Discussion»Questions»Home and Garden» Well the price of gas is up. So is lumber and hardware, both of which are going to keep rising at least for the next. Hurricanes good for.
"La Perla" - a Puerto Rican shantytown - sits right at the rocks where the waves hit. The rest of San Juan takes refuge behind their old fort wall. I know the whole island will feel the hurricane, sorry two consecutive hurricanes (Irma and Maria), but, c'mon, THESE GUYS GOT NAILED!!! Florida got it easy.
Not develop large metro areas? As in, at all? That's not reasonable. We're dependent on one another. Industries depend on one another. Furthermore, I would think that if people were split up more, we'd be spending way more in infrastructure expenses and fuels than we ever lose during catastrophic events.
But, playing along with the premise of the question, when will we "learn?" Arguably never. I'm willing to bet our cities are programmed in us- biological/ evolutionary stuff. Survival. It's like the tribes and clans of days of yore. We're programmed to go into groups. It's what we do. If I had more time today, I would research that. I'm betting that's why we do it though. When we're not competing for individual resources (farmland, minerals, etc.), we don't settle far apart from others.
One more thing to add- no place is "safe." Oceanside, we have hurricanes, tsunamis, and flooding. Inland, we have tornadoes, earthquakes, and fires. Mother Nature takes what she will, regardless of our plans.
Puerto Rico had a great deal of damage(and that doesn't take into account people's lives, memories, possessions,jobs, clean water, food....).
Also, Texas, had a lot of flood damage- and I know there are some amuggers who are from Texas so they know more about the damage then I do.
Florida, The worst damage was in the Florida Keys
*if you've ever lived in an area with hurricanes, then you know, the news media, tracks the storms for weeks, days, hypes, the danger that we are going to be in, telling us the supplies we need, people go into hysterics, running to the grocery store, buying up all the bottled water, bread, canned goods, ice, coolers...Home depot is packed with people buying generators, plywood...Gas stations have long lines of cars waiting to fill up their cars and gas cans. It's like we are preparing for the end of the world. So, if a bad tropical storm or hurricane is coming, it does help boost the economy, but the hysteria that comes with it and dealing with the aftermath doesn't have a price tag.
I'm replying to your second question because the first one isn't phrased in a way that I'm able to respond properly.
Large metro areas are already planned and developed, so your question is a moot point. We can't control acts of God. Port cities have existed for centuries, always playing a vital role in the economy of every country that isn't landlocked. The economy is always shifting for a variety of reasons, weather being one of them. Yes, businesses certainly take advantage of the situation IMO. But, as long as the federal & local governments allow these companies to lie about their supplies and their ability to deliver them to certain areas, the laws of supply and demand will continue to dictate the prices. At the moment, gas prices are beginning to ease and subside. I can't speak to lumber and hardware but, when gas prices rise, the price of everything is affected. I haven't noticed the prices of those items rising, but I'll take your word for it. If recent history is any indication, prices will more than likely stay at the inflated rate, even when gas prices fall back.
Pearl 