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Yeah, the entire world is changing. We're leaving an era dominated first by Europe, then America and moving into an age where nations that have long been backward are moving to the forefront (or at least coming up to par).
It's going to be a very interesting century.
Ken
I think people either don't realize or maybe they loose sight of the fact that no one country or region has been a dominant power or empire forever.
For about 1800 of the last 2000 years, the two major economies of the world were China and India and if current predictions hold true those two countries will once again be the dominant economic powers.
The 20th century is often called the "American Century, the 19th was known as the "British Century" and the 21st century will in all likelihood be known as the "Asian Century".
This post isn't so outlandish. Firstly, in the area of the country where this hit there isn't thousands of years of infrastructure. Most of the buildings are relatively modern and the area is known to have quakes, so the buildings should have been built better. One can easily see from the pictures that the building materials used are modern.
The problem with China is that most government officials can be paid off, that would include building inspectors. This is not to mention that many officials are involved with the building projects and profit from them. When this is investigated I think it would clearly show that building standards in China aren't good enough and the codes they do have aren't correctly being implemented by builders.
Here's timing for you. Seattle has just released a list of 1,000 buildings in the city that are considered to be unsafe in the event of a major quake:
1,000 Seattle buildings considered dangerous | Top Stories | KING5.com | News for Seattle, Washington (http://www.king5.com/topstories/stories/NW_051308WAB_quake_buildings_retrofitting_KC.faec8 3dc.html - broken link)
The problem with China is that most government officials can be paid off, that would include building inspectors. This is not to mention that many officials are involved with the building projects and profit from them. When this is investigated I think it would clearly show that building standards in China aren't good enough and the codes they do have aren't correctly being implemented by builders.
I remember as a kid my family would go over this stretch of freeway in Oakland that was new (60's) and a lot of fun. The car would bounce every three seconds like a mini roller coaster. We would drive over to San Francisco where the freeway would just end at the Embarcadero. It was NEVER finished after nearly thirty years.
Then came Loma Prieta in 1989. That stretch of freeway collapsed and pancaked the lower level trapping commuters and crushing many to death.. It turns out that the same engineer designed both structures. It also turns out that the rebar holding the concrete sections together were not turned at the ends to hold the pieces together.
I was in SF at the time of the quake. The Marina had MANY buildings pancake as the Marina was built on landfill. Fortunately, the quake occurred at 5 pm when most people were commuting and not at home AND we have only a fraction of the population density.
Then look at the bridge collapse in Minnesota. Blame it on pigeon poop?
You said "most government officials can be paid off". Where in the heck did that come from?? That must come from the "Book of ASSumptions...Everybody knows... or the it is Common Knowledge Book".
We have just as much if not more corruption here. It is just that we are much more forgiving when we catch them. In China, the penalty is prompt execution. Here, villains just lawyer up, counter sues and settles (with the villain sometimes getting a promotion and money).
Last edited by Bob The Builder; 05-14-2008 at 02:42 AM..
Corruption happens in this country too, but we have better ways of dealing with it - democracy. This is the fundamental problem in China the party leaders have problems managing everyone below them and do not let the public have a real say in matters. Yet the public act as a sort of check/balance on local corruption.
Another major reason for the severe damage is the fact that this particular quake went on for quite a long time - three full minutes or so. That's a longgggg time for buildings to have to undergo continuous stress. Most quakes are much shorter - often under a minute.
This post isn't so outlandish. Firstly, in the area of the country where this hit there isn't thousands of years of infrastructure. Most of the buildings are relatively modern and the area is known to have quakes, so the buildings should have been built better. One can easily see from the pictures that the building materials used are modern.
The problem with China is that most government officials can be paid off, that would include building inspectors. This is not to mention that many officials are involved with the building projects and profit from them. When this is investigated I think it would clearly show that building standards in China aren't good enough and the codes they do have aren't correctly being implemented by builders.
You can't build something to withstand a 7.9 quake, unless you want to pay millions for a single family dwelling. That is simply too large and too devastating of a quake for any conventional structure.
In Nov. 2002 we had a 7.9 quake in Alaska. It opened up fissures 10 feet wide, 20 feet deep, and hundreds of yards long. More than 200 miles away from the epicenter Anchorage shook for 100 seconds or longer. Any structure at the epicenter of that quake would have been flattened.
I have never been in an earth quake..didn't feel the illinois quake a few weeks ago, but from the looks of things, china will be sucking the supplies of oil, steel and concrete from the rest of the suppliers, so look for those items to be even higher here at home.
You can't build something to withstand a 7.9 quake
You can build something that doesn't collapse in a 7.9 quake, there is all sorts of interesting engineering in this area.
But the issue isn't single family homes, that wasn't the problem. It was large public and private buildings. Why were concrete schools built that are 4-5 stories tall in the first place? This area of China is not very dense and its known to have quakes. These buildings collapsed because they are junk and were built as cheap as possible.
Corruption happens in this country too, but we have better ways of dealing with it - democracy. This is the fundamental problem in China the party leaders have problems managing everyone below them and do not let the public have a real say in matters. Yet the public act as a sort of check/balance on local corruption.
I'm thinking you don't know much about China .
You are "thinking" very wrong. I have been a China watcher for many decades, lived there for a year in 1983, have traveled throughout China many times since and have many friends living in that region.
Just as I thought, you are reading from the "It is well known.." book. Very sad.
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