Is it too soon...

...to talk about the shoddy building standards in those areas devastated by Dorian? Or what is certain to happen next, the 'gentrification' rebuilding of those same areas by wealthy investors and the displacement of the current residents.

Acts2:38 said:

Concern for people in a tough spot is never "too soon" to be talked about.

I have seen that they are looking for volunteers to help these people. However, what happens once everything is done being cleaned up, the people are supplied and tended too, what will happen next?

I'm sure there would be some sort of regulation though. If not, the investor could shoot themselves in the foot if the native populace cant afford their prices. There would have to be some sort of logical thought to this if investors did come in and "gentrify" the place.

If costs are affordable, what would be wrong with gentrification?

Click to expand...

Better quality buildings aren't affordable to those whose shanties were destroyed so they would be displaced by gentrification.

Acts2:38 said:

Hogwash. Too much CNN viewing.

I know personally a guy who is in a non-profit org in Florida that goes around rebuilding homes and such for people. I also know for a fact of lots of other non-profits, like Protechos, that go around helping peoples homes.

It may take a while to rebuild and restabilize, but what your implying of this mass displacement, doesn't happen. Disasters have hit the Carrib and gulf places year by year, for decades upon decades, and the families still live there. No displacement like you imply.

Click to expand...

I don't watch CNN.

Acts2:38 said:

It may take a while to rebuild and restabilize, but what your implying of this mass displacement, doesn't happen. Disasters have hit the Carrib and gulf places year by year, for decades upon decades, and the families still live there. No displacement like you imply.

Click to expand...

Gentrification is a rather recent phenomenon.

Acts2:38 said:

Any examples I can look at?

Click to expand...

Is your neighborhood gentrified? Madison report identifies areas of displacement

zephcom said:

Yeah, it is too soon.

They haven't even finished counting the dead bodies.

Click to expand...

The subject of rebuilding is already being explored, but as so many aren't going to remain there (many can't afford to rebuild) it begs the question of how will those areas be rebuilt, and by who.

jayem said:

I'm not an engineer. But I doubt that any structure conforming to any realistic and practical building code won't be severely damaged, if not totally demolished, by 185 mph winds, with 220 mph gusts, and a 23 ft. storm surge.

Higher construction standards isn't totally unreasonable. But it's kinda like dousing your house with a garden hose when there's a raging fire next door. Your first priority should be extinguishing the fire. The fire here is a rise in ocean temperatures. Which results in storms being more intense. We can argue about how much of a role human activity plays in this. But there's no doubt that for the last several decades, average global temperatures have been increasing. If this can be mitigated by reducing CO2 emissions, we should do it.

Click to expand...

We aren't going to do anything to lower ocean temps, but we can rebuild using reinforced concrete with an integrated roof system. This would limit damage to cosmetic features.

jayem said:

That may be. But as we say in the medical field, it's treating the symptom, not the disease.

Click to expand...

The destruction is a symptom of inadequate building design, given the fact of seasonal hurricanes in that region. Note the number of levee failures during storms in the U.S. All because those levees were not strong enough in the first place.

I have a cousin in Boyton Beach FL who owns a small house made of concrete block. When a storm is imminent several of her friends weather the storm with her in her house. Smart.

jayem said:

That may be. But as we say in the medical field, it's treating the symptom, not the disease.

Click to expand...

I'll address this with my example of the lakes in my county, which are a weedy mess. One small lake has an activist group called "Friends of Lake -----" (name withheld so as not to embarrass them). They don't deal with the lake directly but conduct programs in the watershed, with the goal in mind to improve water quality by reducing fertile runoff from the watershed, using the condition of the lake as the barometer of their success.

Their programs are an abject failure, as the lake gets worse each year.

If they would treat the "symptoms" by vigorously harvesting the aquatic weeds and removing the carp the water quality would improve. They choose not to do this, or to lobby the county for such, instead clinging dearly to the fox that is eating them alive.

They will never realize their goal by treating the cause any more than doctors will by attempting to treat the cause of illness.