Quote:
Originally Posted by ZNPaaneah
Natural Catastrophes:
Volcanoes -- without volcanoes there would be no life on Earth. Perhaps the real natural catastrophe is that people chose to live next to an active volcano and even though they were warned by the ground rumbling or past volcanic activity, they ignored that warning.
Earthquakes -- again, without earthquakes there would be no life on Earth. This involves a discussion on Plate Tectonics and the role it has on life. So again, it is possible to know where the fault zones are and where the truly catastrophic earthquakes would be located. Kobe was one such example, but the catastrophic damage was due to something called liquefaction, or in layman's terms "building on sand". In fact, death and destruction from earthquakes is not from the ground shaking but from buildings collapsing. It is a man made disaster. The solution is simple, study the Earth, earthquake zones require proper construction codes or else find another place to live.
Flooding -- Katrina is our most recent and biggest example. Katrina was man made disaster. Katrina would have been forgotten if the levies had not broken. Levies are man made and any scientist could have shown that once you start to build levies in New Orleans that you are guaranteed, at some point, to fail. Everyone knew this. Which is why those that did lose their homes did not have flood insurance. The insurance company had calculated the risk as so great that you literally had to pay some absurd amount to get flood insurance. Insurance companies even tried to get out of paying those that had hurricane insurance, saying the flood damage was not from the hurricane but from the flood as a result of a man made catastrophe.
We see flooding on the Mississippi and other rivers frequently. This is because the rivers are designed to flood. We even refer to these areas as "flood plains". Why do people build their houses in flood plains? because they can. Why does the local govt allow them to do this? because they get more tax revenue. Why does the Federal govt take tax dollars to bail out people who built their homes in an area that is supposed to flood? Because taxpayers are so stupid they let politicians take their tax dollars and do this. Because of it, these politicians get large campaign contributions from construction companies who then get govt contracts to build boondoggles, which will then get bailed out when the cards come crashing down. If there were no govt bailouts the idiot programs would be curtailed.
Our suffering is temporary and works out an eternal weight of glory.
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While there are true "acts of nature" (I won't say "acts of God" except to admit that the restraint of God allows things that we might not otherwise prefer), the things you mention are clearly stupidity of man.
I have argued for years that if you live in a serious flood plain, oceanside in the obvious hurricane paths, or 6 feet below sea level between a lake and a major river, you get either zero, or at most one crack at a hand out. Once you take a dime of disaster relief, if you go right back where you were, you are on your own. It's like sailing the Pacific Ocean in a life raft and demanding that every ocean-going ship that passes by give you a hand-out rather than letting them take you out of the ocean. If you demand the hand-out, you get one. Then you are on your own.