Comments on: Tidal Waves Kill Thousands in Asia

By: DC Loser

DC Loser — Mon, 27 Dec 2004 22:01:06 +0000

The Japanese thought they had the strictest construction codes in the world and that would prevent mass destruction during a quake. The Kobe quake in 95 proved that even the best construction can't prevent the mass destruction of a powerful earthquake. The only bright side is that many more would have died if they didn't have the construction code. But don't let strict codes provide a false sense of security. If it shakes bad enough things will fail.

By: McGehee

McGehee — Mon, 27 Dec 2004 20:11:51 +0000

The Good Friday quake in Alaska in 1964 is, I believe, the one referenced when reports talk of this one as "the worst in 40 years."

Alaska had no earthquake building codes back then. Whole towns disappeared off the face of the earth.

These areas are high density locations and if a similar tsunami had hit, say, Japan, I should think similar high number of casualties would occur.

No, because they get warnings. The danger of tsunamis in Japan is taken extremely seriously there, and with good reason.

By: DC Loser

DC Loser — Mon, 27 Dec 2004 13:22:36 +0000

I think people have a hard time imagining the power of a magnitude 9 earthquake. Before we get too smug about what happens in a 3rd world country, let's see what happens in LA when the big magnitude 8 hits. The 94 quake there was only a magnitude 6 something and you all remember the freeways and the apartment buildings collapsing. A nine is on the order of 1000 times stronger than that (the richter scale is logarithmic). I'm afraid that even the best earthquake construction codes would have suffered great catastrophic damage in that big an temblor.

By: Attila Girl

Attila Girl — Mon, 27 Dec 2004 09:59:58 +0000

There was no early warning system to alert people to the tsunami, and there have been no educational campaigns to advise people that they must stay away from the beaches in the event of an earthquake.

And I do honestly think that building codes that respect the power and possibility of earthquakes save a lot of lives when the temblers do hit.

By: Trolling in Shallow Water

Trolling in Shallow Water — Mon, 27 Dec 2004 05:43:15 +0000

Tragedy in the Indian Ocean
Reuters reported earlier today that a magnitude 6.8 earthquake 90 miles off the south Sumatra coast triggered deadly tsunamis in the Indian Ocean. A followup report has hundreds dead in Thailand and ups the magnitude of the quake to 8.9, making it th...

By: DC Loser

DC Loser — Mon, 27 Dec 2004 02:15:39 +0000

This is a terrible tragedy, and the editorializing is in very poor taste. I don't know what the circumstances of most deaths were but my guess is that poor construction were not really factors in people being washed out to sea by the tide. These areas are high density locations and if a similar tsunami had hit, say, Japan, I should think similar high number of casualties would occur. To say that corruption is somehow responsible for this tragedy is just B.S.