In Lismore (also Australia), the stilts had to be high because white man built a town where the aboriginals warned it floods routinely. Guess what we found out in 2022? Turns out no matter how tall the stilts are, you'll still get flooded.

No the photo is correct. They’re two story structures where only the upper floor has any type of wall, and the word wall there is doing a lot of heavy lifting. They aren’t really part of the structure of the house, and can often be detached or opened. Depending on the style of roof they don’t even go all the way up to meet it. The unwalled ground floor isn’t “underneath” the house like one of those stilted New Jersey shore houses, that’s actual living space.

This is opposed to the type of house in OPs post or in the western world where the entire structure is enclosed by permanent walls.