On The Fault Line

I went to bed too late last night, disturbed by the news of the colossal earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan. It's terrifying to imagine an 8.8 quake. Our 1989 Loma Prieta quake was only 6.9 on the Richter scale with 7.1 surface magnitude and that was terrifying enough.

Apparently, Japan is well-defended against earthquakes with very good building and safety codes. We're not. We're definitely better-prepared than Haiti, Chile, China or probably New Zealand (though I don't really know how earthquake-ready their buildings are --or were), but we're way behind Japan. Our infrastructure is crumbling, our transportation is bad and our hospitals are mostly located near -- or on -- fault lines. The Loma Prieta quake that destroyed part of the Bay Bridge took place 22 years ago and we still haven't built a new one. Though it took a long time to get the money together and to overcome opposition to the project, the Golden Gate Bridge took only 4 years to construct. The Bay Bridge took 3 years and was finished six months before the Golden Gate. Actual construction on the current bridge project began in 2002 and is expected to be completed in 2013 -- almost a quarter of a century since Loma Prieta.

Japan has bullet trains and we have Amtrak. Why can't we get it together as a country? What's wrong with us? Don't answer that. It would take too long. In the meantime, my prayers go out to the people of Japan. The tsunami that came in the wake of their quake did the real damage. Earthquakes are a large part of our consciousness here, but tsunamis are only a barely considered possibility.