We 'lived through" Northridge, too, and it was by no means major. What happened then cannot be compared to what happened in Haiti.
Sure it can. In size, the two earthquakes were very similar. The only significant difference is that California generally builds structures that are up to earthquake code and Haiti does not. If Haiti simply built stuff up to code this would have been a significantly smaller disaster.
Furthermore, the only reason Haiti does not implement them is because it is a politically and culturally dysfunctional basket case. It's not like the technology isn't there, or the proper building techniques are not known. They simply didn't see the need to implement them even though they knew they lived on a fault, and money that could have been used to up their building standards was instead poured into extravagant palaces for their dictators...which were also not built up to code.
Sure it can. In size, the two earthquakes were very similar. The only significant difference is that California generally builds structures that are up to earthquake code and Haiti does not. If Haiti simply built stuff up to code this would have been a significantly smaller disaster.
Furthermore, the only reason Haiti does not implement them is because it is a politically and culturally dysfunctional basket case. It's not like the technology isn't there, or the proper building techniques are not known. They simply didn't see the need to implement them even though they knew they lived on a fault, and money that could have been used to up their building standards was instead poured into extravagant palaces for their dictators...which were also not built up to code.
RE: “We ‘lived through” Northridge, too, and it was by no means major. What happened then cannot be compared to what happened in Haiti.”
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I had a condo 2 miles from the epicenter — it was destroyed. Did you never see all the photos of the gas caused fires, explosions, ‘pancaked’ buildings with floors that fell onto each other, killing many and injuring more?
Did you not see the multitudes from various types of housing, displaced and camping out in public parks for WEEKS? I could not get back into my totally rebuilt condo for 1.5 years. It had to be rebuilt from the ground up.
Structures all over the city of L.A. and parts of Ventura County were affected — Brentwood/Santa Monica, Simi Valley, parts of Thousand Oaks, Hollywood and most of the San Fernando Valley suffered damage from ‘cosmetic’ to severe. Stores were trashed; all goods were ruined and on the floor, glass broken everywhere, no electricity and streets lights out for days.
And you think this was NOT major? It WAS major! No one other than you disputes that.
I have been to Haiti — it is a sewer, fraught with problems unfixable by foreign aid unless the entire place is torn down and a decent government installed. There are plenty of good people in Haiti but the government is 100% corrupt and many people are criminals. I have been to the Caribbean some 25 times and visited most islands — Haiti is far and away the worst — and the people/victims there - and their infrastructure - were not prepared for this disaster.