Why do people live in wooden houses, that are easily destroyed by natural disaters?
Answers:
They also offer good insulation - cooler in summer, warmer in winter.
Wood is also a renewable resource that causes far less in terms of environmental impact provided it is used from sustainable sources.
Other answers:
cheap to build
cheap to build
I guess, because wooden houses are cheaper and build faster, and better heat isolated.
because it is the cheapest material to use for building
Because the wooden buildings are thought to be a step above the mud huts
Because they are probably houses. What kind of house do you live in? Igloos aren't made with wood. Mud huts have thatch roofs sometimes? Almost all houses in the USA are made with wood. Even homes made of bricks are also made with wood. Somehow, someway.?????
Pre-planning is key. Not what the home is made of. If you decide to live downstream from a dam, you're gonna' be saying, "Damn! I knew we shouldn't have moved here!" Is this a parable from the 3 wolves? LOL! Natural disasters don't show preference. They destroy all in their path.
Excellent question! I have asked myself this a million times-or every time I pay a utility bill or read about the latest natural or man-made disaster you alluded to. I especially asked this question after looking at the pit houses of the Fremont Indians and the pit rooms as Mesa Verda. The merits of underground and/or earth bermed living are legendary and include little to no heating/cooling bills and incredible resistance to wind and fire damage-flood damage can actualy be increased depending on your location. So with these big advantages why dont we see more usage?
The need for killing zones and targeting zones where the reason man got out of the ground-e.g. he needed to be able to see the enemy coming, and not through the trees-that's why yards became popular-killing zones are what yards and grass were intended for. So that is one reason why the move from below. Another is this, in some areas underground is very moist, so moist that for ancestors that tried tuberculosis and chronic lung infections were the price paid.
Now days it is actually cheaper to build above ground with lots of insulation than to build underground though this still doesn't negate the protection from wind and fire.
You are talking about houses in the USA. In all of Europe or South America, only the poor slam huts are built with wood. Otherwise all houses are made of concrete or heavy bricks, cement and concrete with insulating material added. The fire departments are very boring work places in those countries since stone doesn't burn. But is more expensive to build and fewer people own their 4 walls. The more luxury in the USA, as far as big refrigerators in a complete kitchen with dish washer,large oven and microwave, central air conditioning and heating plus swimming pool in the yard and a lot larger rooms with fire place, comes with the price of more risks of fire and natural disasters and are also easier to brake in by criminals.
They are cheap. Not everyone can afford good housing, you know!
A properly constructed wooden house is as good at resisting most natural disasters are a brick house. In fact it is better than brick at resisting an earthquake.
The use of things like hurricane clips can make a huge difference in the ability of a wooden house to resist high winds.
If you haven't noticed on TV even steel framed structures can have significant damage during a tornado.
Oilfield trash said it best, no matter what the construction, a tornado can destroy any home, lifting them off concrete foundations. Floods, sometimes associated with hurricanes, have no preference in which homes they flood.
Brick homes in the US are still wood-framed houses. And in some areas of the country, very expensive. There are more brick homes in the south, as brick is more plentiful, and cheaper. In the north, most homes are wood/aluiminum siding. It's all about what you can afford.
Its cheap and fast way to build. I think wood also work as insulator.
The housed build with new codes are strong.