Editorial: Preparing for worst disasters

Friday, Aug. 20, 1999 | 12:34 p.m.

This summer Mother Nature seems bent on reminding us that in spite of all of our scientific advances we are still at her mercy. A heat wave and drought has devastated many areas in the United States. Closer to home, a 100-year flood hit the Las Vegas Valley. But these calamities are eclipsed by the earthquake in Turkey this week, with the death toll more than 10,000 and estimates that at least 33,000 are injured.

While science cannot eliminate natural disasters, technological advances do allow meteorologists to alert people to impending storms. Unfortunately similar advances haven't been made in detecting when earthquakes might occur. However, as is the case with flooding, engineering can lessen the impact earthquakes have. While sizable earthquakes have hit California in the past decade, new building codes have helped dramatically minimize their impact.

In Turkey, the immediate concerns reside with rescue efforts to find survivors, since it is believed as many as 35,000 still may be buried beneath the rubble. Earthquake experts from California are already on their way to Turkey to investigate why some structures are still standing while others collapsed. Many survivors in Turkey are accusing their government of failing to ensure that builders met earthquake codes. While that may be the case, it also is important to determine whether those built to code were damaged, too. If so, this could be important information to be used here in the United States, since major population centers, such as San Francisco and Los Angeles, are prime candidates for catastrophic earthquakes.

Often when disaster strikes there is an initial outpouring of assistance to get people fed and housed. If the area hit is fortunate enough it might also get aid to rebuild. But frequently what happens is that after a week or two the disaster is all but forgotten. What gets lost are possible preventive steps that could be taken to minimize such disasters in the future. At the very least Turkey and other nations prone to earthquakes should reassess their building codes and preparedness in the event disaster strikes again.