The end of the World 2011/2012 or Vulnerable Societies

I have heard that the world is coming to an end on May 21, 2011 and also December 21 2012. The recent earthquakes in Haiti, Japan and Chile, strong hurricanes, Tsunamis seems to suggest that something is coming. Is it true or not??

I think not. Earthquakes are common occurrences near plate boundaries. All of the major Earthquakes in the recent 7 years have occurred along plate boundaries. Japan and Chile are along major areas of convergent plates and Earthquakes are common along these plates. Big earthquakes can happen in these areas. These countries try to prepare for the unpredictable event. Recent earthquake in Kobe Japan and Chile show that the infrastructure damage was there but the fatalities were kept to a minimum. However, a very large Earthquake which generates a Tsunami is extremely hard to prepare for.

Haiti on the other hand, had lots of pressure building up on transform boundaries with the last earthquake occurring nearly 250 years ago. Haiti had no institutional memory of a large earthquake. There were no drill and very little building codes that were put in place for a moderately strong Earthquake. Most of the fatalities occurred because of poorly constructed buildings with little reinforced steel. There were warnings in 2008 that a 7.0 Magnitude earthquake was likely along the main fault line that runs south of port au prince. But because Earthquakes are unpredictable that could mean next month or 10 years from now. At present the stress remains on the fault line and another major Earthquake is expected to impact Port Au Prince in the near future.

So this brings me to the question about vulnerable societies. Should you building cities and towns in vulnerable areas-- such as Port Au Prince (20 km from a main fault line), or New Orleans (below sea level) where hazards such as Earthquakes or Hurricanes are likely to impact these regions sooner or later?? If you build them, should you put in the proper infrastructure and create hazard maps for these regions so that everyone (from the homeowner to the emergency management team) is aware of what is possible. What do you do about the poor, elderly and handicapped that live in these regions???? What do you do about building codes?
Who carries the costs of making these areas safer?

As the population continues to increase in vulnerable zones, especially, urban areas the natural hazards when they occur --- and they will--- will be associated with disasters. So whether it is 2011 or 2012 or 2020 we can expect more damage and more fatalities in hazardous zones unless we begin to respect the power of these hazards and the lack of flexibility that we really have in dealing with these hazards of mother Earth.