The Once and Future Quake.

“Earth, that living, seething, often inhospitable and not altogether intelligently designed thing, has again shrugged, and tens of thousands of Pakistanis are dead…Americans reeling from Hurricane Katrina, and warned of scores of millions of potential deaths from avian flu, have a vague feeling — never mind the disturbing rest of the news — of pervasive menace from things out of control. Too vague, according to Simon Winchester.” In light of the horrifying calamity in Pakistan this past weekend (as well as Katrina and the tsunami), George Will peruses Simon Winchester’s new book on the San Francisco earthquake of 1906.

5 thoughts on “The Once and Future Quake.”

  1. Geologic events are unpredictable. Hurricanes are not. Linking weather phenomena with global seismic activity seems too “Day after Tomorrow.” As a veteran of several quakes and a native to the Golden State, I have to say that I’m often shocked at how uninformed people are about seismic activity in their own backyards.

    I’ve been waiting for part of my home state to fall into the ocean for a good twenty years. My family home will probably be beach front property afterwards.

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