On the West Coast, they build for the big earthquake.
On the East Coast, they build for the big hurricanes.
But here in the Midwest, we build to a 90 mph wind standard. Heck, we can get 60 and 70 mph winds on a blue-sky day.
We need to build not for the least Mother Nature can dish out, but for the worst, which in our case is an EF-5 with winds of 200 mph or more.
We’re encouraged by what we see so far amid the rebuilding and applaud those business owners and homeowners who vowed, “Never again.”
The Joplin City Council has imposed only limited requirements as Joplin rebuilds, with the most significant changes being requirements for hurricane straps and new anchor bolt guidelines.
But many May 22 survivors do not need to be told what to do; they are moving forward with plans on their own.
Mercy Hospital Joplin is just the latest example, building a fortress for a new hospital designed to withstand another EF-5 twister. It will have underground bunkers protecting power plants and safety glass in all the windows, and will be reinforced with thousands of tons of concrete and structural steel.
Joplin schools will contain storm shelters that should protect not only students and staff but tens of thousands of residents in the neighborhoods around those schools.
Thousands of homeowners and apartment owners, meanwhile, even though it is not required, are putting in their own storm shelters and safe rooms. You see them popping up all over town, and not just in the area that was hit.
Businesses such as Modine have brought in iron bunkers large enough to protect whole shifts of their employees.
According to some interpretations of Mayan eschatology, a world-changing, perhaps cataclysmic event happens on Dec. 21 of this year.
It looks like Joplin will be ready.
On Dec. 22, we’ll go on.
Opinion
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Discussion
Our View: Will Joplin be safer?
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