Post by sevenofnine on Jul 15, 2024 11:53:46 GMT -5
Yeah it matter WHEN!
Opinion: ‘The big one’ disaster could happen in our lifetime. Can we even be ready?
I was driving from my hotel room in Gaziantep, Turkey, to the Hatay region last fall, about eight months after the devastating magnitude 7.8 earthquake that was one of the strongest temblors to hit the country in more than a century. I was expecting to see communities emerging from the rubble and rebuilding. I expected visible scars and a slow recovery, with some progress made and emerging areas of normalcy.
But as we approached the epicenter of the damage, I realized this disaster was different.
Building after building had large cracks throughout, while many other structures had partially or totally collapsed. Interspersed across the landscape were makeshift camps with tents, which were gradually being replaced by encampments of thin-walled “containers” (think shipping containers used to house people). There was virtually no surviving housing in the worst-hit areas, limited infrastructure was functioning and demolition of damaged buildings was only starting to push forward.
Meeting after meeting with local officials and residents reflected eight months of standing still, persistent trauma and recovery stunted while the rest of the world moved on. One elected official told our group that if we wanted to give assistance to children, that was okay — but for the adults, they said the only thing we could do to help was to take them back to America with us.
Building codes were in place to prevent such a tragedy, but sadly few structures were built to this standard. The country’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority is active but relatively new in its current form, having been consolidated as a single agency only in 2009. Digging out from the rubble, it is estimated that the monster quake killed more than 53,000 people and displaced 3 million more in Turkey and neighboring Syria.
edition.cnn.com/2024/07/14/opinions/big-one-disaster-in-our-lifetime-megadisaster-preparedness-schlegelmilch/index.html
Opinion: ‘The big one’ disaster could happen in our lifetime. Can we even be ready?
I was driving from my hotel room in Gaziantep, Turkey, to the Hatay region last fall, about eight months after the devastating magnitude 7.8 earthquake that was one of the strongest temblors to hit the country in more than a century. I was expecting to see communities emerging from the rubble and rebuilding. I expected visible scars and a slow recovery, with some progress made and emerging areas of normalcy.
But as we approached the epicenter of the damage, I realized this disaster was different.
Building after building had large cracks throughout, while many other structures had partially or totally collapsed. Interspersed across the landscape were makeshift camps with tents, which were gradually being replaced by encampments of thin-walled “containers” (think shipping containers used to house people). There was virtually no surviving housing in the worst-hit areas, limited infrastructure was functioning and demolition of damaged buildings was only starting to push forward.
Meeting after meeting with local officials and residents reflected eight months of standing still, persistent trauma and recovery stunted while the rest of the world moved on. One elected official told our group that if we wanted to give assistance to children, that was okay — but for the adults, they said the only thing we could do to help was to take them back to America with us.
Building codes were in place to prevent such a tragedy, but sadly few structures were built to this standard. The country’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority is active but relatively new in its current form, having been consolidated as a single agency only in 2009. Digging out from the rubble, it is estimated that the monster quake killed more than 53,000 people and displaced 3 million more in Turkey and neighboring Syria.
edition.cnn.com/2024/07/14/opinions/big-one-disaster-in-our-lifetime-megadisaster-preparedness-schlegelmilch/index.html
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