Ruins of brightly painted walls are the only thing left over from a man`s childhood home. Children witnessing their mother dying before them. Someone`s ill grandmother reported missing two weeks ago and still nothing is reported back. These are the grim scenes for thousands of other people. Losing their loved ones and everything they`ve ever known. These are the effects of hurricanes, typhoons, tsunamis and storms. Rebuilding would only place the people on the coasts once again on the roulette of disaster and tragedy. Meanwhile, the looming sea levels rise and the precariously built stilts and houses will collapse and be devoured by the ocean. We should not be willing to jeopardize the people and instead focus on preventing more heartbreak, suffering, and depression. The United States has spent hundreds of millions of dollars giving relief to the ones affected. Yes, I agree we should definitely help those who are hurt and need help, but the thing is, if we could have just prevented this in the first place, we wouldn`t have as much of a catastrophe. The way we`re handling it now: sand dunes, stilts that are a couple inches higher, dams. They are all temporary measures that will fail in the long run causing more budget problems and disaster. People might be forced to move out of their rebuilt houses that they paid additional expenses on building codes and fortifications for. Sand dunes need to be ceaselessly replenished because of natural erosion, the government can`t fund the whole coast to be dammed up, and constant rebuilding will be tiresome and will empty civilian pockets. “Lives and investments [are] in harm`s way.”, comments CNN`s Carl Safina. Especially considering the sea levels are rising and the likelihood of these events would be much higher.
“Rising sea levels will lead to coastal flooding on the Eastern seaboard, in Florida, and in other areas, such as the Gulf of Mexico.”, says NRDC. Not only will global warming do that, but the higher temperatures will cause more intense hurricanes and storms. Hurricanes are propelled by energy in warm ocean water evaporating into clouds and being churned by the wind into a hurricane. This means that the worse global warming gets, the worse the hurricanes and storms will get. And from the looks of it, it won`t be over soon. The floods will continue. The ocean will consume our coasts. And the Earth will change as it has been doing from the beginning of its existence. Human civilization has been accelerating the deterioration of its coast as well. Prior to habitation of the coasts like in New Orleans, there were natural marshes that served as “buffer zones”. The marshes took in the water and silt that the flood brought and prevented the waters from penetrating far into land. Without restoration of these marshes, the floods will continue as there is nothing to slow down oncoming hurricanes and the great floods that come with them. Furthermore, people who live on the coast are in grave danger. Property values after a major storm can decrease significantly. There would always be fear that the insurance and government won`t cover all your losses and further expenses in rebuilding. One might be stranded at one`s house and be without essential resources like food or clean water for days. Those who own small businesses without insurance would go under. People living in coasts run all the risks. Nobody