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Corruption kills, according to a report that says bribes and covert cost-cutting in the construction industry are fuelling the growing death toll of earthquakes.
The study, published Wednesday to coincide with the anniversary of Haiti's devastating quake, "found that corrupt societies have the largest death tolls from earthquakes."
I find some delicious irony here. In the boring interpretation, it has been found (in hindsight) that all the buildings tumbled down because of corruption (French Cheesy Concrete, etc). Earthquakes have a tendency to expose all the things swept under the carpet and covered by the wallpaper.
Now, this leaves the probability of entire corrupt cities which haven't yet been yanked by an earthquake! What if there is an earthquake, and there is a ridiculous amount of damage for the ground motions. Does this define corruption? (You know whom I'm talking about!).
What if a known corrupt city (with good food) is hanging around waiting for an earthquake? Can we estimate the probable damage by looking at the financial health of the local mafia? These are important issues that should be studied! :)
1 comment:
Should make Vancouverites a bit nervous.
That leaky condo crisis showed that regulators, architects, inspectors and builders are pretty lackadaisical, and that accountability enforced by governments or courts is not easy to get.
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