A Common Disaster

Are there more natural disasters these days? Could the end be near? My guess is no to both questions, but it does seem like the fires and floods are nastier than ever. Just last month Hurricane Isabel smacked North Carolina’s Outer Banks resulting in millions of dollars of damage to private property. Sarah and I stayed at a wonderful beach house in the vulnerable Corolla section of the Outer Banks this past summer. This strech of beach is only accessible by driving on the beach when the tide is out. Not exactly an ideal place to build million-dollar homes. It wouldn’t surprise me if the house was washed to sea. Now the fires raging in San Diego County have roared through upscale subdivisions and small agricultural communities and at least 17 people have died. After disasters like these, we usually read that a state of emergency was declared and agencies like FEMA get involved. At this point the headlines usually move on to the next disaster–natural or otherwise. Isn’t time to start asking serious questions about how unchecked growth and development are costing lives, millions (probably billions) of property damage as well as taxpayer-supported assistance through FEMA (an agency that handsomely rewards those who don’t plan well) and governmental relief? What is the libertarian response to this problem? If there should be no regulation as to where development occurs, should the government also refuse aid to the family who built their home on a fault line?

Back in 1948, Richard Weaver (a gradudate of the University of Kentucky who once belonged to the American Socialist Party and was later considered a great conservative thinker) wrote: “Nature is not something to be fought, conquered and changed according to any human whims. To some extent, of course, it has to be used. But what man should seek in regard to nature is not a complete dominion but a manner of living together, a coming to terms with something that was here before our time and will be here after it.”

October 29th, 2003