To Rebuild....Or Not To Rebuild...

[Sandman]

Originally posted by Skuzzy
It is inevitable the West Coast will change once it hits the Mariannas trench.  Only thing to prevent it would be a shift in the continental drift.
 

Hmmm... will the west coast ever hit the Marianas Trench? AFAIK, the trench is created because it's in the subduction zone between the pacific and philippine plates.

[Skuzzy]

Sandy, the trench was formed due to the plates slipping under each other causing the rise of the wall.  It is a descending plate, versus a subducted plate, which I believe you are thinking of.

Typically, subducted plates fill the trench with sediment as they rise.  Subducted plates are normally associated with the formation of mountains, while descending plates are known for forming trenches.

Think of one plate being flat, then another plate breeching it at a downward angle.  The push then causes the flat plate to rise upwards forming the wall of the trench as it breaks and the other side is pushed up.

[Sandman]

Hmmm... maybe I was sleeping in class, but I recall that the subducted plate is the one that's going down.

I'm a little confused though. AFAIK, the pacific plate is moving northwest, so is the philippine plate overtaking it?

[Skuzzy]

Subducted plates do go down, or maybe it would be more appropriate to say they are angled, but moving parallel to the surface (much like a scraper removing paint from a plank of wood), whereas a descending plate is actually moving downward away from the surface (sinking, as it were, cutting/breeching into the plate below it).

As far as who is chasing who, I need to crack open the books.  I cannot recall with any certainty about that.

I do have an excellent cross-section of the trench and the platonic activity which formed it (a series of images).  I'll see if I can find it Sandman.

[Rino]

Originally posted by Holden McGroin
So with properly designed buildings and infrastructure, a city can withstand a natural disaster...

So with proper pumps and backups, better levee systems, hurricane building codes, New Orleans will rize.

     With who footing the bill?  I'm certain the insurance companies
and governments have no trouble passing the costs along.

[Holden McGroin]

Same way any other disaster preparedness is paid.

Same way we paid for the World Series or Northridge quakes, Hugo, Andrew, 9/11...

[ET]

Its going to take hundreds of billions of dollars in government
and private funds to do it. Would it be better to move inland a few miles to higher ground and start a new city free from needing a levee system.
Just wondering what other folk think about it.

[FiLtH]

Why what happened?

[Krusher]

If NO did not exsist we would need to build it.  Keep in mind it is a major shipping port that gets all the Mississippi river traffic.

[eagl]

If they don't rebuild NO, then all the girls will have to go to Cancun to get their beads.

[Fishu]

Theres simply too much property for the people to just forget about it.

[Shuckins]

It would be easier to build most of the city from scratch at a new location.

As it is, rebuilding at the present site would have to start below ground, with the water system, and require the refurbishing of every building from the inside out.....including wiring, plaster, wall-board, shingles, windows, paint, etc.

[cpxxx]

Not all of New Orleans is damaged. I was watching a news report and major parts of the city were undamaged. Bourbon street is untouched, not even looted. The rebuilding issue thus only applies to the parts of the city that were flooded.

Quite simply they are going to have to build flood defences to prevent it happening again.

[Rino]

Originally posted by Holden McGroin
Tell the Dutch they can't hold back the tide.

     How often does any country in Europe get hit with hurricanes?
The southeastern US can count on it virtually every year.

[Rino]

Originally posted by cpxxx
Not all of New Orleans is damaged. I was watching a news report and major parts of the city were undamaged. Bourbon street is untouched, not even looted. The rebuilding issue thus only applies to the parts of the city that were flooded.

Quite simply they are going to have to build flood defences to prevent it happening again.

      They meaning "we" here in the US.  Since the federal
government is going to foot a huge part of the bill, I'd say this
question is a valid one for debate.