Beach Resort Disasters, an Economic Hazard
BEACH RESORT DISASTERS, AN ECONOMIC HAZARD
Many areas alongside the coastline of the USA are very prone to large scale and highly destructive natural disasters, such is the case of Dauphin Islands, Ala., whereon severe storms and massive hurricanes can decimate whole towns. Often such regions are inhabited by well-off communities who simply choose to live in a beach resort knowing so well about the risk and its magnitude. Such communities then rely on the fact that the federal government put in place a robust set of government subsidies and entitlement programs that cover the vast majority of the cost of rebuilding and reconstruction whenever a natural disaster strikes. It is not rational, reasonable, and by no measure in the public interest to continuously maintain government entitlement programs and subsidies for the populace who deliberately choose to live in a beach resort in high risk areas, such is the case of the Gulf Coast island of Dauphin.
The so called Dauphin Islands located in the western end of Gulf Coast has, according to the Gillis and Barringer, “...proved to be one of the most hazardous places in the country for waterfront property. Since 1979, nearly a dozen hurricanes and large storms have rolled in and knocked down houses, chewed up sewers and water pipes and hurled sand onto the roads.”, henceforth one has to question about the feasibility and rational behind the government programs which are then set in motion to cover the cost of rebuilding areas decimated by such large storm systems and hurricanes. As aforementioned, it is not only the cost of rebuilding houses, but also the cost of rebuilding public infrastructures (roads, utilities, etc) and public services; consequently it is a monumental volume of public expenditure in the benefit of few well-off communities who choose a certain life style. Such cost associated with the rebuilding tends to build up on intrinsic facts related to a disaster zone, for instance one would have to
Many areas alongside the coastline of the USA are very prone to large scale and highly destructive natural disasters, such is the case of Dauphin Islands, Ala., whereon severe storms and massive hurricanes can decimate whole towns. Often such regions are inhabited by well-off communities who simply choose to live in a beach resort knowing so well about the risk and its magnitude. Such communities then rely on the fact that the federal government put in place a robust set of government subsidies and entitlement programs that cover the vast majority of the cost of rebuilding and reconstruction whenever a natural disaster strikes. It is not rational, reasonable, and by no measure in the public interest to continuously maintain government entitlement programs and subsidies for the populace who deliberately choose to live in a beach resort in high risk areas, such is the case of the Gulf Coast island of Dauphin.
The so called Dauphin Islands located in the western end of Gulf Coast has, according to the Gillis and Barringer, “...proved to be one of the most hazardous places in the country for waterfront property. Since 1979, nearly a dozen hurricanes and large storms have rolled in and knocked down houses, chewed up sewers and water pipes and hurled sand onto the roads.”, henceforth one has to question about the feasibility and rational behind the government programs which are then set in motion to cover the cost of rebuilding areas decimated by such large storm systems and hurricanes. As aforementioned, it is not only the cost of rebuilding houses, but also the cost of rebuilding public infrastructures (roads, utilities, etc) and public services; consequently it is a monumental volume of public expenditure in the benefit of few well-off communities who choose a certain life style. Such cost associated with the rebuilding tends to build up on intrinsic facts related to a disaster zone, for instance one would have to