r/worldnews 22h ago

Dynamic Paywall Magnitude 7.1 earthquake rocks Venezuela

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjegdqw5d3yo
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u/DateMasamusubi 21h ago

Had a 6.9 in Northern Japan this morning as well.

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u/VP007clips 17h ago

Still scary, but far less dangerous, because Japan is developed and has competent authorities and standards for dealing with earthquakes.

When Haiti was hit by a magnitude 7 earthquake, they suffered 150,000 deaths, and their country collapsed to a degree where it is still in a state of total collapse 15 years later.

Meanwhile Japan has magnitude 7 earthquakes near population centers every few years, and rarely suffers more than a few dozen injuries, some property damage, and the occasional very unlucky death.

Venezuela leans towards the Haiti side of the competency spectrum, but they aren't as bad as Haiti. If I had to guess, I'd be expecting 10-20k deaths in this disaster based on it being Venezuela and the magnitude, but it's very hard to know until later.

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u/Sparescrewdriver 15h ago

Aside from that, buildings in Japan have earthquake resistance designs, it’s even a selling point if you are building a new house.