The media concentrates on the human tragedy of the here and now. The big, obvious, unspoken fact is permanent change. There can be no going back to the past of only a few days prior, when LA residents lived in stressed disharmony with nature. In LA, the hostility of the planet manifests in all four of the ancient elements: earth, air, fire, and water. Far below lie earthquake faults; on the surface, red shale cliffs formed of incompletely metamorphosed clay and vulnerable to water; above, wind and fir
No one is calling this a hundred year event; it’s the new normal. Some migration will occur, slowed by the national shortage of housing stock. Some rebuilding will be attempted, with houses constructed of nonflammable materials, such as concrete,cinder block, and steel or tile roofs. Homeowners will still have to evacuate.
This doesn’t answer the bigger question: How can the core city be protected from mass conflagration exceeding the great urban fires of the 19th century? If the current event were juxtaposed with a major earthquake that disrupted the water supply, millions could die.