Century completed

A century ago, on this day, April 18, 1906, the residents of San Francisco experienced one of their worst nightmares......an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale. The 'Great San Francisco Earthquake' or the 'Great Fire' as it is popularly known, it was one of the most devastating earthquakes in California's history and resulted in an estimated loss of 3000 lives.

While reading about the SF quake today, I remembered my experience with earthquakes when one had struck Latur in late 1993 ( September i guess). We were almost getting ready to evacuate our house in the middle of the night when the tremors stopped. The next one was on 26 Jan 2001, India's republic day, at Bhuj. Well, this time I was in the bath :) and couldn't understand whether it was an earthquake or just me feeling giddy.

Anyways, with various ways to detect earthquakes and measure them, the question is, are we really safe today? In a country like the US, which is mostly ahead of other countries in terms of technological advances and innovations, how safe are we ?? In India, mostly buildings are built using bricks, but out here, the apartments, that atleast we students stay in, have wooden floors and hollow walls. Would they be able to sustain an earthquake?? What about the skyscrapers which are so prominent in the downtowns of any of the major cities?? And is the US of A an earthquake prone region ???

Well, I wouldn't be giving you the answers to these questions but you can read and analyse for yourself about the situation of the US currently. Check this article. After reading it, I wonder, that if this is the state in the US, then what about the buildings back home ???

Anyways, natural disasters can almost never be predicted but the after-effects are undoubtedly felt by all. On this day, I'd just pray that none of us ever get to experience a natural disaster and that there never are any !!! However, natural disasters are out of our control, but what we humans can do, is to reduce man-made disasters. One incident that immediately pops in my mind is the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, coz at the moment, some of the survivors have gone on a hunger-strike at New Delhi asking the Government for help and relief. Anyways, let's just wait and watch for the outcome.

As of now, I'd just say that there are many worse and bigger problems, than our daily ones, that we could face in our lives. So, its better to just live life as it comes without grumbling and keep smiling :) Remember,

Life is good, without it we'd all be dead.
-Hannah

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