And now China too suffers a natural disaster.

The worst Earthquake to hit the nation in over 30 years shook the country this week, killing an estimated 15,000 in the Sichuan province. That number is likely to only increase from here, sadly.

China has made great strides in recent years towards becoming a modern, industrialized, capitalist power. Yet the progress has not been evenly distributed, and significant parts of the nation, such as Sichuan, still languish under decrepit Mao-era infrastructure. When emergencies occur, everything always has to be flown out from Beijing because that's the only place with access to modern technology.

The country may ultimately be a victim of its own size, however. How do you equally distribute your resources across a nation of 1.3 billion?