A friend writes: Does Houston really seem like a place you'd want to live? What with the susceptibility to hurricanes and all?
My answer: Hurricane Ike hasn’t damped my or Marathon Girl’s enthusiasm for eventually moving to the Houston area. (Though Galveston was never really on our list of places to live, Ike has stopped us from wanting to move any closer to the Texas coast than Houston.)
I don’t think there’s a city in the world that’s not susceptible to natural disasters. In Utah all it would take is one good earthquake and most of the homes and infrastructure would be reduced to rubble and cause far more damage and deaths than a category 2 hurricane. I’d rather take my chances on living in a place when I know several days in advance that a natural disaster is on its way than one I couldn’t see coming.
All Ike has done is let us know that after we move to the Houston area, we need to be sure to have plenty of food, water, and other basic supplies on hand in case a hurricane comes through and we’re without power or other supplies for an extended period of time. (We have all that now, anyway.) Besides the people of Houston seem to have a plucky spirit and doubt they’ll let a something like Ike ruin their lives. They’ll pull through it. Thought there seems to be quite a bit of damage from the storm, I bet the city and surrounding area will be back to normal very soon.
And to all my Houston readers, I hope you’re all doing well. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.