Quote:
Originally Posted by Mister Earl
Agreed. China doesn't put much emphasis on safety. I'm sure that's going to cause problems here. I feel pretty bad about the people living there, ekeing out a life in the western steppes of China. Many children out there have never seen a school, and now one of the rare ones out there got flattened.
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I'm not disputing this, but wondering. Is Sichuan really in the "western steppes"? It's a quite highly populated area, and though yes, it is sort of on the edge, I think it's within the Yangtse river basin.
I definitely agree there is more the government could do. I think building codes in China are somewhat weak compared to those in more advanced countries. Although even in Japan, with quite strict codes, the 1995 quake in Kobe (not as strong as the one in Sichuan) killed almost 5,000 people. Part of it was because of the crowding, I think. Once some buildings collapsed, they blocked roads and emergency vehicles couldn't get in. I think the same thing is happening now.