Earthquake hits Sumatra

What do you get when you live in an earthquake zone? Earthquakes!!! Indonesia had a big one today in west Sumatra and according to the BBC, 70 people are dead. Its kind of like when people who live in a flood plain, complain about getting flooded, its only a matter of time.

In the past I have voiced my oppostion to big ugly grey cement buildings being built in Bali. They are ugly and dangerous, as an earthquake will damage most of them. After living on the west coast of the US, where all the buildings are either made of wood, or have a wood frame, I find it amazing that people in Bali, including ‘bules‘ build houses out of concrete and bricks. Its a receipe for disaster that will be cooked more often as global warming combines with denser populations.

As far as I know there is no damage in Bali, but Bali will get its turn sometime in the future. Let’s hope building methods improve and this kind of event is reduced to an inconvenience.