Unlike Haiti, Chile's Infrastructure Stands Up to Worse Earthquake

GlobeTracker| “When you look at the architecture in Chile you see buildings that have damage, but not the complete pancaking that you’ve got in Haiti,” said Cameron Sinclair, executive director of Architecture for Humanity, a 10-year-old nonprofit that has helped people in 36 countries rebuild after disasters. via Huffington Post

Even though the energy released in Chile was 501 times stronger than in Haiti, the damage and death toll are far less.

“On a per-capita basis, Chile has more world-renowned seismologists and earthquake engineers than anywhere else,” said Brian E. Tucker, president of GeoHazards International, a nonprofit organization based in Palo Alto, California.

Haiti has no building code.

With the National Palace collapsed and communications knocked off the air by the earthquake, most Haitians didn’t know whether their president Rene Preval was alive or dead for at least a day after the earthquake. By comparison Chile’s president Michelle Bachelet was giving minute-to-minute reports.

Read on: CHILE EARTHQUAKE 2010: Why the Haiti Earthquake Wasn’t As Strong, but Far More Devastating