The Big (Not So) Easy

Anonymous said...
I've perused your site and seem to have a similar opinion of most topics...but, having grown up on the Texas coast, I supposed I have a different point of view about living in hurrican alley versus the earthquake zone. Both frighten me...have done for my 51 years. Having dealt with one devasting hurricane as a high schooler, I now know that I would high-tail it out of town if I lived anywhere near a prospective strike point for a hurricane. Not sure just how to do that for an earthquake. Would enjoy your comments about my blog, www.musingsfrommyopia.blogspot.com

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Like your blog. Interesting comments about New Orleans, whether it never should have been built there in the first place. I've been to the Big Easy, and there's definitely something weird about walking uphill to see a riverbank.

Still, people and particularly Americans are a hard-headed and persistent bunch. I suspect the city and surrounding area will be rebuilt simply to prove the point to Mother Nature.

It seems so sudden. After a seemingly endless line of hurricanes earlier in the year, this one seemed a yawner until it hit land. I can't imagine being crushed by a wall of water.

I live in a former flood plain near the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers. I have flood insurance even though my lender didn't require it. I feel safe and secure behind the levees. My wife points to the CNN feed from the Gulf States and says, "aren't you glad we got the rider?"

Again, that's why I prefer earthquakes as my instrument of doom. They come, do their stuff and leave. You can also defend against them. When the '89 quake hit San Francisco, the only part of the city which failed was the neighborhood built on the mushy landfill from the 1915 World's Fair. The Oakland freeway fell for a similar reason. The big buildings stayed up, because they're designed to roll with the punches. I worked as a night watchman at a downtown construction dig during college and the architect showed me how he literally built the skyscraper to bounce and swap during a quake. You just can't do that with a hurricane. You're stuck.