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Originally Posted by Punkus
One only has themself to blame for security. I think people should better prepare for looting in the future, esp. in high natural disaster areas. Arming oneself may or may not be the answer.
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Right, let's not arm ourselves and then we can negotiate with the looters. That'll work, right?
When people choose to commit crimes, and the police cannot be relied on to stop them, then citizens must take their own steps to stop them. What will stop a determined looter, rapist, murder, etc? Even when there is no disaster, if someone wants to injur another person, what is going to stop them? Is it reasonable to think that civilians can talk criminals out of their intentions? It may happen some of the time, but is it likely? I think arming oneself is the only answer.
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Originally Posted by Punkus
Why the hell do people live next to the ocean or volcanos or tornado alley when they Know it's only matter of time before another disaster hits? People are so stupid. apperently no ones ever read the story of "The Man who built his house on sand." lol;)
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Good question, very good question. One reason, oddly enough, is that it isn't too expensive to do so. People like living near the ocean. They like it so much that they're willing to pay a premium for doing so.
The truth, however, is that insurance companies make this possible. They do this by using "risk leveling." They know that a high-risk area is likely going to be hit at some point, so they
should charge higher premiums, but those premiums would have to be so high that people wouldn't buy. Instead, the insurance companies overcharge low-risk areas so that the premiums could be lowered for the high-risk areas. The result is that people can "afford" these locations at the expense of people in lower risk areas who pay higher premiums to cover for these people.
The government also contributes. Government flood insurance is also artificially low for these areas and the existence of FEMA gives people the idea that the government will step in and fix things, so why not live in a high-risk area? Government (state, federal, etc.) also subsidizes some of the risk by granting low interest loans for development, especially in high risk areas (because banks are smart enough not to loan at decent rates in these areas).
So it isn't too expensive, if it were, fewer people would do it and those who couldn't afford it would move to lower risk areas. It really comes down to choice, however. These high risk areas tend to be green. They tend to have decent humidity levels and pretty good weather year round (except in the extreme cases such as a Hurricane). In short, people like living near the ocean and most of the time, there aren't any real problems.
You are right, however that people don't generally learn from history or parables. They listen to the story and think "that won't happen to me."
-- Jeff