Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Unfortunate Aftermath

As I'm sure we all already know a tragic earthquake hit Chile just under a week ago. Fortunately enough (if there really is any fortunate side to this event), the country is much more developed than the country of Haiti which suffered practically complete devastation after an earthquake of smaller magnitude hit the small island fairly recently. The buildings in Chile were much better constructed and held up fairly well to an earthquake of that magnitude, so at first the devastation seemed manageable. However, unfortunately as in the case of many natural disasters, the aftermath of the original event is what really "does the country in", so to speak.
After hearing how strong the earthquake was I was expecting there to be far more damage, but I read this article (link is in the title for anyone who wants more info) that talks about how much more damage the aftershocks and massive waves to hit the coast have created. The biggest problem is that resources can't reach these struggling people because they already live in isolated areas and now, on top of that, their ways have transportation have been destroyed. The scariest thing to think about, in my opinion, is that not only do you really never know when you're going to be hit by something like this, but on top of that once you are hit by a natural disaster aftermath is inevitable, but you don't know exactly what to expect. I can't imagine knowing something else awful is coming but not being able to do anything about it. What do you guys think?

1 comment:

prestonchan said...

Well Lizzy, I think there are definitely things you can do about a possible earthquake in the future. For starters, you can always create a family plan about what to do if an earthquake hits, where to meet, and who to call (out of state) if said earthquake strikes. My family also created a small emergency kit, basically a small box filled with supplies such as water and food and flashlights and put it in the most stable part of our house.