I feel I owe you a more direct explanation of what I was thinking; the problem is that Brooks and I started from the same analogy (which I had even before he used it), and the same root cause; the earthquake disaster was caused by poverty. I felt that attempting to write something in that vein without referencing his article, at the very least, would invite calls of plagiarism. Because of this I referenced it without thinking about how his conclusions would taint my own argument. This was my fault, and I am sorry that it happened.