Bay Area Quake Aftermath and Freeway Safety

I read with great interest the article on safe roads in regards to the collapsed Nimitz Freeway (front page, Oct. 23).

As stated in the article, Gov. George Deukmejian says he’s not at fault. Caltrans officials say they are not at fault. Engineers, politicians and the public are all blaming people in power. One side says the technology doesn’t exist for earthquake-proof double-decked freeways, another side says it does. And now a blue-ribbon investigative team is being put together to find out exactly what happened?!

Wake up, folks! Do you want to know what happened? We had an earthquake! Who’s to blame? Mother Nature!

Let’s say that there were unlimited funds for research, construction and maintenance of freeways, roads and buildings. All the best people and materials were used in building a safe future. Does this guarantee that a tragedy like this won’t happen again? Absolutely not. The all-powerful force of Mother Nature has been shaping and reshaping our earth for millions of years and will continue to do so for millions to come.

We can put all our resources together and build what we hope will be earthquake-proof structures, but until we find a way to stop earthquakes altogether (ha!) they will continue to destroy what we’ve built.

TERRI NOLAN

Huntington Beach