Is the world becoming uninsurable?

(charleshughsmith.substack.com)

478 points spking | 1 comments | 17 Jan 25 00:32 UTC | HN request time: 0.21s | source

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MagicMoonlight ◴[17 Jan 25 06:12 UTC] No.42734580[source]▶

What are we betting that the Americans rebuild in wood again? It seems like they never learn. We had a single city fire like this 500 years ago and since then we haven’t… because we built the city back in brick instead of wood.

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jandrewrogers ◴[17 Jan 25 08:24 UTC] No.42735251[source]▶

>>42734580 #

Americans used to build cities with brick and masonry. They were repeatedly destroyed by strong earthquakes, as would happen to your city if subject to similarly severe earthquakes. Americans paid for that lesson in blood.

European houses are not designed to withstand American disasters. A brick house that can survive a M8.5 earthquake, which is the safety standard where I live, will be almost purely steel structurally and very expensive to build. The brick would be decorative, which can be (and is) done on a wood frame.

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1. trollbridge ◴[17 Jan 25 13:45 UTC] No.42737442[source]▶

>>42735251 #

Concrete + rebar and then a steel roof secured with hurricane-proof metal straps, or just tile roofing if the area isn’t hurricane prone. Concrete can also be used for things like insulated concrete forms (ICF) that save energy and improve insulation for both hot and cold.

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