Communist system at work

[Galaril]

I am not making light of this but my wife is Korean and she was watching the news and noted that it was odd how Florida gets hit by two hurricanes(nearly one was a tropical storm) and no oneis kiled or only a handful but China gets hit by one typhoon of similar strength and 118 people are dead(most likely higher knowing the PRC) and 1800 injuried translated dying.We agreed that of course China doesn't have the infrastructure or Emergency Response Operations like in the US but still geez tell people to look out.I can truly say its times like this and am glad to say boy I sure am happy we are in a somewhat free democratic country as opposed to Mao's pardise.

china typhoon 115 dead 1800 injuried (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=4&u=/ap/20040813/ap_on_re_as/china_storm_8)

hurricane Charley (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=1&u=/ap/20040813/ap_on_re_us/hurricane_charley_24)

[nfg22]

Good point. wow didnt think of that.

[gstelmack]

What about building codes? We also tend to build houses to stand up to these things (much of the damage Andrew did to the Miami area was due to builders NOT following codes).

[Galaril]

I am not a one to stand around singing God Bless America ,am not a neo-conservative and don't continually say how great America is(don't have to I suppose) but I do appreciate life droping me off in a great little corner of the world called the US of A. I have lived overseas for going on 11 years .I will be coming back to the US for good next year and sure do feel lucky.So, when ever the I hate America or America is shit crowd start bitching back home they should think about this kind of stuff.Just to clarify I often will be the first to criticize the government when they f%$# up like recently(IMHO) but never forgot where I come from.Just some thoughts to ponder. :)

[Daimyo]

I was just in the area that was hit by the typhoon a little over 2 months ago. Its like a totally different world in the rural areas. Even if sufficient communication is possible no one in the rural areas owns a car so that makes escape difficult. Also one thing I noticed that is very different is that the rural homes tend to be multifamily units that are three or four stories high, but about the same width as rural american homes (probably because they have four times the people)... I highly doubt they're very stable in the face of a typhoon or earthquake.

I think its silly to imply that the Chinese government willfully kept critical information from the people about this. And the think about "Mao's pardise" is kind of funny... he'd probably be rolling over in his grave if he saw the post-Deng Xiaopeng "free market socialism" China.

[Franklinnoble]

God likes America better.

[Galaril]

Sorry, actually you are right China is far from a Maoist dream and I didn't mean to imply the Chinese government was withholding critcal information from its citizens.But who gets blamed if peopel die in a country sometimes noone I know shit happens but try to explain that to the 115 dead peoples' families.Actually, I am sure the Chinese government thinks about its citzens well being all the time (1989 for example at tiananmen square).

[Qwikshot]

God likes America better.
God is an American.
God is an American.


I'm afraid of Americans, I'm afraid of the world.
I'm afraid I can't help it. I'm afraid I can't...

[Desnudo]

The same stuff happens all over the world in underdeveloped countries. India is one that easily comes to mind. Typhoons can kill tens of thousands in low lying areas.

[Crapshoot]

actaully Bangladesh is the worst affected country in the world by it- its essentialy at or below sea level, and gets ravaged by cyclones every year..

[tategter]

What about building codes? We also tend to build houses to stand up to these things (much of the damage Andrew did to the Miami area was due to builders NOT following codes).

^ ^
What he said.

My one-year-old home could withstand a pretty sizable hurricane here in the Florida panhandle. Unlike most empoverished countries whos citizens seem to all live in houses/shacks that Horatio Sanz could knock-over after eating a bowl of bean dip.

Americans also tend to build with natural disasters in mind. When I lived in SoCal houses were built out of materials like stucco to have a better chance of surviving an earthquake. In the midwest people live in trailerhomes because of tornatos (wait, scratch that).

[ISiddiqui]

China is communist? I actually thought they were pretty damned capitalist :D.

[Franklinnoble]

Anybody else read the title of this thread and think, "Hmm... must be another story about Coffee Warlord's workplace..."