Massive Earth Quake in China

[Adam Smith]

Many houses are ramshackle affairs, poorly constructed of brick, tile, stone, or cinderblock. Casualties are likely to be quite high as rescuers work their way back into the more rural areas.

[Adam Smith]

Though most places have electricity, many villages are still accessible only by footbridge.

[Adam Smith]

The road system is not very well developed, and logistics will clearly be a problem. Most bridges and tunnels are only one lane, and are open to uphill traffic for even numbered hours, and downhill traffic for odd numbered hours. Most roads are one and a half lanes wide. When large vehicles meet traffic jams such as this can develop. It is not uncommon for the drivers to get out and do “rock, paper, scissors” to determine who has to back up to the last wide spot in the road. It took us five hours to travel about 120 km (about 75 miles) in good weather.

[Theben]

I didn't know Adam Smith was still around.

[Theben]

Originally posted by Colon™

When the authorithies screwed up... Maybe they should have regulated earthquakes like they regulate reincarnations, but other than that there isn't much they can be blamed for.

They could be blamed for poor construction codes...

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Colon™
When the authorithies screwed up... Maybe they should have regulated earthquakes like they regulate reincarnations, but other than that there isn't much they can be blamed for.

Building codes?

edit: mitigated by the fact that this area seems to be primarily rural

edit2: damn you, tbns

[Theben]

[One_more_turn]

Building codes don't exist in rural China. Even if there are any, people would not abide by them because it would make homes way too expensive.

[SlowwHand]

They've proved that safety doesn't count, countless times.

[SlowwHand]

18,000 feared buried in city near epicenter
Official China death toll at nearly 12,000, but likely to rise; rescuers hampered by storms and destroyed roads

"In city near epicenter, but likely to rise."
That's not rural or anywhere else. That's a city.

[DanS]

Thanks for the pics, AS.

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by DanS
Thanks for the pics, AS.

[One_more_turn]

The destuction is truly immense. It also exposes how dangerous China's buildings are in earthquakes. Since much of China's population live along fault lines, this event will soon have major repercussions for the economy.

[Lul Thyme]

Originally posted by One_more_turn
Since much of China's population live along fault lines, this event will soon have major repercussions for the economy.

How will many Chinese living near fault lines make this event soon have major repercussions on the economy?

[One_more_turn]

First of all, destruction of whole cities begs rebuilding on a massive scale.

Second, people will demand change in the way buildings are constructed. Instead of bricks and raw concrete, different materials will be used. Can you imagine how new constructions for hundreds of millions of people would affect the world economy and commodity prices?