As usual, Thomas Sowell nails a perfect 10 with this column today, comparing the destruction of the earthquake in Iran with the earthquake in California. Why is it that the natural disasters that claim terrible numbers of lives almost always occur in poor countries? Sowell observes that it’s because with more wealth, you can do far more to avoid disasters, and to deal with them when they occur.
One of the silliest comments I’ve heard in a long time was a TV talking head saying that the loss of life in Iran was due to the fact that they don’t have modern building codes there. Even if they did, the problem is that they could not afford to rebuild their cities according to California standards. Think about the Chicago fire of 1871. It couldn’t happen under today’s conditions, but back in 1871, wooden buildings were all that most people could afford.
While politicians like to take the credit for “making things safer” all of their codes, standards, and regulations are of miniscule impact compared to the advances in safety, in construction and many other ways, that come about as a natural result of increasing wealth in society.
