Failing To Prepare, Is Preparing To Fail

Well, it looks like the southern part of the country is going for the hat trick. Hurricane Wilma is looming ominously to the south, and creeping in our direction. As bad as I feel for these people that keep getting chased from their homes, I can honestly only hear the phrase "We've lost everything" so many times and see an endless number of windows being covered with plywood on the news until I ask the question, "If you live in a place that suffers many storms ... why not just build your house with the intent of home preservation from the storm?" Mankind, by nature, has always found a way to adapt to surrounding environments, or has chosen not to reside in a place where those elements are too harsh. California builders and developers, for many years, have constructed buildings to have a higher "survivability" to earthquakes and the results have been, for the most part, successful. Why not apply some of this effort to seaside residents? It sure beats making a last minute jaunt to Home Depot for plywood and saw blades.