By James Drane



EDITOR’S NOTE — Columnist James Drane has watched news from Chile quite intently recently, as he is familiar with the South American nation and its people. Drane worked with the Pan American Health Organization to establish bioethics disciplines in Latin America 10 years ago. It was decided to base the project in Santiago, Chile. He also spoke at the inauguration ceremonies of the bioethics program, which was attended by the president of Chile and numerous government directors from all South American nations, as well as by presidents of numerous universities. He’s traveled to Chile more than a dozen times in the past 15 years, and after last weekend’s earthquake, he heard from friends who experienced the Earth’s rumbling.

Today, as in his many previous Tribune columns, Professor Drane approaches a major, universal topic from a personal, philosophic and psychological perspective.



First, the earthquake in Haiti. And before that destruction was cleaned up, another earthquake, much more powerful, hit Chile. Both events caused extensive suffering. Why do such things happen? What should be our response?

Americans tend to be a little more familiar with Haiti than they are with Chile. Haiti is one-half of an island in the Caribbean, not far from the U.S. Chile is a Spanish-speaking nation located in the southern half of Latin America, at the opposite end of our planet. Winter here is summer there and vice versa. The country stretches along the edge of the Pacific Ocean from Peru in the north toward the South Pole. To go north for Chileans means to go to a warmer climate. To go south means to confront the freezing weather of Patagonia.

The western edge of the country stretches for 2,600 miles along the Pacific Ocean, similar to but much longer than California. On the eastern border, separating Chile from Argentina, are the enormous Andes Mountains. There are also mountains all along the western Pacific coastline and in the central section of the country. Mountains everywhere reflect a history of powerful geological movements. Besides the snow-capped Andean range, there are volcanoes, glaciers, beaches and forests. In the warm north, there are dry deserts, clear skies and, for this reason, many of the world’s most powerful telescopes. The south is cold and rainy and along the southern coast there are hundreds of islands, many uninhabited.

Most Chileans today are of Spanish origin, but there are also indigenous people. Many German immigrants formed in separate areas and communities. They built their own German-like cities and today still speak German as their first language.

Santiago, the capital, is in the center of this long, thin country. About one third of the population lives in Santiago. The largest city between Santiago and the southern tip of the country is Concepcion, close to where the earthquake was centered. Much of the fruit which we eat in off-seasons in the U.S. comes from farms in the central valley nearby. Wine is another major product of this region.

Chile was a Spanish colony for about 300 years. It gained independence from Spain in the early 1800s. The hero of their war of independence was an Irish general, Bernard O’Higgins. The main street in Santiago is O’Higgins Boulevard. At first, the Irish name sounds shocking but as time passes it even begins to sound Spanish.

Friends feel the jolt

Last weekend’s Chilean earthquake was one of the most powerful in recorded history, with an 8.8 magnitude. The most powerful occurred in the same general area in 1960 (9.5). The shaking reached a friend of mine in Brazil. Another friend living in a new 12-story apartment building hundreds of miles away in Santiago lost his books — which were thrown through windows that fell out on the 11th floor.

Far fewer deaths than in Haiti have occurred because earthquakes in Chile are more frequent and this more developed nation has strict laws for architecture and building safety. Most deaths from earthquakes come not from the shaking Earth but from architectural failures and the collapse of buildings.

The human response to earthquakes and so many deaths is always, “Why?” Some of our questions are directed to science. Science provides important information about the causes of earthquakes and important identifications of places where earthquakes are most likely to occur. The Earth has an outer shell of rock beneath the soil. Movements of this layer of rock are explained by plate tectonics theory.

This rock shell at different levels is unstable. It can shift causing the ground above it to shake and creating an earthquake. The power of a severe earthquake is 10,000 times greater than that of an atomic bomb. When the rock shell shifts and moves beneath the ocean, in a process called subduction, it can cause huge waves called tsunamis which can flood and destroy coastal areas for thousands of miles. Most deaths in Chile were caused by a tsunami.

Approximately 40 earthquakes cause some damage every year somewhere on the planet. Human beings everywhere need good science to protect themselves. Information from geologists can tell where earthquakes are most likely to occur and when they might be expected. Science can help us plan for such events. The God who created both the physical world and intelligent human life can be presumed to expect human beings to use intelligence in order to understand both themselves and the world.

An imperfect world

After science provides its insights there are remaining religious questions. God is spoken of as the Creator, but why did he create human beings and the world the way they are? The truth is, I don’t know. Only fanatic believers claim to know such things. Obviously our planet is material and we humans are physical beings.

Material and physical realities are dynamic and changing. They cannot be perfect. They will always be limited and have imperfections. Pushed and pulled by solar and other forces, the Earth’s inner rock shell will shift and move. Free human beings will always do some wrong things and cause hurt. There is an inherent element of risk built into both the planet we inhabit and the persons we are. Both will cause suffering.

The Creator seems to have entrusted this imperfect material world to us free persons. We humans then have responsibility. We have to understand, to care for the environment, and to respond compassionately when fellow humans suffer.

We cannot understand the mind of God, God’s reasons, God’s purposes. But if we are entrusted with God’s creation, we have some hard work to do. To understand the world is hard. It is even harder to protect our environment. And the hardest task, but the most important, is to treat with care and compassion our fellow humans who are suffering.



Drane is Russell B. Roth Professor of Bioethics at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.