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Steinberg’s article provides new insight into how victims reacted to the San Francisco earthquake and fire. One of his major arguments is that businessmen downplayed the destruction caused by the earthquake in order to save their businesses from losing interest from possible future investors. Instead, they argued that the fire was the greatest cause of destruction, with the San Francisco Real Estate Board agreeing to refer to the disaster as “‘the great fire,’ and not as ‘the great earthquake'” (Steinberg 109). I agree with ngojoseph’s claim that “they aren’t wrong for wanting to protect their assets but it’s dangerous to deny that an area isn’t more prone to disasters if the history of that area says so otherwise” (Earthquakes in California: Yet People Still Choose to Live Here). It’s completely natural that the survivors would want to be secure, but what’s the point of securing their assets if there is a possibility that avoiding the real problem would just leave room for even greater disaster in the future? They were too focused on the present-day issues, not thinking ahead of the potential they had to rebuild their city, stronger than it was before. There was already proof that they were living in an area prone to earthquakes, but they still ignored these warnings due to fear of losing their assets.
Ngojoseph also brings up another great point, asking the question of why people still continue to risk their lives and live in disaster-prone areas, such as California. I think that there is definitely a part in our lives that downplay the destructive power of natural disasters, thinking of historical proof such as the San Francisco earthquake as something of the past, something far away and distant from us. And in that sense, we are being extremely foolish for thinking that disaster isn’t something that would affect us, because the victims of the San Francisco earthquake probably had been assuming the same thing. However, I think we are justified in choosing to live here because there have been many regulations and precautions taken to prevent damage. There are specific regulations and tests that constructions need to pass in order to build. There are earthquake, fire, and other disaster drills several times a year in schools to educate Californians in earthquake safety. I believe that even though we downplay the potential destruction of earthquakes, we try to be as prepared as possible because of the disasters of the past.