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Rising From the Ruins (Historically, Natural disasters have been engines of economic growth)
Wall Street Journal ^ | 01/16/2010 | Kevin Rozario

Posted on 01/17/2010 7:19:46 AM PST by SeekAndFind

The earth shuddered. According to an American observer, "every Building rolled and jostled like a Ship at Sea; which put in Ruins almost every House, Church, and Publick Building, with an incredible Slaughter of the Inhabitants." Fires broke out all across the city, and the river rose 20 feet, breaking its banks and engulfing the lower elevations. It was Nov. 1, 1755, and without warning, Lisbon, capital of the Portuguese empire, became a wasteland. Earthquake, fire and flood left 15,000 people dead (reports at the time mistakenly put the number at 50,000); 17,000 of the city's 20,000 homes were destroyed.

The scale of the calamity shocked the Western world. It demanded a response, and an explanation. Aid arrived from many nations; explanations were harder to agree upon. Clerics in this Age of the Inquisition described the calamity as an act of God, a judgment for the sins of the people. Fashionable thinkers attempted to explain the earthquake as a blessing in disguise, part of God's benevolent design wherein everything happened for the best.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: disasters; earthquake; ruins
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But the French philosopher Voltaire denounced both views. Could any survivor be expected to be consoled by the fact that "the heirs of those who have perished will increase their fortune; masons will earn money by rebuilding the houses"? He cared nothing for divine designs, his sympathy lay with the victims, and the only truly ethical response to the Lisbon earthquake was to act, to repair bodies and buildings, and to study nature all the better to protect ourselves against nature's harms. Like London after the great fire of 1666, cities had been rebuilt, and often improved, after past calamities. But Voltaire turned this into a modern moral imperative. A civilization worthy of its name should pay special heed to disasters, learn from the mistakes they revealed, and harness intelligence, science and sympathy to make a more secure world. This was the project of modernity.

What he did not expect was that Lisbon would itself rise so triumphantly from the rubble. Employing the absolute power of the monarchy and the resources of empire, the Marquis de Pombal built a new metropolis with earthquake-proof buildings, wide thoroughfares and a sewer system. Merchants had braced themselves for businesses failures and the decline of their fortunes. But Pombal turned one of the worst natural disasters in European history into an occasion for modernization. The lesson was clear, and it was one that would resonate down through the centuries: With the right intervention, catastrophes presented extraordinary opportunities to make improvements.

1 posted on 01/17/2010 7:19:46 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

SOME OF THE WORLD's GREATEST DISASTERS THAT HAVE BEEN ENGINES OF DEVELOPMENT AND GROWTH :



The Great Fire of London, 1666.
The Great Earthquake of Lisbon 1775
The Great Tokyo Earthquake of 1923
San Francisco 1906
Tangshan, China 1976
The Great Fire of Chicago, 1871
2 posted on 01/17/2010 7:25:08 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

The Worst Natural Disasters that have hit the USA in the past 100 Years ( According to POPULAR MECHANICS) :

1906: San Francisco Earthquake Fire

When a magnitude 7.8 quake rumbled from the San Andreas Fault to the working-class center of town, continuous explosions formed a lurid tower of smoke throughout the city. But the first of our 10 Worst Disasters of the Century teaches the lessons of reconstruction—and set the foundation for a century of earthquake research to come.

1910: The Big Burn

A rainless summer, bizarre winds and sudden lightning merged hundreds of fires into a great inferno, leaving firefighters to fend off the Big Blowup with buckets of water and their bare hands. By the time the second of our 10 Worst Disasters of the Century was put out, the wildfires had claimed 185 lives, but also sparked a debate that burns to this day. on to Blame in Latest Wildfires?

1918: Spanish Flu Pandemic

More deadly than the World War unfolding alongside it, the virus wiped out America’s young and healthy and, by the time our troops had carried it across the pond, took out 50 million people worldwide. The good news from the third of our 10 Worst Disasters of the Century? We’ve finally decoded it, and it’s still teaching scientists how to prepare.

1925: Tri-State Tornado

The longest, deadliest twister in American history (and the fourth of our 10 Worst Disasters of the Century) whipped through four states, flattening 15,000 homes and killing nearly 700 people. But, at a time when forecasters weren’t even allowed to speak of tornadoes, the disaster’s toll was matched by its social impact: increased public awareness.

1938: The New England Hurricane

With weather radar and satellite technology still decades away, 120-mph winds and two-story-tall waves whipped vulnerable northern cities with equal fury. Despite taking nearly 1700 lives and leaving 63,000 homeless, the fifth of our 10 Worst Disasters of the Century still helps dense urban centers such as New York prepare for the next

1964: The Great Alaskan Earthquake

The magnitude 9.2 quake was just the start of it. Underwater landslides gave way to several local tsunamis that destroyed coastlines from British Columbia to California. After a massive rebuilding effort, the sixth of our 10 Worst Disasters of the Century has led to round-the-clock seismic monitoring.

1974: Super Tornado Outbreak

Three weather patterns combined to form a backbreaking 148 twisters across 13 states, wreaking 15 hours of havoc upon the central and eastern U.S. and claiming 1330 lives. But the seventh of our 10 Worst Disasters of the Century brought about the modern tornado measurement system—and lots of cash for cyclone preparedness.

1980: Mount St. Helens Eruption

One last earthquake turned the sleeping giant loose, and soon 230 sq. mi. of lush forest was entombed in a lunar wasteland. Fifty-seven fatalities and $1 billion of damage later, the eighth—and perhaps most famous—of our 10 Worst Disasters of the Century is now considered the dawn of American earthquake science—and a jumping off point for GPS.

1993: Storm of the Century

With unimaginable amounts of powder dumping down across the eastern U.S., the Storm of the Century just kept on coming—snowfall records, tornadoes, 2.5 million people without power. Post-blizzard finger pointing led to better communication, but the ninth of our 10 Worst Disasters of the Century had its ultimate impact in prediction. Click

2005: Hurricane Katrina

The freshest in our collective consciousness of the 10 Worst Disasters of the Century, Katrina remains as horrifying as it is instructing. In the context of 100 years of tragedy wrought by Mother Nature, the Category 5 hurricane and its aftermath can teach us just as much as we learned in its immediate aftermath.


3 posted on 01/17/2010 7:31:23 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Broken Window Fallacy.

Next.


4 posted on 01/17/2010 7:36:29 AM PST by Arthur McGowan (In Edward Kennedy's America, federal funding of brothels is a right, not a privilege.)
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To: SeekAndFind

2005: Hurricane Katrina

The freshest in our collective consciousness of the 10 Worst Disasters of the Century, Katrina remains as horrifying as it is instructing. In the context of 100 years of tragedy wrought by Mother Nature, the Category 5 hurricane and its aftermath can teach us just as much as we learned in its immediate aftermath.

####

Katrina taught us the importation of LOCATION in considering natural disasters.

When the ground zero population is a nest of chip-on-shoulder entitlement, for whom the basic concepts of self-reliance, forethought, planning, sacrifice and personal responsibility are not even on the radar screen, the magnitude of the disaster is multiplied exponentially.


5 posted on 01/17/2010 7:38:12 AM PST by EyeGuy
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To: EyeGuy

Haiti was the poorest nation on Earth anyway, a disaster couldn’t make it any worse and anything can make it better. Basically that makes this entire thread a waste of time.


6 posted on 01/17/2010 7:40:27 AM PST by Oshkalaboomboom
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To: SeekAndFind

We hear the stories of places that literally rose from the ashes after a disaster or fire or earthquake. We do not hear the stories of cities abandoned after wars, depopulated after a fire and not bothered to be rebuilt, the tsunami that killed everyone and no one was left to return.


7 posted on 01/17/2010 7:41:35 AM PST by tbw2 (Freeper sci-fi - "Humanity's Edge" - on amazon.com)
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To: EyeGuy

Sorry, but welfare recipients and peons in thug dictatorships do not do well at “rising from the ashes!”


8 posted on 01/17/2010 7:42:05 AM PST by Oldpuppymax (AGENDA OF THE LEFT EXPOSED)
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To: Oldpuppymax

“Sorry, but welfare recipients and peons in thug dictatorships do not do well at “rising from the ashes!”

#####

C’mon they just need more time.

Several years of 100% taxpayer funded life support just isn’t enough.

First such foundational bread-of-life basics as plasma TV’s, cell phones and lottery tickets must be in place....


9 posted on 01/17/2010 7:46:58 AM PST by EyeGuy
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To: SeekAndFind
The character of nations and individuals gets tested by adversity. I am doubtful about if the culture of Haiti will be able to rise to the occasion, but I sincerely hope to be proved wrong. Certainly there must be some very strong willed individuals living in Haiti simply as a result of surviving in such a poverty ridden country, but the culture of Haiti seems broken. There are many countries like the United States that have thrived on adversity and challenge. I think the relative size and prosperity of a country also can effect the resiliency of a nation. It is like the difference between shooting a large heavy adult person with a .25 auto and a small frail sickly child, the former may not even hardly feel it while to the latter it might easily be fatal. I think some countries do have a long to benefit from tragedy as they rebuild while others it just increases the level of long term misery.
10 posted on 01/17/2010 7:48:16 AM PST by dog breath
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To: Oshkalaboomboom

“Haiti was the poorest nation on Earth anyway, a disaster couldn’t make it any worse and anything can make it better. Basically that makes this entire thread a waste of time.”

#####

Maybe.

But I still wanted to state what I thought Katrina “taught us”.


11 posted on 01/17/2010 7:58:12 AM PST by EyeGuy
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To: SeekAndFind
You missed one:

The Election of Barack Obama 2008

12 posted on 01/17/2010 8:05:56 AM PST by Uncle Chip (TRUTH : Ignore it. Deride it. Allegorize it. Interpret it. But you can't ESCAPE it.)
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To: Arthur McGowan

Yup. Were this argument accurate, the fastest way for the USA to get out of its present economic doldrums would be to burn every building in the country.

Somehow I doubt that’s a good idea.


13 posted on 01/17/2010 8:20:35 AM PST by Sherman Logan (Never confuse schooling with education.)
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To: SeekAndFind
Could any survivor be expected to be consoled by the fact that “the heirs of those who have perished will increase their fortune; ...”

About twenty five years there was a program on PBS about how the plague of the 1300s killed off so many people in Europe, the survivors were rich with the gold and silver of the dead. Europe went on a spending splurge that began the Renaissance.

14 posted on 01/17/2010 8:23:13 AM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar (Are my guns loaded? Break in and find out.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Since you included a 1906 event, which is more than 100 years ago, I offer the Galveston hurricane of 1900. Wikipedia says,”The Galveston Hurricane of 1900 is to date the deadliest natural disaster ever to strike the United States.” It killed ~ 8000 people when the population was much less than today.

It was much worse than Katrina.


15 posted on 01/17/2010 8:25:11 AM PST by JeanLM
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To: SeekAndFind
Haiti "Rising From the Ruins"

Though I would agree disasters like this earthquake can lead to a "phoenix like rise" from the ashes for normal places

But I think Haiti is a whole different template. They have several major problems preventing them from having the ability to do so.

They have no real accountable government
They have almost no arable land, their countryside is a wasteland.
They have a serious spiritual problem: voodoo
They have almost no industry to speak of
Their people are dehumanized by decades of living off of others.

Personally I think we should move the UN down there and when they can fix Haiti, the can fix the rest of the world.

16 posted on 01/17/2010 8:28:18 AM PST by Popman (Election 2010: Congress: your pink slips are coming ............... :)
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To: Oshkalaboomboom
Haiti has been a disaster for decades! Money has been thrown at the problem but it just goes down a rat-hole.
Some African Countries are offering land to Haitians,
they should take the offer and migrate.
17 posted on 01/17/2010 8:37:17 AM PST by upcountryhorseman (An old fashioned conservative)
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To: Oshkalaboomboom
Haiti was the poorest nation on Earth anyway, a disaster couldn’t make it any worse and anything can make it better. Basically that makes this entire thread a waste of time.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking - "Rising From the Ruins?" Folks, this is HAITI you're talking about. It has been a ruin for years. Any improvements in infrastructure quickly returned to Nature (as with our aid to them in the '20s and '30s - and ever since). What doesn't rot away from neglect is stolen by the corrupt elites. Combine that with voodoo tainting every religion and you have a recipe for a festering wound that will never heal.

18 posted on 01/17/2010 9:19:55 AM PST by Oatka ("A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves." –Bertrand de Jouvenel)
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To: SeekAndFind

Please add
The Alaska Quake of 1964 and the EXxon Valdez spill of 1987.

Both saved South-sentral from certain economic doom.


19 posted on 01/17/2010 10:46:56 AM PST by ASOC (In case of attack, tune to 640 kilocycles or 1240 kilocycles on your AM dial.)
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To: SeekAndFind
If they can count the 1906 earthquake as being in the last 100 years, then they should go back to 1900 and the Galveston Hurricane. Far worse than Katrina.
20 posted on 01/17/2010 10:52:14 AM PST by hinckley buzzard
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