Katrina

[David]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

Interestingly, there is no safe place to build a city. Natural disasters can happen just about anywhere

I would amend that to say: There is no completely safe place to build a city.

But you try to stack the odds in your favor. It's like internetworking security: "100 percent secure" is a myth. But you implement firewalls, antivirus software & other measures to afford you a level of protection that you don't otherwise have.

When you develop on a large scale, you build in safeguards & you implement measures that afford you a level of protection that you don't otherwise have. An example: The good folk of Hilo Bay in Hawaii, after suffering through multiple disasters, finally got the picture. There is now a beautiful grassy park between the downtown district & the mighty ocean. Another example would be earthquake-proofing buildings with state-of-the-art codes in earthquake country.

But one thing I would think you never, never do -- anywhere in the world at this point -- is to develop along a coastline below sea level.

As thousands of years of civilization have taught virtually all societies: Sooner or later, the sea will out.