Tornadoes and houses fit for three little pigs

Tornados are a common weather phenomenon. However the destruction and death toll caused year after year, decade upon decade, by tornadoes in the US is totally unjustifiable.

The images of devastated cities illustrate the root of the problem: buildings with a reinforced concrete structure are left standing, with minor damage, but timber framed houses are totally smashed. Remember the straw and stick houses in the "three little pigs"? Sounds familiar?

The problem is that most housing is made of these fragile timber structures. This is a fraud that the construction industry has been perpetrating on America for a long time, convincing Americans to pay for wooden huts as if they were proper houses.

Why doesn't tornado coverage in the media ever ask, "why are houses destroyed"?
This destruction is not inevitable, measures can be taken. As most countries regulate construction in seismic zones, a similar approach must be take where there is a relevant tornado risk. This is in the public interest, even if it may not please the construction lobby.

Or can't America build houses that survive a little wind? Not enough civil engineers?

Tornadoes, wooden houses and concrete buildings

Ben Ali wins again

Ben Ali and wife - voting

The incumbent president of Tunisia, Ben Ali, got a ticket for another five-year term. The elderly statesman presides over a corrupt system run by himself, his close relatives and a loyal clique of cronies.

Again the election was rigged in Ben Alis favour. Any legitimacy that he could have claimed stemming from the 1987 coup d'état that deposed President Habib Bourguiba is long gone.

His grip to power is only possible thanks to the uber-present security apparatus, in particular to the feared General Directorate of Public Security. Ali's grip on the media and the economy should also be taken into account. No paragraph gets published without censorship approval. No deal is made without the presidential blessing, and obviously a cut for the Ali clan. But further to this, Ali´s power rests on a largely indifferent populace and absent intelligentsia,  for which daily human rights abuses seem to be of no consequence.

Maybe it is all for the best: Tunisia knows only dictatorship and Islam. If Ali's falls, what are the chances democracy will be on the menu?