tsunamis

[cellio]

Within the first couple days of the Indonesian quake/tsunami six(ish) years ago, death tolls over 100,000 were being reported (final count was over 200,000).

Within the first couple days of the Japanese quake/tsunami, death tolls in the hundreds were being reported. (Of course, we're not done yet.)

The difference in ability to predict and effectively react between wealthy and poor nations is striking. Three orders of magnitude? Yikes. We in the better-off nations usually send aid after the fact, but it really makes me wonder what we could do before the fact to help less-developed nations build better defenses.

Comments

[fauxklore]

One might need to also compare the populations of the most affected regions. While Japan is a populous country, the Miyagi Prefecture is fairly far from population centers.

A more interesting comparison involves the earthquake itself and is evidence of the impact of well-enforced building codes. The biggest issue in much of the undeveloped / developing world is not the standards applied to the infrastructure, but the widespread bribery used to get out of following them. (And one might also note that traditional building methods fare well under environmental stress.)

[cellio]

It sounds like you're saying that traditional building methods do well and modern methods with code enforcement do well, but there's a space in the middle where things are worse off (modern methods but no meaningful codes)? Yeah, I can see that.