While media have been fixated with the devastation of the recent earthquake in Haiti, which up to this writing has now tallied some 50,000 deaths, many have attributed the destructive loss of lives to many other peripheral causes, including the absurd ("pact with the devil").
What has hardly been mentioned is WHY Haiti's impoverishment had made her disproportionately vulnerable to human life losses in such natural calamities.
From Professor Boudreaux of Cafe Hayek says it best: [all bold emphasis mine]
``The ultimate tragedy in Haiti isn’t the earthquake; it’s that country’s lack of economic freedom.
``Registering 7.0 on the Richter scale, the Haitian earthquake killed tens of thousands of people. But the quake that hit California’s Bay Area in 1989 was also of magnitude 7.0. It killed only 63 people.
``This difference is due chiefly to Americans’ greater wealth. With one of the freest economies in the world, Americans build stronger homes and buildings, and have better health-care and better search and rescue equipment. In contrast, burdened by one of the world’s least-free economies, Haitians cannot afford to build sturdy structures. Nor can they afford the health-care and emergency equipment that we take for granted here in the U.S.
``These stark facts should be a lesson for those who insist that human habitats are made more dangerous, and human lives put in greater peril, by freedom of commerce and industry."
Let me add that the Philippines should be a more worthwhile in comparison.
We suffered from an even more destructive quake in July 16, 1990 which according to wikipedia.org registered 7.8 and resulted to an estimated 1,621 deaths
The Philippines has a per capita of $920.19 (ranked 106th according to nationmaster.com) almost double that of Haiti $480.52 (ranked 126th).
And by economic freedom, the Philippines is way up the list at 104th according to Heritage Foundation, compared to Haiti's 147th spot.
In short, capital or wealth generated from economic freedom has indeed been a key factor in reducing the risks of higher casualty toll from natural calamities.
As Ludwig von Mises wrote, ``It is fashionable nowadays to pass over in silence the fact that all economic betterment depends on saving and the accumulation of capital. None of the marvelous achievements of science and technology could have been practically utilized if the capital required had not previously been made available. What prevents the economically backward nations from taking full advantage of all the Western methods of production and thereby keeps their masses poor, is not unfamiliarity with the teachings of technology but the insufficiency of their capital."
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