In some places, like parts of Florida, you can’t bury anything because you’ll immediately be underwater.
Greeting from the Netherlands, currently 5 meters below sealevel and all our powerlines except for (some of) the main network ones are underground, many of them sitting pretty below groundwater level. That’s actually a bonus, because it helps keep them cool. If they’re above groundwater level, you need to make sure they can lose their heat by using specially graded sand.
It might be expensive, but this method demonstrably gets people killed. If Europe can manage to bury powerlines for small villages, why can’t the largest cities in the US?
if that’s what a southeast Asian village looks like in your mind
You managed to pick a site that has the worst poles in the largest city. Many streets look like this: maps.app.goo.gl/7oUxKAx5hqX3kwNF7