Monday, February 2, 2009

Quarter 3: Natural Disasters

In China, there was a big argument going on online about if earthquakes can be predicted. Most scientist would say no, but many believe that nature provided enough warning for the people of Mianzhu, to be saved from the disastrous earthquake. Many bloggers are questioning if the government did not care enough to react to the signs. Four people eventually were arrested for spreading rumors online about the government. Many believe also that the order of the country and the luck it has is linked to the leader at that time. So, the current leaders of China are encouraged to keep an eye on past events. For the earthquake protection, seismological scientists are hired to try to predict upcoming earthquakes. But as known, it is a very difficult task to do since there is no way of know exactly when a natural disaster is about to hit. Many people believe that the seismological scientist are a waste of taxpayer money. This situation in China is much like the one in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and believe that the city could have evacuated the city better and also handled the disaster better.

Jacobs, Andrew. "Superstitions About Quake Meet the Web, Irritating the Chinese Authorities". The New York Times. 16 May 2008. 1 February 2009 .
Read this article here

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