Hope Amid Despair

Khin Maung Win / AFP /Getty Images

Downed power lines are strewn along a street of Yangon

Catastrophes often have a double affect on those blessed enough to survive them. First, there is a numbness as the scale of horror sinks in. But then comes action, as the lucky ones turn to doing what they can to help the less fortunate, and, in time, to ameliorate the conditions that gave rise to disaster in the first place. This second reaction isn't just a personal one — that of neighbors trying to assist those who have been harmed. It can extend to an examination of whole systems of government. The Mexico City earthquake of 1985 was the...

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