The Thin Line between Codes & Damage

Last week central China was devastated by a 7.9-magnitude earthquake and as of today the death toll has reached over 50,000. It's an absolute mess with 3.5 million homes destroyed, roads blocked and bridges demolished. Chinese engineers point out that much of the destruction can be blamed on ineptitude when it comes to the loose enforcement of building codes.

Unfortunately it's usually the poor that suffer the most. In the larger cities areas closer to downtown were left more intact while poorer, residential areas just outside were scenes of death and destruction. This was especially true when it came to older buildings like elementary schools. Though at this point there is no direct evidence that the buildings collapsed because they were not brought up to code, parents are asking why the government buildings survived the quake while their children are buried in the rubble of the schools.

Here in the United States we've had our share of catastrophes. However, we are very fortunate that even major storms lead to relatively low amounts of fatalities and damage when compared to China's devastating earthquake because of our stringent enforcement of building codes and safety regulations.