Thursday, January 23, 2014

Is Life In Nanaimo All This Risky?

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
H. L. Mencken

Local Daily Paints Pretty Scary Picture

The above stories are based in fact of some kind. Is the picture of the risk painted by living in Nanaimo as high as you might conclude from reading them? Are the headlines just designed to sell papers? Are they reports and opinions put out by bureaucrats in the interest of their own job security. Are they marketing ploys by insurance companies wanting us to be stampeded to the disaster insurance counter? Or is much of this the result of high level lobbying by the engineering and construction firms who run out of work unless they can condemn and rebuild existing buildings?

If a bad earthquake hits could our buildings fail? Of course. If the dams burst, could we drown? Of course. If a truck or rail car carrying hazardous cargo blows up, do we have a big problem? Of course.If an asteroid struck the city, would we all be toast? Of course. If I get hit by a bus, am I in peril? Of course.

Question?

How much time and emotional energy should I put into pondering the possible outcome of any of the above events? What is the probability of any of these events happening? Remember those scary dams in Harewood, in their present state have a 1:500 year chance of failure, and a 1:3000 year chance of failure. Now, really, is that peril something we need to be making all this fuss about? Or should we just get on with another enjoyable day, living in the best city, in the best part of Canada doing our little part to improve upon that?

Just Send Henny Penny Packin'


allvoices

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