METAMORPHOSIS: Building the Dome of a Home

and the lives of their constituents faced complete annihilation with a natural disaster the size of
Katrina. How do you prepare for the unfathomable?
Obviously, at the state and federal levels: where the command stations are not threatened by
rising water and relentless wind; where food, water, fuel, and shelter are not an issue; where
difficult decision making is not complicated by personal tragedy; and where dependable
communication centers can disperse information. The magnitude of coordination needed for a
natural disaster of Katrina's
caliber was
incomprehensible. No one
wanted to believe such
tragedy could occur. This
tragedy had been imagined
by FEMA officials, scientists,
meteorologists, etc. The
scenario had been portrayed
in various magazines and
programs. The big What If.
Yet, no one could believe.
The inability to grasp what
was needed to prepare for
Hurricane Katrina increased
the tragedy factor. Now, the
pertinent question is: If there
was a repeat performance
this year, would the outcome
be any different.
It is vital that our local emergency personnel have:
� A place that is safe and secure to coordinate local efforts at the site of the disaster.
� A place that is pre-stocked for a disaster - natural or man-initiated.
� A place that is Base of Operations.
� A place that has been pre-determined to be safe, available, and ready with all necessary
supplies and equipment to handle an emergency effectively.
� A place that is a haven for the officials and personnel needed to re-establish the
infrastructure after the disaster.
� A place that is home away from home, an office away from the office, a station away from
the station.
� And those places should be a concrete monolithic dome.
A dome would allow the necessary personnel to have enough confidence in the physical structure
to be able to focus on their coordination efforts, without having to fear that they will unnecessarily
be placing their lives at risk to do their jobs. Domes have proven themselves to be the safest
structure available when faced with earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, and radiation
fallout.
Evacuation shelters should be able to shelter the public from the threat outside. Many storm
shelters could not withstand a Category 5 hurricane or F-5 tornado. The result is a large number
of people gathered in one unsafe place – a potential mass grave. Why not give tax credits to
businesses, churches and schools that build monolithic domes that can be used as an evacuation
shelter? Not only will they have a cost effective, energy friendly building, they also receive a
reward for their efforts. I grew up in Texas and was always terrified when the tornado warnings
were issued. If I had known that the school's gymnasium was a "safe building" dome, my anxiety
would have been considerably less acute.
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