• @RoidingOldMan@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    I remember a story from 2024 where some tiny town (forget the name, East coast somewhere) had built a bunch of residential houses in a landslide area and the residents were frustrated that the government wasn’t bailing them out. Had some wacky pictures. Maybe it was this one in California? I think it was a different one.

    It was 100 years ago, but Bayocean, Oregon a town with 2,000 residents slowly fell into the Pacific Ocean after they tried to mess with the coastline. The last remaining building fell into the ocean in 1971. No attempt to bail out the homeowners at any point.

    Disaster strikes, and the homeowners are extremely lucky if we bail them out. Usually we don’t.

    • @DahGangalang@infosec.pub
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      23 days ago

      Those are some interesting reads, and really appreciate the response + resources.

      I do feel the attempt to buyout the residents in the CA example is a good move, but it does basically amount to abandoning the town (as the OP seems to think will be the norm. Glad the state is attempting to do something to help, even if it feels like a half measure.

      It feels like FEMA (as imperfect as they are) would have been a program that would’ve helped if a landslide wiped out a town though? Either that or the builders of the township would’ve had to sign away a bunch of their rights to that as part of building into the area (kinda feels like the case for Bayocean?) if it was known to be disaster prone.

      Idk, how does the community feel about building in disaster prone areas? Like, if you want to build a house in a flood zone, I think you should be allowed to do it, but also, you’re on your own when a flood comes, ya know?