one, but I'm finally getting a minute to write about the tragedy in Japan. We've all seen the horrific videos and pictures of this unbelievable disaster, but I don't know if anyone can actually comprehend the scope of it.
I think the local equivalent would be if the cities of Salt Lake, Ogden, and Provo were wiped off the face of the earth in about half an hour. Every home, every business, every school, basically every single building, car, etc. just mangled and ruined beyond repair. Even the ground is ruined beyond salvaging because of all the salt and now the business with the radiation contamination from the nuclear plants. That is finger of God-level devastation and I don't know how they will ever be able to recover from that.
Right now they are sitting there with half a million people left with nothing but the clothes on their backs. No place to live, no vehicles, no livelihood, and a lot of them have lost their entire families or anyone who could take them in. How can any government cope with that?
I keep wondering where these people are going to live in the coming months, how they are going to get the necessities of life. I know that a lot of people have gone through this, but most of them seemed to have been poor people who didn't have much to lose and didn't require much to get back to where they were before. These people are very similar to us, people with nice homes, cars, computers, etc. It shouldn't matter, but I'm sure it's more shocking when you think you are living in a reasonably safe little world like ours and it caves in on you so suddenly and so overwhelmingly.
The thing I'm surprised about is that they didn't get those people OUT of there. I was reading somewhere about a nursing home that had been left for a week with no heat, no electricity, and very little food or medicine. I can't even imagine how miserable those poor old people were. If it had been me, I would have done whatever it would take to get them out of there and distribute them around to whatever other facilities had empty beds or even to private homes, where at least they would be warm and fed. That kind of baffled me, especially with the nuclear issue.
The other thing that surprised me is that they are already talking about rebuilding. Seriously? Sometimes it's a better idea to just call it a day and move on! I thought that after Katrina as well. Some places just aren't meant to be lived in, and I thought that swampland that is below sea level was an excellent example! When you think about the staggering cost of what it would take to rebuild all the infrastructure to make these towns livable again, it doesn't make a lot of sense.
I think if I were the government, I would just pay these people for their houses, reclaim the land, and do something different with it. Build a huge wind farm, or a solar plant instead. Turn it into a strictly industrial area.
Or even better, trade them their ruined properties for foreclosed properties in other towns. Sort of a swap/recycle program. It just makes so much more sense, because you never know if this could happen again sometime soon. There's no way to know if the seismic activity is going to settle down in that region.
The scary thing is that this happened in a country that is about the best prepared to deal with a disaster like this. Their people are docile and cooperative and are used to doing what they are told. I don't think you can say that about Americans. I can't imagine what it would be like if this actually had happened here in Utah. I think it would have been a lot worse.
Anyway, I went out and bought some earthquake insurance for our house. It may not help much, but it helps me sleep a little better.
.
By TwitterButtons.com
I think the local equivalent would be if the cities of Salt Lake, Ogden, and Provo were wiped off the face of the earth in about half an hour. Every home, every business, every school, basically every single building, car, etc. just mangled and ruined beyond repair. Even the ground is ruined beyond salvaging because of all the salt and now the business with the radiation contamination from the nuclear plants. That is finger of God-level devastation and I don't know how they will ever be able to recover from that.
Right now they are sitting there with half a million people left with nothing but the clothes on their backs. No place to live, no vehicles, no livelihood, and a lot of them have lost their entire families or anyone who could take them in. How can any government cope with that?
I keep wondering where these people are going to live in the coming months, how they are going to get the necessities of life. I know that a lot of people have gone through this, but most of them seemed to have been poor people who didn't have much to lose and didn't require much to get back to where they were before. These people are very similar to us, people with nice homes, cars, computers, etc. It shouldn't matter, but I'm sure it's more shocking when you think you are living in a reasonably safe little world like ours and it caves in on you so suddenly and so overwhelmingly.
The thing I'm surprised about is that they didn't get those people OUT of there. I was reading somewhere about a nursing home that had been left for a week with no heat, no electricity, and very little food or medicine. I can't even imagine how miserable those poor old people were. If it had been me, I would have done whatever it would take to get them out of there and distribute them around to whatever other facilities had empty beds or even to private homes, where at least they would be warm and fed. That kind of baffled me, especially with the nuclear issue.
The other thing that surprised me is that they are already talking about rebuilding. Seriously? Sometimes it's a better idea to just call it a day and move on! I thought that after Katrina as well. Some places just aren't meant to be lived in, and I thought that swampland that is below sea level was an excellent example! When you think about the staggering cost of what it would take to rebuild all the infrastructure to make these towns livable again, it doesn't make a lot of sense.
I think if I were the government, I would just pay these people for their houses, reclaim the land, and do something different with it. Build a huge wind farm, or a solar plant instead. Turn it into a strictly industrial area.
Or even better, trade them their ruined properties for foreclosed properties in other towns. Sort of a swap/recycle program. It just makes so much more sense, because you never know if this could happen again sometime soon. There's no way to know if the seismic activity is going to settle down in that region.
The scary thing is that this happened in a country that is about the best prepared to deal with a disaster like this. Their people are docile and cooperative and are used to doing what they are told. I don't think you can say that about Americans. I can't imagine what it would be like if this actually had happened here in Utah. I think it would have been a lot worse.
Anyway, I went out and bought some earthquake insurance for our house. It may not help much, but it helps me sleep a little better.
.
By TwitterButtons.com 
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