I never considered myself fortunate to live in what has been coined earthquake country. In 1989 the Bay Area shook and rolled to a 7.0 magnitude quake during rush hour traffic. Buildings swayed, many collapsed, the Bay Bridge and adjacent freeways failed and some 60 people lost their lives. But the quake that so many of us experienced and can still tell you where we were when it happened, did not cause the same level of devastation that Haiti is experiencing after their 7.0 shaker.
From the banking crisis and bailout to the worst recession since the great depression, America has certainly been in the spotlight as a failing empire. For all our faults, at least we are a country that has an infrastructure.
Why Haiti’s destruction occurred comes from the fringes of faith and science. Evangelical Pat Robertson said that the Haitians had it coming and should not have made a pack with the devil. Actor Danny Glover postulated that science points to more frequent and severe natural disasters as a factor of global warming.
Whatever school of thought you buy into, we as a nation haven’t been in a situation where we had to pull ourselves out of misery just to get back to poverty.
Why we flourish while others parish is not a result of faith or science, it’s geography, natural resources and the distribution of wealth that has reinforced our infrastructure.
As money and aid flow into Haiti we see their suffering displayed daily in our news media and we are reminded that these human beings live in a different earthquake country. How long will it be before we forget? I check the news everyday to assure myself the that the media still rates this story as above the fold.
Money and aid will lift many people out of misery but it will not buy them an infrastructure made for earthquake country.
Lisa Goddard
