Would it/Does it scare you to live in an earthquake-prone area?

[heymisterk]

Was thinking about this again since the devastation in Japan, but have wondered about it often. I live in Cleveland, and experienced one earthquake in 8th grade that was 5.0 in 1986. I was in english class and I admit it scared the sh*t out of me.

 

I know nearly every area is prone to natural disasters: hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, etc. But for some reason, the idea of the earth suddenly shifting beneath my feet is pretty terrifying. Honestly, as much as I love visiting California, moving there would give me pause.

 

So let's hear from you on this: Would living in an earthquake-prone area scare you? If you already do, do you just accept it as a fact of life? And do you really believe "the big one" is coming, as seismologists say?

 

I shutter to think of the impact if a 9.0 quake were to hit the L.A. or S.F. areas...

[retrosurfer1959]

I spent my younger years in california first in the Lompoc/Pismo beach area and then in LA as a teenager. Honestly couldn't wait to get out of California and it would take some kind of major disaster to get me to go back but the earthquakes were not a major concern for me. While I wasn't thrilled with Earthquakes, Wildfires, Mudslides, etc. it was really the people, the Government and all the stupid laws they continued to pass that scared me away.

[grampa]

I'm a life-long Califonian and have lived through some quakes including near the epicenter of the Loma Prieta in '89. They are reminders that Earth is alive. They can't be any worse than a hurricane which lasts much longer and causes more damage.

Tsunamis on the other hand are much like the storm surge associated with a hurricane with its relentless devastating push of water.

When you get down to it, Nature wins.

[heymisterk]

The fear I have with earthquakes is that you really have no warning: The one minute you might be strumming your guitar; 10 seconds later, you are trying to prevent your Marshall stacks from falling over! Where I live, we get a lot of bad weather: blizzards, bad lightening storms, and the occasional tornado. But we generally are warned when those things are going to happen.

[charlie brown]

Grew up in Kansas, and ducked tornadoes, for 27 years.

Moved to So Cal...rock and rolled with their earthquakes,

major and minor, mud-slides and fires, for 30 years.

Then, moved back to Kansas, when my job dried up. No matter

where you go, "there's always something!" (Roseanne Roseannadanna)

We may "infest" the planet, but IT="Mother Nature" wins, every time.

 

CB

[DanvillRob]

I've lived in CA for most of my life. I was in a large quake in 1957, (I think), and was in the SF Bay Area for Loma Prieta.

 

I was in Pennsylvania for the large LA Quake, (1971), that killed like 66 people. The guys I worked with at the time asked my how I could live in such a place.

 

I told them that first of all, LA was as far from where I lived as North Carolina is to Pennsylvania. Just because LA is in the same State as SF doesn't mean they're close.

 

Second, I told them that EVERY winter more people die due to snow and ice as died in the LA quake, and a big quake only happens every 50 years or so.

 

The people who die in earthquakes are no more dead than those who die of burning up in homes heated with fuel oil when the burner goes haywire.

 

When you look around and see all those mountains.... they all got there by the same process as caused the quakes we're seeing... they're "normal" and simply a part of nature.

 

There's an old Inca story about a man who's so afraid, he won't leave his home. He was afraid he'd get killed by something he couldn't foresee.

 

Do you know what happened to him? Like everyone else...he died.

[Fringe Lunatic]

Some people worry about such things, but if ya think about it, it's a helluva lot more dangerous to drive a car in LA.....

[LPguitarman]

We'll all know the answer by 12/21/12, according to the Mayans.

[DanvillRob]

We'll all know the answer by 12/21/12, according to the Mayans.

 

 

You mean when the Mayan calendar runs out so no one will be able to figure out when Easter will be?

[heymisterk]

We'll all know the answer by 12/21/12, according to the Mayans.

 

That is too funny: Just coincidentally I saw a presentation at our planetarium debunking the whole Mayan thing.

[marvar]

No, I'm not scared, I'm not afraid to die-

There is a major fault right under me, here in East Tennessee, and the prediction is, sooner or later we are gonna get it.

I believe when your number is called, then your time is up, at least in this world- and there is nothing you can do about it, except be prepared for the next world.

[DB Cooper]

Was thinking about this again since the devastation in Japan, but have wondered about it often. I live in Cleveland, and experienced one earthquake in 8th grade that was 5.0 in 1986. I was in english class and I admit it scared the sh*t out of me.

 

I live in mid-Michigan. I remember that earthquake. I was sitting on the toilet, and I felt a strange movement - wasn't sure what it was until I was driving to work later that day and heard about the quake centered somewhere in Ohio...

 

I don't think I would be too worried living in an earthquake-prone area, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to live near the ocean at sea level. I love the ocean, but the immensity of it kinda freaks me out, and whenever something horrific happens near the ocean, I always tend to think, "well, what did they expect?"

 

~DB

[DB Cooper]

We'll all know the answer by 12/21/12, according to the Mayans.

 

The Mayans are extinct...so what do they know?

[stein]

Some people worry about such things, but if ya think about it, it's a helluva lot more dangerous to drive a car in LA.....

Driving is safe compared to walking

[TommyK]

...I told them that first of all, LA was as far from where I lived as North Carolina is to Pennsylvania. Just because LA is in the same State as SF doesn't mean they're close.

 

Seriously? I thought it was Mexico, San Francisco, LA, Washington State, Canada. :blink: Live and learn.

 

...

There's an old Inca story about a man who's so afraid, he won't leave his home. He was afraid he'd get killed by something he couldn't foresee.

 

Do you know what happened to him? Like everyone else...he died.[/b]

 

Let me guess. His teepee collapsed on him and he suffocated?

 

You mean when the Mayan calendar runs out so no one will be able to figure out when Easter will be?

 

That is what is known as the wastebasket theorem. When my wastebasket is full, I can go home. That one was debunked years ago. Trust me, I've tried it. My boss never buys it.

[DanvillRob]

Seriously? I thought it was Mexico, San Francisco, LA, Washington State, Canada. :blink: Live and learn.

 

 

 

Let me guess. His teepee collapsed on him and he suffocated?

 

 

 

That is what is known as the wastebasket theorem. When my wastebasket is full, I can go home. That one was debunked years ago. Trust me, I've tried it. My boss never buys it.

 

 

I'm glad you enjoyed my post... I'm always happy to provide a platform for other's jokes! (by the way.... I'm pretty sure the Incas didn't live in teepees...but I could be wrong)

[TommyK]

+1 we all live in disaster prone areas.

 

I, for one live in an area of one potential disaster: tornado. They've almost gotten them down to a science. With today's radar technology, they can literally see a tornado forming before a ground spotter can see it. Watch the weather, listen to the radio and be prepared with canned goods. Even so, tornadoes are seldom wide spread enough that help is less than 2 hours away.. Save yourself, help is on the way.

 

But, this Japan nuclear issue has me a bit concerned. I now have calculated I live, almost exactly 24 miles down wind of a nuke plant.

 

There was one pundit on the electric radio this a.m. stated that in Illinois the chances of a tsunami inundating a nuke plant is minimal. MINIMAL? bluddy H, impossible, unless the entire west coast subsides up to and including the Mississippi valley! But other bad things can still happen. Years ago, while just a lad, I had the opportunity to walk inside a nuclear reactor building in Byron, Il. It was under construction and the nukes hadn't arrived yet, so we were free to walk into it. We were told that short of a direct nuclear blast, the concrete reinforced containment building could not be breached. If you believe them. Which I guess I do.

 

But, even so, I think I'll lay in a supply of potassium iodate pills, just in case. I will, however, wait until this current run on the consumer available supply abates. I suspect getting it would be next to impossible, however, made more possible by opportunistic pricing.

[L5Larry]

I live in Missouri a few hours north of the New Madrid Fault. We get pretty good "tremors" every few years. The last one woke me up due to the stuff in the china cabinet rattling. The biggest one I remember was in the mid-late 60's, it was big enough to make us run out of the house. I also slept through a few in the 80's when I had a waterbed, without even noticing them. The largest recorded quake in our area was an 8.0 in the early 1800's (wiki). It seems the fault line was pretty active back then. Unlike California, we have no sea to fall into, so we just roll with it (pun intended).

 

Although not technically in "tornado alley", tornadoes are our biggest severe weather threat around here. We had one come through New Year's Eve that barely missed two of my friends homes, and historically there has been much documented tornado damage in our area. The most famous of which occurred in the early 1900's and another one in the late 50's.

[fl00dsm0k3]

myy great uncle lived in a house were they got 8 feet of water in their basement the only problem in their basement ceiling is 7 feet

[TommyK]

...

Although not technically in "tornado alley", tornadoes are our biggest severe weather threat around here. We had one come through New Year's Eve that barely missed two of my friends homes, and historically there has been much documented tornado damage in our area. The most famous of which occurred in the early 1900's and another one in the late 50's.

 

1925 Tri-State Tornado. First touched down in southern Mo, cut across southern Il. finally gave up the ghost in southern In. It nearly followed a train track, tie for tie, for many miles. As such it laid waste to many villages and towns along it's road bed. Thousands hurt or dead. Most folks never saw a funnel. Just a big black dust cloud pushed ahead of it.

[Dennis G]

I've lived in SoCal since '79. I'll take earthquakes anyday over the blizzards I grew up with in the northeast, or the tornadoes I dodged for the 2 years in the late 90's that I lived in the Atlanta area. EQ's only last a few seconds (although it does seem a lot longer at the time LOL) & with few exceptions do not cause the widespread damage that floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, etc. do.

 

Now excuse me while I go check my earthquake kit

[FirstMeasure]

The Mayans are extinct...so what do they know?

They Knew that they'd need a new Calander come 2013.

 

On Topic, I've lived in Quake Country my whole life. The Big Bear/Landers quake dinged up my guitar and took out every rock chimney in town. Not nearly a scarey as Wild Fires. Choking on Smoke, Ash falling like snow, Evacuation Orders, Traffic Jamming the only open road out of town (fire having closed the other two), Sunset Glow on the horizon All Night Long! Then spending the week in a hotel room in the desert!

 

Criminy! Just give me a Quake and lets get on with rebuilding! All these other Natural Disasters take so long.

[jaxson50]

I grew up in So. Cal. and have been through a few ground shakers, more then a few brush fires, mud slides and flash floods.

I could look out my window and see the San Andreas fault. The New Madrid fault is just as dangerous but gets very little attention, it once rang church bells in Boston and reportedly made the Mississippi River run backward....

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/states/events/1811-1812.php

[jaxson50]

How many earthquakes do you think happen every day?

http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/qed/

 

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/

[Searcy]

Don't worry about it. I lived through Andrew in Miami and floods in Nashville, car crashes and big falls and the bastards ain't got me yet. A tiny bleeding ulcer nearly got me though. When it's your time, it's your time.