30,000 Reported Dead in Earthquake

Pakistani authorities report that 30,000 people have perished in the earthquake that has devastated parts of Pakistan, India and Afghanistan. That must be, at best, a very crude estimate that could be wildly off in either direction.
A large majority of earthquake fatalities and injuries occur because buildings collapse. In one horrifying instance in Pakistan, 250 girls died and another 500 were injured when their school collapsed. In developed countries like the United States, earthquakes take far less of a human toll because of superior construction techniques. This is one of countless instances where prosperity, which is so often and so unfairly maligned, saves lives. Here’s another: I haven’t seen the statistics, but I’m sure someone has figured out how many people in the developed world are saved from entirely preventable deaths by the water quality that we take for granted. The figure is undoubtedly in the millions.
There is no mystery to sound construction and clean water; the only requirement is prosperity. And the only requirement for prosperity is freedom. This isn’t the most important reason why our foreign policy should be centered on promoting freedom abroad, but it is certainly on the list. Helping promote free enterprise in the underdeveloped world will do far more good than any amount of foreign aid.
Via Power Line News.

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