I live about 10 miles inland, in a well-drained location about 60 feet above sea level. If I board up well, I should have minimal damage even from a major storm.
Should I pay the same amount per $100,000 of value as somebody with a new $5M home right on the beach, which will absolutely, positively be destroyed if a Cat 4 comes ashore there?
If so, I am paying part of the risk for somebody with a great deal more money than I have. Those on the coast generally are wealthier and more politically powerful than those inland. That's why the state refuses to allow individual risk assessment by property.
I think you hit on the REAL problem.
A home along the ocean should be building for the worst case scenario not the most common bad scenario.
That 4 million dollar home should be build for a cat 5.
Construction codes do not say what a person can or can not build or where they can live in THIS case, just to the level of quality they must build.
Perhaps what we need is a rating system for individual homes. So a house with a rating of 3 will survive a category 3 with no damage. Thus we get away from the "block" system and go into the personal responsibility system.
What about the person in the 45 year old mobile home 5 miles from a paved road in a county with only a volunteer fire department?
Should he pay the same per square foot as you?
BTW, he has three Dobermans, a Rotwieller, and a couple Pit Bulls!