The Earthquake In Chile, Any lessons that can be learned?

The earthquake in Chile, an 8.8 on the Richter magnitude scale, which is 500 to a 1000 times stronger than the 7.0 that struck Haiti (the multiplication factor is different because it depends on which expert the press was interviewing at the time ). While there are other factors that affected the damage and lost of life in each country I think there are also some political and economic factors that also should be considered.

It is being reported that President Obama called President Bachelet of Chile and offered Chile assistance. She said thank you, we'll get back to you if we need anything.

Differences between Chile and Haiti

References:
Wikipedia: Chile
Chile from The World Fact Book @ CIA.gov

Wikipedia: Haiti
Haiti from The World Fact Book @ CIA.gov

Government

Chile: competent (at times some would say too competent), properly funded, and prepared. Building codes and inspections that are required and enforced due to the seismic history of the region.

Haiti: incompetent, corrupt, and any funding bled off into the pockets of corrupt officials and politicians. Building codes and inspections either non-existent or can be bypassed with a few bribes to the right official(s).

Economic

Chile: A dedicated and motivated people with a thriving middleclass.

Haiti: 80% of the population living under the poverty line and 54% in abject poverty

I would suggest that poverty and corrupt government are two of the major factors contributing to the number of deaths and injuries in any natural disasters. For closer to home example look at the difference between the State and Local government responses of Mississippi and Louisiana during Hurricane Katrina. Mississippi took the direct brunt of the storm, New Orleans and Louisiana had lesser effects yet it has received the most attention from the Press, the "goody two shoes" and the Federal government. Why is this happening/required? Because of poverty and corrupt/incompetent local and state government (a lot of the poverty is because of corrupt/incompetent local and state government).

Agreed. And because of that corrupt govt, Haitian people suffered massively and Chilean people weathered the natural disaster as well as can be expected. I hope for the Haitians to find that "Chilean" independence and fight for their country.

I love the fact that the President of Chile basically said, "thanks but we got it"....

Jillian

Billions for Haiti, a criticism for every dollar

A case of "too many chiefs and not enough indians"?

Meanwhile in Chile.

Poll: Chileans unhappy with gov't's quake response