Florida's hurricane-induced mess (news article, Sept. 7) brought back
memories of my years on the Japanese island of Okinawa.
Located in "Typhoon Alley," Okinawa gets hit with four or five typhoons
a year. Unlike the situation in Florida, things are generally back to
normal within hours or days, depending on the typhoon's strength.
Why? Houses and even roofs are made of reinforced concrete, and many
utility lines are located underground. This protects local residents not
only from the effects of typhoons, but also from another ever-present
threat: earthquakes.
Perhaps these Okinawa building techniques can be studied and used by
Florida builders to lessen the effect of future hurricanes.
Russ Maheras
Highwood, Ill., Sept. 7, 2004
tvoivozhd---as a former tract-developer and builder, and owner of two
insurance brokerages, I find it incomprehensible that the Feds and Statd
government continue to reward substandard construction incapable of
withstanding the ravages of constantly recurring hurricanes and floods.
Except for building concrete domes, few structures will survive a
tornado, but all others are easily designed and constructed to easily
handle hurricanes and banning flood-zone housing will reduce the
multi-billion annual losses to a relatively trivial amount.
Your (wasted) tax dollars at work.
[Homestead] Your wasted tax dollars at work,
Tvoivozhd, 09/09/2004