Watching the news all week about the horrible effects of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria got me thinking. I have witnessed plenty of earthquakes here in California, and it seems to me that earthquakes are not so horrible as our earth just rolls with them. Trees do not fall, streams keep running and even in the most severe case, the earth may shift a little with little harm to the natural order.
If we lived in tents, huts, a lean-to, yurts, treehouses, or even simple wood or bamboo structures we would hardly care. The problem arises when we live in concrete boxes, stacked on top of each other. It is not natural, and a strong earthquake illustrates just how unnatural it is.
Prehistoric humans had much more to fear from fire and flood than earthquakes. Through out our history, this is a new fear, and one that we chose to create whether intentional or not. I wish there was a way to undo our mistakes. When a hurricane or flood destroys your home, hopefully you move to higher ground. When fires burn out of control, you clear the brush near your home. But what do you do if you live in a poor city full of high-rise apartments? This is a harder question. It is not the first deadly quake Turkey has seen nor will it be the last. For now, we can help the survivors with food and sleeping bags, but what next?
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