Shakin’ badly

The unbelievably severe earthquake centered near Concepcion, Chile has left at least 700 dead, with nearly 2 million displaced and God knows what else when the full extent is ascertained,
As horrible as its ultimate toll is, at the end of the day, the earthquake will prove less destructive in Chile than last month’s quake in Haiti. Chile, the site of the most severe earthquake ever recorded, had instituted and actually implemented building codes to deal with earthquakes, and it is a far richer country than Haiti able to make sure of this (at least, far better able than Haiti… or for that matter, China, site of another recent disastrous earthquake).
Indeed, this kind of preparedness is why when California has earthquakes in or near its major cities, though there is invariably damage, we do not see death tolls in the hundreds or thousands any more (though avoiding this in an earthquake of over 8.0 magnitude becomes unfathomable at some point).
Further, it appears that the tsunami warning system has evidently “worked” this time, though the tsunami’s impact was, thus far, overstated.
The point, of course, is that one cannot put a price on preparedness; earthquakes are a grim reality — and a grim certainty– here on planet Earth. There are other certainties as well, which, anyone without their head up their ass, can see just by looking at melting glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica that global flooding is coming… except it is an article of faith among enough of a plurality of idiots and maniacs in the United States that for that particularly certainty, we’re not even allowed to prepare for it, let alone allevitate the forces driving it and making its effects more severe.
For those so inclined and able, consider contributing to the reputable charity of your choice; or you might try contributing to the Red Cross, or UNICEF, or Doctors Without Borders, While bad stuff keeps happening… let’s at least try to do what we can.