Earthquake in Chile, and Pat Robertson says ...

A deadly 8.8 magnitude earthquake.

The Haiti quake was a 7.0.  The differential, we ought to remember, is measured on a logarithmic scale.  A differential of 1 means that

each whole number increase in magnitude represents a tenfold increase in measured amplitude; as an estimate of energy, each whole number step in the magnitude scale corresponds to the release of about 31 times more energy than the amount associated with the preceding whole number value.

In other words, this Chilean earthquake was way, way, bigger than the Haiti quake.  But, the poverty in Haiti versus the relatively rich conditions in Chile correspondingly mean that a smaller shake in a poor country kills more people than a larger quake in a richer country. 

These are all reminders that we live on a relatively young planet, where there is a whole lot going on underneath the surface.  I will wait for experts to weigh in; but, my thought on reading this MSNBC news item "Is nature out of control?," is that it is pretty darn stupid to think that nature was ever orderly and well behaved!

Pat Robertson?  Well, a blogger has "divined" Robertson's mind and has issued a statement on the holy man's behalf :):

True story, in 1973 Chile elected a Communist to lead their government. The earthquake was punishment for that. God hates Communism. Also he is punishing Chile for electing a woman president, for not making their citizens speak English, and for having a country named after a food. And the queers too. The queers in Chile brought this on their country. Every time a hot young full breasted woman kissed another hot young full breasted woman right on the lips while their tongues snaked around each other and their heaving bosoms heaved while their soft hands caressed each other...hang on...what was I saying? Hmmmmm. Oh yes, this was all brought on by men having butt sex with other men.