January 14, 2010

Riley has the sniffles.  And she couldn't sleep last night.  So I stayed with her all night long.  She was cranky.  I fussed over her, worried a bit, fighting the emotions I always feel when my children are hurting.  Today I read:

Matthew Price, BBC News, Haiti
It is clear that many who were brought to L'Hopital de la Paix in Port-au-Prince with injuries have since died here. One man with tears in his eyes pointed to his young daughter lying on the dirty tiled floor.
She has two broken legs and a large gash in her head. Her sister is already dead. "Ca va?" her father asks. "Oui," she replies softly, but she is not okay. In pockets, there is barely anything left of this city and so far the people are largely having to cope on their own.

I was in the Santa Cruz quake of 1989. It was 6.9. The difference in wreckage has a lot to do with building codes. And if the world is (and should be) called upon to help in such a horrible crisis, if 10 million US dollars not to mention time, people, and physical resources are given (which they rightly are,) should not building codes be an international standard? And were they - imagine the can of worms that opens politically and in terms of disparity of wealth and resources. I think it comes down to this: We are a nation of people on this planet. Are we not? What a weird and scary and beautiful thought.

2 comments:

val said...

We don't even have national building codes. A relative worked out of town and was aghast at what is considered code in some places.

I agree with you though.

My husband had an apprentice with him years ago who hit rebar while drilling a hole. My husband told him he'd hit rebar and the guy asked, "What's that?"

"Rebar? It like....rebar holds up the world."

Were all these buildings built without it? I don't understand. I see piles of rubble without rebar sticking out. It's concerning.

But not the first priority today, obviously. That would be safe water.

love, v

CC said...

haiti...oh Haiti...we love you.