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I skimmed this article - and it reads just how I thought it would - a bunch of folks who took advantage of naive home buyers. It many respects, it isn't much different than the people who sold Florida swamp land back in the old days to unsuspecting East Coast and Midwest dreamers although at least in Hawaii something could actually be built but as many have learned, it has been temporary or will be temporary someday as it is not a matter of if something will happen but when.
While easy to look back in time and say, well - never made sense to build there to begin with, I suspect a lot of people knew this wasn't a great idea at that time. Perhaps the ball got dropped between between being a territory and statehood but their should have been enough leadership decades ago before the land was made into subdivisions to designate at a minimum lava zone 1 a national park area.
Well, all Puna would need would be earth, now wouldn't it?
Lava can be twenty feet thick, which would be a ferocious set of stairs to go up and down each time you wanted to leave the house.
Lava is this thick viscus insanely hot material. It's molten rock, after all. That it flows at all is somewhat amazing. It hardens within minutes of reaching the atmosphere which then means that it can stack up on prior flows pretty quickly.
There was that fellow who was the last holdout in Royal Gardens. The lava ate the entire subdivision except for his house. Ate the roads, too. After the lava cooled off, I think he accessed his house by coming in through the bottom of Volcano National Park and then hiking a mile or two over the cooled lava to get to his house. Not something a lot of folks would be enthused about, I'd think. Eventually, the lava did eat his house, too, but he did have a few extra years of being the last house standing.
A house is more than just one building. It's got streets, neighbors, utilities, etc., etc.
Puna is pretty flat, overall, although there's an occasional cinder cone or some elevation. Perhaps pilings on a cinder cone? Cinder cones aren't exactly stable ground for construction purposes.
If it were me, I'd go the other direction and make some sort of sectional house that could be picked up and moved away.
If it were me, I would build a traditional house, but site it other than on the flanks of some of the worlds most-active volcanoes. That is, however, just me.
I skimmed this article - and it reads just how I thought it would - a bunch of folks who took advantage of naive home buyers. It many respects, it isn't much different than the people who sold Florida swamp land back in the old days to unsuspecting East Coast and Midwest dreamers although at least in Hawaii something could actually be built but as many have learned, it has been temporary or will be temporary someday as it is not a matter of if something will happen but when.
While easy to look back in time and say, well - never made sense to build there to begin with, I suspect a lot of people knew this wasn't a great idea at that time. Perhaps the ball got dropped between between being a territory and statehood but their should have been enough leadership decades ago before the land was made into subdivisions to designate at a minimum lava zone 1 a national park area.
If it were me, I would build a traditional house, but site it other than on the flanks of some of the worlds most-active volcanoes. That is, however, just me.
I've not asked them, but I suspect that many folks in Puna would prefer that their houses be elsewhere - even before the lava showed up. The main reason they are in Puna is because it's less expensive than pretty much anywhere else in Hawaii. However, as we are now seeing - those lava zones mean more than how much more you'll have to pay for insurance.
Before the building codes got so extensive, houses weren't that difficult nor expensive to build. Folks could afford to build, live on the side of a volcano and then lose a house to a lava flow. Since the codes have changed - and rather significantly in the past decade - it's now much more expensive to build a house. Although, at least Hawaii houses don't have the whole HVAC thing going on, nor the deep frost heave safe foundations. But still, having the same code for a building that is gonna get eaten by lava doesn't quite seem proper.
I've not asked them, but I suspect that many folks in Puna would prefer that their houses be elsewhere - even before the lava showed up. The main reason they are in Puna is because it's less expensive than pretty much anywhere else in Hawaii. However, as we are now seeing - those lava zones mean more than how much more you'll have to pay for insurance.
Before the building codes got so extensive, houses weren't that difficult nor expensive to build. Folks could afford to build, live on the side of a volcano and then lose a house to a lava flow. Since the codes have changed - and rather significantly in the past decade - it's now much more expensive to build a house. Although, at least Hawaii houses don't have the whole HVAC thing going on, nor the deep frost heave safe foundations. But still, having the same code for a building that is gonna get eaten by lava doesn't quite seem proper.
Great points, as usual. The cost associated with the ridiculous building codes is naturally the reason many people in this area choose to ignore them and owner build. Perhaps enforcement of these codes will take a downturn as a result of this eruption.
One other thing to add is that lower Puna from Pahoa South and East is (was?) extremely beautiful-more so than any other area of the island IMO. So, that's another big attraction of the area despite being in hazard zones 1 and 2.
This is an interesting discussion, how to build housing in an occasionally active volcanic area. It would be interesting to find the mean time between flows for a given area, for example is it 100 years in zone 1, more, less? Is it reasonable to build in a 50-year window? Given many of the current flows are near to the 1955 flows, maybe we need a zone 0.5 or something.
I don't think that the manufactured homes, aka mobile homes, would work. They have tiny wheels, and need a lot of blocking to install, so lots of work to make mobile again. Then people prefer the space of a double-wide and those are even less mobile. So it just isn't possible to have the labor and equipment available to move 100's of the all at the same time. Plus it is well know that mobile homes are tornado and hurricane magnets, and that they are quickly destroyed by them, with debris becoming airborne and creating more hazards.
At first the idea of houses on pylons sounded good, let the house survive like in a tsunami. But the comments about the temperature are correct, the house will catch fire anyway. And if not, what do you do with a house with no water or waste system sitting on a black rock field? You can rebuild catchment (or maybe the smart ones elevated the catchment as well), but how do you dig sceptic or even break a path to drive in again. Also, how long does it take to cool?
I think that self-contained tiny homes, or larger flat-bed sized homes would be the best solution. They would be like a large RV, with disconnects for the utilities, and a 5th wheel so that any big truck could haul it away quickly. These types of mobile houses are built with framing and truss roofs, so they could be reinforced to be hurricane-resistant. But there are still lots of issues, for example one question is where to? Does the county then have to provide emergency RV parking for hundreds of these? For how long? Where do they go, does everyone have to buy another cheap lot somewhere and redo all the ground infrastructure?
The original comment talked about building mounds or dykes. I always wondered if using water to cool the front of the flow could be effective in directing it away from housing and neighborhoods. I think there was an issue in the Pahoa flow a few years ago about some guy doing that because it just sent the lava onto the neighbor's property. So not good, but it did sound like it was possible to do. Maybe have a lava-fighting brigade that could work with firehouses to protect the neighborhood as best as possible, channeling the flow into the smallest area and directing it away. Then again, maybe it's too dynamic and too difficult, and the lava will go where it wants.
I've not asked them, but I suspect that many folks in Puna would prefer that their houses be elsewhere - even before the lava showed up. The main reason they are in Puna is because it's less expensive than pretty much anywhere else in Hawaii. However, as we are now seeing - those lava zones mean more than how much more you'll have to pay for insurance.
Before the building codes got so extensive, houses weren't that difficult nor expensive to build. Folks could afford to build, live on the side of a volcano and then lose a house to a lava flow. Since the codes have changed - and rather significantly in the past decade - it's now much more expensive to build a house. Although, at least Hawaii houses don't have the whole HVAC thing going on, nor the deep frost heave safe foundations. But still, having the same code for a building that is gonna get eaten by lava doesn't quite seem proper.
No doubt there is much truth and wisdom in what you say.
Some places are cheap, obviously, because of the inappropriateness of building on them. People who can afford to, build where the threats, be they floods of water, lava etc., are less. There comes a point, however, where government, in the mode of zoning, makes residential building there illegal. Perhaps farm homes, and other necessary residences/commercial structures can be built, but certainly not entire subdivisions. It's time to move into at least the last century, if not the current one, or at least give it some consideration. JMHO.
This is an interesting discussion, how to build housing in an occasionally active volcanic area. It would be interesting to find the mean time between flows for a given area, for example is it 100 years in zone 1, more, less? Is it reasonable to build in a 50-year window? Given many of the current flows are near to the 1955 flows, maybe we need a zone 0.5 or something.
I don't think that the manufactured homes, aka mobile homes, would work. They have tiny wheels, and need a lot of blocking to install, so lots of work to make mobile again. Then people prefer the space of a double-wide and those are even less mobile. So it just isn't possible to have the labor and equipment available to move 100's of the all at the same time. Plus it is well know that mobile homes are tornado and hurricane magnets, and that they are quickly destroyed by them, with debris becoming airborne and creating more hazards.
At first the idea of houses on pylons sounded good, let the house survive like in a tsunami. But the comments about the temperature are correct, the house will catch fire anyway. And if not, what do you do with a house with no water or waste system sitting on a black rock field? You can rebuild catchment (or maybe the smart ones elevated the catchment as well), but how do you dig sceptic or even break a path to drive in again. Also, how long does it take to cool?
I think that self-contained tiny homes, or larger flat-bed sized homes would be the best solution. They would be like a large RV, with disconnects for the utilities, and a 5th wheel so that any big truck could haul it away quickly. These types of mobile houses are built with framing and truss roofs, so they could be reinforced to be hurricane-resistant. But there are still lots of issues, for example one question is where to? Does the county then have to provide emergency RV parking for hundreds of these? For how long? Where do they go, does everyone have to buy another cheap lot somewhere and redo all the ground infrastructure?
The original comment talked about building mounds or dykes. I always wondered if using water to cool the front of the flow could be effective in directing it away from housing and neighborhoods. I think there was an issue in the Pahoa flow a few years ago about some guy doing that because it just sent the lava onto the neighbor's property. So not good, but it did sound like it was possible to do. Maybe have a lava-fighting brigade that could work with firehouses to protect the neighborhood as best as possible, channeling the flow into the smallest area and directing it away. Then again, maybe it's too dynamic and too difficult, and the lava will go where it wants.
Describing the flanks of the, or one of the, most-active volcanos in the world as "an occasionally active volcanic area" pretty much renders what follows as moot.
I always wondered if using water to cool the front of the flow could be effective in directing it away from housing and neighborhoods.
It seems like most of the time I'm watching the news - many of the shots are during huge downpours - which didn't seem to have much of an impact on the lava.
A man made lake I'm sure would certainly stop it temporarily except the area is so wide that isn't feasible.
Describing the flanks of the, or one of the, most-active volcanos in the world as "an occasionally active volcanic area" pretty much renders what follows as moot.
But the area is so large that any one given spot (except a few unlucky ones) only seems to get hit once in a human lifetime. People see a mature forest (albezias grow quickly, so it is deceptive) and cheap land, so they go there. I think everyone knows it's a gamble.
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