Japan saves lives with pesky safety, environmental & construction regulations/codes

[Divernan]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhJzdtzl6KY&feature=player_embedded
Here is some extraordinary video of high-rise buildings during last night's quake, built to those strict and tyrannically job-crushing government regulations, swaying as they are designed to, saving the lives of the occupants in the middle of the work day, rather than collapsing, as they might have elsewhere...

From the excellent Brad Blog commentary:
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8389

But one thing is clear: Japan's "Big Government Tyranny" --- the type Republicans in DC are trying to kill, as opposed to the type they are maniacally expanding in Wisconsin --- saved hundreds of thousands, if not millions of lives last night.

Thanks to some of the strictest government regulations, building codes, and tsunami monitor and warning systems in the world, Japan averted what would likely have been an even far worse catastrophe, as the New York Times noted earlier today...

From today's New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/12/world/asia/12codes.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2
JAPAN'S STRICT BUILDING CODE SAVES LIVES

"From seawalls that line stretches of Japan’s coastline, to skyscrapers that sway to absorb earthquakes, to building codes that are among the world’s most rigorous, no country may be better prepared to withstand earthquakes than Japan.

Had any other populous country suffered the 8.9 magnitude earthquake that shook Japan on Friday, tens of thousands of people might already be counted among the dead. So far, Japan’s death toll is in the hundreds, although it is certain to rise.

Over the years, Japan has spent billions of dollars developing the most advanced technology against earthquakes and tsunamis."

And from Slate:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/weigel/archive/2011/03/11/gop-s-continuing-resolution-cuts-funding-for-national-weather-service-fema.aspx

GOP's CONTINUING RESOLUTION CUTS FUNDING FOR NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE, FEMA
Posted Friday, March 11, 2011 10:45 AM | By David Weigel

Back in February 2009, Republicans found a lot of risible spending in the stimulus bill. In his response to the State of the Union, Gov. Bobby Jindal, R-La., derided the stimulus for including "$140 million for something called volcano monitoring." The gripe was mostly that the funding, mostly for U.S. Geological Survey upkeep, wasn't stimulative. (This is a pretty good argument.) But Democrats honed in on that comment to decide that Republicans were going to try to cut funding for natural disaster monitoring.

This isn't wrong. The continuing resolution passed by the GOP House, the one that just failed in the Senate, reduces funding for the federal agencies that monitor and react to disasters.

The CR is here. According to the House Appropriation Committee's summary of the bill, the CR funds Operations, Research and Facilities for the National Oceanic Atmospheric Association with $454.3 million less than it got in FY2010; this represents a $450.3 million cut from what the president's never-passed FY2011 budget was requesting. The National Weather Service, of course, is part of NOAA -- its funding drops by $126 million. The CR also reduces funding for FEMA management by $24.3 million off of the FY2010 budget, and reduces that appropriation by $783.3 million for FEMA state and local programs.

Democrats did attempt to add more money to NOAA's budget. Rep. Dan Lipinski, D-Ill., offered an amendment to the CR that would have directed "no less than $710,641,000 to the National Weather Service Local Warnings and Forecasts." The amendment was one of several Democratic spending proposals that was found to be out of order, and not voted on.

[annabanana]

1. Thank you!. . Connect the dots you worthless CorpoMedia©

In our context-less public discussions, 24/7 on TV.. It will come as a complete surprise when "our" disaster is more than humankind can bear.

[KG]

2. visited a nieghborhood in punta gorda, fl a few years ago after a hurricane came thru

it was easy to spot the houses that were built after hurricane andrew and the new stricter building codes that followed in the mid-ninties.

they were the one that sill had roofs.

[WolverineDG]

4. How were they able to determine which homes had been built by Habitat after Hurricane Andrew?

They were the only ones built to code & thus, were still standing.

Shocking, but true.

dg

[Divernan]

7. No, fact is that new construction had to comply with new codes.

I know this because my daughter, who was working in Florida for FEMA, bought a newly built condo, and carefully checked that it was in compliance with the codes.

You reply does not make sense. You refer to homes "built by Habitat AFTER Hurricane Andrew" as the only ones still standing. Still standing after what? Other post-Andrew hurricanes? My daughter's condo was still standing after 4 other hurricanes.

Of course, she got hit with the housing bubble collapse and lost the condo to foreclosure, closely followed by bankruptcy. Lost her 20% down payment. Then some sleezy Florida attorney (lots of ethics complaints filed against him) bought her $230,000 condo for $100. Resold it a month or so later for $54,000.

[WolverineDG]

9. Okay, how about this, since we're having reading comprehension problems

After Hurricane Andrew struck, how could they tell which homes had been built by Habitat? They were the only ones still standing. Why? They were the only ones that had been built to code.

sheesh. :eyes:

dg

[Divernan]

10. What we've got here is a failure to communicate (Cool Hand Luke)

Now I understand what you were referring to. Nevertheless, I disagree that the only homes still standing after Hurricane Andrew were the ones built by Habitat.

http://www.frbatlanta.org/pubs/partners/partners-vol_6_no_2-hurricane_andrew.cfm?redirected=true
"The affordable housing market has been significantly affected by the increase in construction and insurance costs in south Florida. Habitat for Humanity (Habitat), a nonprofit housing organization, was able to build houses in Miami for $41,000 before Hurricane Andrew. Since the storm, the cost to comply with the new building codes has increased their construction expense by 31.7 percent or a total of $54,000. Most of these increased costs can be attributed to the more expensive hurricane shutters and windows that meet the building code's new wind resistance requirements.

However, the homes built by Habitat before the changes to the building code incurred minimal damage during Hurricane Andrew. A TOTAL OF 27 HOMES(emphasis added) built by Habitat's Miami Chapter fared well during the hurricane. Habitat attributes the sturdiness of their homes to the organization's practice of going beyond the stated building code by using extra studs and braces, plywood instead of weaker substitutes, and hand-driven nails instead of staples in their construction. Accordingly, one of the changes in the new building code since the hurricane was to require nails in all new construction."
***************************************************************
According to your post, these 27 homes built by Habitat would have been the only ones still standing in the Miami area. And we both know that was not the case.

Kudos to Habitat for all the homes they have built, and how well they have built them.

[xchrom]

3. recommend -- those pesky regulations are the very definition of a good civilization, imo. nt

[KG]

6. regulations cost money. and america is country that knows the costs of everything and the vaslue of

nothing.

[Divernan]

5. I'm happy first 3 responses came from 3 other "old timer" DUers

[ellenrr]

8. excellent post - good point. n/t