Gas explosions, like airplane crashes, always make the news. They are rare and exciting, and the stories they generate are unique and full of human interest. Slower disasters have trouble getting any press, partly because the human brain seems more tuned into fast events. We have trouble planning ahead, because the state of nature we occupied for millenia didn't reward planners as much as it did those with fast reflexes.
Architects like to think that they're planning for the long term, but most of our activity consists of reacting and responding to things that move on weekly and monthly time scales. We consider longevity in the context of decades, not centuries. Adaptable planning features---like extra storage space, more robust construction, flexible mechanical systems--are usually the first good things to go during the cost-cutting process. It's often cheaper to destroy buildings than save them. And, we can all make the claim that "this time we'll get it right."
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