Lord_Calidor
Posts: 402
Joined: 3/25/2005 From: Rijeka, CRO Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: medicff Most US homes even if made with concrete block walls will still have wooden trusses and roofing systems. These give way and then some of the concrete may give way but most will stand. See Andrew across South Florida if you all remember the pictures. Many were wooden but some were concrete that lost their roof. Once you lose the roof, everything inside is pretty much gone so not much different then the wooden structures with many metal tie down straps as code is now (newer buildings). I helped build a clinic in Kosova several years ago and was amazed at the concrete block and floor construction, definately made to last many, many years. In European style houses roof is just a cosmetic, a device to steer water down the house (and as I write this, I recently moved to a loft apartment ), and it's the only thing with wooden construction skeleton. Underneath it is another steel reinforced concrete layer (loft floor). So even if the complete roof is blown off (which is extremely rarely, anyway) what would be left is essentially a self-supporting brick/concrete box. They are built to withstand not just adverse weather, but also strong earthquakes. Most of you have probably seen images from war in Balkan region. 105mm direct shell hit on these houses would leave a hole about a meter in diameter, blast would be considerably weakened, and fragments would be contained in the room directly hit. I've seen troop positions in such houses, which were commonly used as bunkers, completely intact with direct HE shell hit from a tank just a room away. Guys would be shellshocked for a while, but otherwise uninjured.
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But when the blast of war blows in our ears, Then imitate the action of the tiger; Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood, Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage.
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