Quote:
Originally Posted by ckissick
Many geologists had been warning of a catastrophic landslide, but the local permitting agency didn't even seem to be aware of the danger. One agency bureaucrat said there was absolutely no indication of any potential danger. Wow.  Most of the destroyed houses were relatively new, many having been built after a large slide in 2006. |
Local govenment permit agencies are usually under heavy pressure by the real eastate industry to close their eyes to reasonable known dangers that affect property values. Here in Los Angeles the City Planning Deaprtment will not prevent development on top of known eartquake faults. Their reasoning is that those earthquake faults are not listed on the official California State Earthquake Map yet. When that "official" map gets published nobody knows. I am sure the real estate lobby wants that map to come out as late as possible or possibly never.