Builders Scare Knesset: 'Tens of Thousands Could Die in Quake'

Builders Scare Knesset: 'Tens of Thousands Could Die in Quake'

www.israelnationalnews.com

The Knesset Interior Committee and a subcommittee of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee held a joint session Tuesday morning on the dangers of an upcoming earthquake in Israel and ways to deal with them.

...

The Infrastructures Ministry’s Shapira noted that the most lethal aspect of earthquakes are buildings and the construction deficiencies that lead to their collapse. “An earthquake is not a natural catastrophe, but a man-made one,” he said.

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Related News Links:
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Question: (1) why do they think an earthquake is coming, other than the fact it's been 80 plus years since the last one; and (2) "An earthquake is not a natural catastrophe, but a man-made one." WTF?

He goes on to say “An earthquake of the same magnitude as the one two weeks ago in Haiti or stronger is certain to strike Israel … [and] ‘What happened there will also happen here’.”

Do they know something we the people don't?

Thought I'd post this to see what other ATS'ers think about this.

Is forewarned really forearmed?

www.israelnationalnews.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by Gutterpus


They're just saying that poorly-constructed buildings can potentially turn a problem into a catastrophe.

The Infrastructures Ministry’s Shapira noted that the most lethal aspect of earthquakes are buildings and the construction deficiencies that lead to their collapse. “An earthquake is not a natural catastrophe, but a man-made one,” he said.

On a side-note, the construction of large dams and extensive underground mining can also be the cause of earthquakes. I believe even the construction of very tall buildings can have seismic consequences.

I saw the word "could" alot in the article. They said it was only a matter of time because of the recorded history of past earthquakes and their frequency. The story is about the buildings not being built to withstand a earthquake and the large chance of having one in the near future. Thats what I think.

Here is the situation. A lot of old buildings in Israel were built using poor to nonexistent standards. Due to lots of economical and existential problems.
In case of serious earthquake there would be (not "could") be serious devastation. And this area is prone to serious earthquakes due to geography (Syrian-African ridge). Statistically it is one serious quake/century and it is overdue. So the problem is there and it is known to all.
However those builders (note - not masons but contractors) and their union could get a lot of money in case of massive government-funded program to strengthen old buildings. Thus the scare tactics and making real problem into horror movie. There would not be "tens of thousands" dead. But there would be massive loss of life (few thousand).
So we will see who will win - contractors union and their lobby finally promoting something worthy (to their pocket and strangely others) or ministry of finance. I'll bet on later.

It seems though Israel has already been planning on some major events, even going as far as experiementing with causing earthquakes. See article below.
www.israelnationalnews.com...

It also seems that US DOD is involved with funding.

I'm not saying...I'm just saying.

Originally posted by Gutterpus

The Infrastructures Ministry’s Shapira noted that

... “An earthquake is not a natural catastrophe, but a man-made one,” ...

Myohmy.

Isn't THAT an interesting statement - an earthquake is not natural but man-made.

Seems like the mega-corproations are really getting into it these days. Guess agri-terrorism isn't enough anymore.

S&F btw

Interesting article

I suggest everyone reads this, I just posted it a few hours ago
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Quite an interesting read

reply to post by soficrow


That's what I'm talking about. Why would he say something like that? Maybe he's just mixing words, I don't know. But it's a little weird if you ask me. I mean he could have totally left that statement out. Actually should have.

reply to post by Gutterpus

Again, you should see this from the point of program to strengthen old buildings. He means people do not usually die directly because of earthquake but because usually something falls on them and this something usually is their own home.
And home is built by people. To outline what he says - if (God forbid) same earthquake as in Haiti would happen in Japan - there would be maybe tens of dead due to high standard of building. And people make the building.
Thus earthquake, according to him, is man made catastrophy and not natural one. This sounds stupid, true. But this promotes contractors plan for strengthening old buildings and this is what important in this case, not semantics. This is all there is to it.

Israeli's Earthquake simulation experiment on August 2009.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by ZeroKnowledge


I can appreciate what you say and why you believe this and honestly I think that's what he means as well. My problem is why wouldn't he use those terms in his statement? Why say it's "man made?"

I don't want to believe governments cause these types of calamities, but I'm afraid there's more frightening aspects of our governments than we will ever know.

Attached is a pretty comprehensive research article about historical earthquakes in the Dead Sea basin. On pages 8 and 9 you can see a chart of the historical earthquakes starting with 64 BC. I was actually surprised to see there are not as many as one would think based upon the Knesset Interior Committee fears.

My other concern is why is the US DOD involved in experimenting with earthquakes in the region.

I don't know, got a lot of questions. Anyone have real answers?

earth.huji.ac.il...

reply to post by ModernAcademia


You are right. A very interesting article. I was able to find more about the Russia Navy fleet's accusations. Don't know if I believe it (or want to).

english.pravda.ru...

www.aroundglobe.net...

Originally posted by Gutterpus


Question: "An earthquake is not a natural catastrophe, but a man-made one." WTF?

He means that the biggest risk of death comes form manmade structures collapsing, and our inability to deal quickly with the immediate aftermath.

Imagine how few people would have died in the Haiti earthquake if everyone had lived in straw huts .....

reply to post by soficrow


It would be my guess that he was referring to the poor construction standards leading to massive causulties...that sort of manmade.

I could, of course, be wrong. But I think that's what he meant.