Can we talk about the Hawaiian volcanoes....

I feel the same way about beach houses. sympathy that people are losing their homes, but also curious about the choices.

Actually, I feel that way more about beach homes. It is a lot easier to move 15 miles inland than it is to move off of an island. And beach stabilization is a huge pet peeve of mine.

You can find volcanoes in so many different locations. Vesuvius is still active, and millions live so close to it, that there will be massive loss of life if it ever has another plinian eruption. People has always lived close to volcanoes, mostly because the soil is extremely fertile.

The people knew they were building on top of the fissures of an active volcano. They took a gamble. I wouldn't live that close to an active volcano but then I live in an area prone to tornadoes and earthquakes; even had both at the same time!  Majority of us pick the risks we feel we can accept. I don't think any of them have asked us to feel sorry for them. 

I think people typically live there for one of several reasons. Perhaps they grew up there, their families may have been there for generations, this is their cultural home, etc., and those things are worth the risk of someday having to rebuild.  Or, perhaps they visited there, fell in love with it, and decided that the peace and happiness it brings them day to day was worth the risk.   Maybe they are supposed to be there for a short amount of time and the timing was just really unfortunate for them.

Of course there may be some people who would like to leave, but they cannot for one reason or another---things such as child custody, a job placement, etc. can be reasons why they must stay.

I think overall, most a lot of people just want to be there. And like any other risky location (which is many places, really, with issues such as droughts in arid areas, earthquakes in fault line areas, tornadoes in flatter terrains, hurricanes in coastal areas, ice storms and blizzards in northern areas, etc.), people decide that the pros outweigh the cons, they plan for the worst, and hope for the best.

because all too often affordable housing is build next to dangerous areas. In a place like Hawaii where real estate is so very dear the houses at most risk were probably the most affordable - as was true in New Orleans.

The more removed people are from the last disaster the more likely they are to take the risk.


I grew up on a barrier island. In my lifetime the ocean had channel met four times. Hurricane Belle in the 70s, Hurricane Gloria in the 80s, a particularly nasty nor'easter and Hurricane Irene, the year before Sandy. In each of these cases people got some water in their basements, lots some items, lived without electricity for a few days... The same was true for hurricanes that hit in the decades before that. The last devastating hurricane to hit had been back in the 1930s. By the time Sandy came along there were few people alive who had lived through the last big one. People were pretty complacent. Many didn't even have flood insurance if they lived in one of the 'safe' areas of town. Even more didn't evacuate. Sandy was definitely a wake up call, although most have rebuilt and guidelines for flood insurance have changed drastically.

In 1958 my family spent spring break on the Big Island (we were living on Oahu at the time.) We stayed at Kilauea Military Camp in the Washington cabin. It was a fabulous week and we loved every second of it. Nothing we saw or places we went are still in existence except the Military Camp. Everything has been wiped out by eruptions from Kilauea.

That is sad to know a place where you spent time and loved no longer exists. 

 

I think too when you grow up in the areas that have certain risks, you just become so accustomed to the risk, you don't even think about it. I live in Colorado Springs, where Norad is. I had a magazine salesman come to my door one time and as we were chatting a bit, he asked me, "Aren't you afraid to live here?" No, why? Because if they launch missiles, this will be the first place they hit. Could be a good target, but I honestly hadn't thought of it like that.

There is a really *nice* housing development near me in a park and the houses are on a cliff and it is eroding. They won't survive 30 more years but people built there anyway. That seemed kind of dangerous to me. Or to put things in perspective we have lived in this house for over 40 years.

I remember many years ago I asked the peas why people live in areas that have tornadoes because every year I see so many people displaced and don't understand why people live there. and someone said we’d have to evacuate all of the mid-west. lol likewise there’s forest fires in CA every year and people still live there. There’s major flooding every year in our country. But I think technically it’s different cities every year though it may all sound the same to me.

So I don’t question it anymore, I figure people have their reasons. It’s easy for me to sit on my couch and judge but I should thank my lucky stars that where I live there are zero chance of natural disasters. The only way I would lose my home would be by an interior fire.