“Good Friday Earthquake at Turnagain Arm.” Image: wikimedia.

Nepal, struck by a 7.8 earthquake, has suffered a predictable disaster: we know where earthquakes will occur, just not when. Uncertainty and danger have occasioned innovations in history including atomic energy, and space exploration. Improved construction standards proved successful during Chile’s 2010 temblor. Could a recent proposal by Jeffrey D. Sachs, of the Earth Institute, for disaster insurance lead the way to a safer future for the world? Can failure lead to success?

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.