150 BILLION to rebuild LA ~ where's the money going to come from

[LaurieFairyCake]

That's HUGE amounts right?

I can't even conceive how much money that is is it more than our gdp?

Over 100 years ago, the early film-makers arriving from New York did at least stop to question the wisdom of building a large-scale industrial city on a fault line in a desert with no drinking water.

It’s exactly like homes in some areas of UK that cannot be insured against flooding

I read that the California government has already passed a measure banning insurance companies from withdrawing cover in this way over the next year, but I don’t think that’ll fix the issue long term

You'd think for somewhere known for its wild fires they'd have designed ways to prevent it from spreading so quickly

After the Great Fire of London in 1666 we rebuilt everything out of brick for a start

I believe they ended up pulling down buildings to prevent it from spreading which worked

And after Dunblane our first school shooting we went very heavily anti gun and shut that nonsense down

It's not essential to build back everything exactly as it was. Perhaps Californians will embrace a more minimalist architecture. No, I'm not holding my breath.

@FKAT yes it became marketed of the All American Dream of sunshine and beautiful suburbia with swimming pools and orange trees in your back garden.
And it just grew and grew in the space of a several decades.
It's heartbreaking what has happened but really is the area a good place for millions of people to live in?
I wonder whether it will all be rebuilt.

They should rebuild with wide bare spaces to stop the fire jumping from street to street and metal walls they can raise up from the ground

And not build houses from wood

Plenty of the celebrities etc who have had their houses burn down will be able to fund it themselves. For example, Kim Kardashian's house burnt down and she's worth 1.7 billion.

They all also still own the land. So that's a huge cost for them rebuilding gone straight away.

The rest will be covered by insurance (although a lot of them will go under) and the government.

There is vast wealth in California, I'm sure they will have the funds to pay for it. That's not to say I don't sympathise, the widespread destruction of homes and businesses is appalling for anyone.

That would be good.

These fires are spread, not just by direct contact of burning things, but through the air. Embers (which can be the size of tennis balls) are carried by the wind and the stronger the wind the further they can go.

So architectural designs need to prevent burning embers from settling on properties, burning a way in and then setting the house on fire from the inside. And home owners need to be absolutely meticulous about maintenance, clearing leave, gutters and not leaving clutter adjacent to buildings

What happens a) if a homeowner didn't have the correct insurance to cover this? Then they will have lost everything they own. They’ll still be liable for any mortgages on the property so they’ll need to continue paying those, as well as finding rent money for new accommodation and then decide if they can afford to rebuild or whether they’ll be able to sell the land. I can’t imagine the land will have held its original value because there will be lots of uninsured people who can’t afford to rebuild.

where will all the people made homeless as a result of the fires be housed whilst building work is going on? If they’re rich, wherever they want. If they’re not rich, then either in a rental property if they can afford it or find one, with family or friends, in a car or street homeless, or if they have family in a different area, they’ll be forced to relocate.

Human nature being what it is, I expect rental prices will rocket, and bankruptcy proceedings will be commonplace for those who can’t pay a mortgage and find rent money.

I should imagine there are some Names feeling a bit jittery at the moment.

The fires have been bad enough to destroy fireproof safes, so I'm not sure you could build an entire structure that would be resistant enough to survive.

Not necessarily, there are reports in the papers and on-line that at least one major California insurance company cancelled all wildfire cover last year as it thought the risk was too great.

Looks like a shrewd call on their part.

Plus good luck California with getting Federal funding with Trump in the White House.

@unsync what does that mean?

No doubt, but probably not as many as there once were. Piper Alpha did a pretty good culling job.

"Names" are the people who put up the cash for Lloyds of London insurance market.

While it can be a very profitable investment, if there's a run of serious claims they can be totally wiped out financially.

The "Piper Alpha" oil rig fire in 1976 ruined thousands.

Time for Elon Musk to put his money where his mouth is isn’t it? Concentrate on improving where he lives rather than meddling in UK affairs (though more awareness of the lack of actions on grooming scandal report recommendations, is a good thing).

I heard that a lot of the buildings are made of wood because of the earthquake risk.

At a guess a lot of immigration.

Oh, hang on ....

@SoapySponge thanks. I hadn't a clue what it meant 🙂

Yes, California put caps on what insurers could charge, so many pulled out of the state rather than lose money.

@SoapySponge I recall seeing this. Apparently a lot of people had their wildfire coverage cancelled, and then this happens.

As a UK citizen I couldn’t give a monkeys. Perhaps Elon can help out.

He flounced out of California several years ago and absolutely hates it and the people who live there. He's currently busy blaming the wildfires on Democrats and DEI policies.

This shows you to be either utterly lacking in empathy, or to have such poor understanding of the situation that you really shouldn't be commenting.

This is the most populous area of the US. Literally thousands and thousands of middle class and barely-scraping-by people live there, often in small flats or small houses on small lots. Some will have bought many years ago and could not afford to buy them now and will be underinsured, or had their insurance cancelled, and won't be able to afford to rebuild. They and their families will have lost everything, both material and sentimental. They will need to be housed and fed, many will have lost their cars, which are a necessity in LA. Additionally, numerous schools, religious institutions and places of business have been destroyed.