This week we were horrified that the Champlain Towers South building in Surfside Florida collapsed and that there are hundreds of people unaccounted for. Yet another all too true tragedy in Florida. Weekly mass shootings, alligator attacks, annual hurricane devistation... the list can go on and on. To a non-Floridian it seems as if most tragedies in Florida are caused by people...either intentionally or through stupidity.

Is is any wonder that several great fiction writers have made excellent livings describing fictional but believable Florida people and events. Yes, I'm talking about Elmore Leonard, Dave Berry, Tim Dorsey, Carl Hiassen and even John Grisham. Their books were so great because the were so believable. Non-Floridians tend to believe that in the Sunshine State most politicians are crooked, scam artists and more violent criminals have store fronts in every strip mall, and the citizens are overwhelming stupid.

It is easy to believe that the building collapse was entirely the result of corruption and stupidity. Corruption and stupidity on the part of building officials, building owners, contractors, and insurers to not be alarmed by salty ground water seeping into basement parking garages on beachfront high-rises. Then you can add in the stupidity or naivete of people who want to live in the land of corruption and stupidity.

Hundreds of high-rise buildings have been built along the beaches of Florida. The foundations are not anchored to bedrock as they are in Manhatten. They are set into what is basically beach sand and fill material which is sitting above very porous limestone. All of the Florida peninsula was a swamp 250 years ago. There is no bedrock, just ocean floor with a limestone and sand covering. Even if ocean levels were receding this would not be a great place to build high-rise buildings weighing hundreds of tons. Add to that the fact that the ocean level has risen over a foot along the southern Alantic coast of Florida in recent years. This is a recipe for disaster.

What I truly don't understand is the insurance industry. They insure these properties.