Time Asia — October 10, 2017

TIME October 9, 2017

VERBATIM

‘We can make

it harder. We

can make it a

lot harder. And

that’s what

we’re going to

do.’

MARK ZUCKERBERG,

Facebook CEO, vowing

to take steps to reduce

election interference

after the social network

revealed that Russian

government agents had

bought some 3,

political ads that ran

during the 2016 U.S.

presidential election

The View

1991, the country launched an early-warning
system—the first in the world and one that has
been emulated by countries like Japan. Thanks to
sirens and smartphones, thousands of individuals
were alerted to the impending quake. Some had a
minute to duck and cover, to grab go bags, to locate
their loved ones. Those seconds can mean the
difference between life and death.
Mexico has also instituted a national earthquake
drill program, which residents practiced hours
before this quake. It has put in place regulations
to ensure that building materials can safely bend
and shift during seismic activity, even in different
soil types. Obviously, these methods aren’t perfect,
and they did not prevent the considerable damage
inflicted by the recent quake. But experts agree that
Mexico’s preparedness softened its blow—saving
hundreds of lives in the process.
The U.S. is far more vulnerable. In most cities,
earthquake codes were written to ensure that
people can exit a building before a quake, not so that
the structure can be safely occupied after one. They
also apply solely to new construction, meaning
that if your children go to a school built before a
code’s approval, it could collapse in a significant
quake. And because the U.S. has a scant national
earthquake preparedness program and no early-
warning system, most citizens won’t know when a
quake is coming or what to do when it arrives.
It doesn’t have to be this way. On a local level,
cities can take action, as did Westport, Wash., a
small working-class community on the Olympic
Peninsula. Its residents approved a bond initiative
to build a tsunami refuge atop their elementary
school’s gym. The platform accommodates 2,
people, and kids in the district practice drills; they
can reach the platform in seconds flat. It’s easy to
imagine similar efforts for an earthquake proper.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Geological Survey, with
several universities, is testing the beta version
of an early-warning system for the West Coast,
which would send notifications to individuals,
corporations and government organizations. It’s
technologically possible to make this a national
warning system; what’s missing is congressional
approval. The President’s proposed budget would
prevent the creation of such a network—and
defund current programs like the national tsunami
monitoring system. If his budget is adopted, we
would lose crucial data and infrastructure that can
save untold lives.
And now more than ever, that’s a dangerous
wager to make. Because the question isn’t if a major
quake will occur. It’s a matter of when—and how
tragic it will be.

Miles is the author ofQuakeland: On the Road to
America’s Next Devastating Earthquake

CHARTOON

Ant identification

THERE ARE MANY FACTORS THAT

drove Britain’s centuries-long quest for

world domination. But one of the big-

gest, argues historian Lizzie Collingham

in her new bookThe Taste of Empire,

was a taste for better, more exotic food,

from India’s pepper and tea to Barbados’

sugar. Over time, the pursuit of these

far-flung delicacies

led to large-scale

oppression—

evident not least in

the slave trade—

whose effects still

linger in the ex-

colonies today. But

that’s not all the

British left behind.

As their trade

routes grew bigger

and more complex, they changed the

culinary landscapes of the countries they

touched—introducing African rice to

South Carolina, for example, and curry

to Guyana with the shipping of Indian

labor. In the process, they upended their

domestic diet as well. “By the 1930s, the

wheat to make the working man’s loaf

was supplied by Canada,” Collingham

writes, “and his Sunday leg of lamb

had been fattened on New Zealand’s

grasslands.” —SARAH BEGLEY

BOOK IN BRIEF

The birth of Britain’s

global palate

JOHN ATKINSON, WRONG HANDS