John Hibbs wrote: > Steven Elster wrote: > >> I have written my friend in India, and he says: "there are plenty of >> cell >> phones around here, even in the tiniest villages." He further goes on to >> say that a cell phone earthquake warning system "was in fact in place >> in at least one village here on the southeast coast. They got notice; >> everybody was evacuated in an orderly fashion and not one life was >> lost." > > > Students of earthquakes know only a few things for absolute certain. > They include the fact that if a geographic area has never had an > earthquake, it never will. A good example is Korea.
Which hasn't had an earthquake yet that we know of? One never knows. > > The experts also know that if any area has ever had a shake, it can be > unreservedly assured there will be more. > > What nobody knows is....."when"? > > While I salute, body and soul, the efforts to provide warnings that > can go instantly and affordably to everyone on the planet with a > radio, television, phone or computer, I suggest we be careful about > promises impossible to keep. > > Predicting earthquakes - at least for now - is a fool's game. Umm. As far as I know, I wasn't talking about predicting earthquakes. I leave that to seismologists (who 'didn't know who to call' about the tsunami), but the system by which they warn people is something which can be worked on... Such that it's not dependant on people 'not knowing what phone number to call'). > > Preparing for their aftermath is not. And used in disaster relief when nobody is warned, or even when people were warned. Earthquakes are not the only disasters. In fact, not knowing who to call in an age of so much lauded technology is much more of a disaster, IMHO. If we can't use all this knowledge and technology to save lives, we're pretty much doomed anyway. That's part of what happened, and what has been swept under the rug - conveniently. We may as well go down kicking and screaming, right? -- Taran Rampersad [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.linuxgazette.com http://www.a42.com http://www.worldchanging.com http://www.knowprose.com http://www.easylum.net "Criticize by creating." — Michelangelo _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
