I lived in Okinawa when I was a kid, pretty much every residential (in the built up southern half of the island at least) is an apartment building between 4 and 8 floors made of concrete. They withstood yearly typhoons and earthquakes so easily that the locals barely even sweated when they happened anymore, and I’ve always wondered why not one capitalist corporation has ever been able to make the calculation that building in a similar way (especially on the hurricane-prone East Coast) wouldn’t make financial sense in the long run.
“Whats the difference? The speed of technological advancement isn’t nearly as important as short term quarterly gains.” - Quark, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine [S4E7].
Yes… severe storms and tornadoes are unfortunately a factor where I live. I’ve seen neighborhoods here that look just as ruined as the one in the photo, sans ashes… and of course most of the new construction is lumber frame. I even saw a 4 story apartment building go up last year, all lumber. Seemed wild to me. One of the many ill effects of housing being considered a commodity instead of essential to human life, I guess.
I lived in Okinawa when I was a kid, pretty much every residential (in the built up southern half of the island at least) is an apartment building between 4 and 8 floors made of concrete. They withstood yearly typhoons and earthquakes so easily that the locals barely even sweated when they happened anymore, and I’ve always wondered why not one capitalist corporation has ever been able to make the calculation that building in a similar way (especially on the hurricane-prone East Coast) wouldn’t make financial sense in the long run.
“Whats the difference? The speed of technological advancement isn’t nearly as important as short term quarterly gains.” - Quark, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine [S4E7].
Yes… severe storms and tornadoes are unfortunately a factor where I live. I’ve seen neighborhoods here that look just as ruined as the one in the photo, sans ashes… and of course most of the new construction is lumber frame. I even saw a 4 story apartment building go up last year, all lumber. Seemed wild to me. One of the many ill effects of housing being considered a commodity instead of essential to human life, I guess.