UPDATE: Little hope for Philippine quake survivors

[jettakd]

Rescue officials say hope is fading in search for 71 people still missing in landslides triggered by powerful quake.

Comments

[13chapters]

:( When I was in the Philippines in 2010, several people my group (we were there for a research project) that a UN report on natural disasters named the Philippines the most disaster-prone nation on earth. It's frustrating because a lot of deaths could be prevented with adequate infrastructure.

I got my tax refund a couple days ago, so I'm glad to say that I can contribute a few dollars to the recovery effort.

[hohaiyee]

Speaking of infrastructure...

During the earthquake in Sichuan, schools crumbled like shaken sawdust, killing most or all of the children inside. The government buildings however...were fine. It was exposed and then the spread of the news was cracked down on, that a lot of construction of schools and other public buildings were crap due to corruption, money being pocketed and made up for by using cheaper materials.

[13chapters]

Yeah, I've heard about that. :( So horrible. I'm from California, so I know about life under the constant potential of earthquakes, and I'm glad that people here tend to take seismic safety really seriously. I lived in the Balkans (where they do have earthquakes periodically) in this incredibly poorly built house for a couple years and I was pretty paranoid that there would be a quake and my house would collapse.

[serendipity_15]

Do not even get me started on basic infrastructure or lack there of. I mean, this a country where not even the private hospitals have all the medication needed and if you happen to need medication you don't have your family has to go out and buy it THEMSELVES. And my parents wonder why I never want to live there...

[tabaqui]

So damn horrible. To have everything and everyone just...gone, in an instant. I hope they do find as many alive as is possible.