California, its earthquakes, and what Easterners think of it

[TrailerParkJawa]

However, as a Californian, I must say tornados scare me. The idea of the sky picking up my car and flinging it through the air is an indication of how strong ma nature can be.

I recall there was some tornado that struck Los Angeles, which managed to hit a trailer park..

I like living near Philadelphia, no earthquakes, hurricanes lose most of their strength before hitting and my town is located so that any really significant flooding is impossible and tornados only rarely form.

During the last El Nino we had two tornados hit the Bay Area. Both in the south bay. One hit the parking lot at the Lockheed Sunnyvale plant. It pulled a tree out of the ground in front of the credit union. The next day I could'nt figure out what had changed until my dad told me what happened. Its funny how you know somethign changed but you cant put your finger on it.

[Shinova]

A major earthquake will make even a really bad hurricane like Andrew or Camille seem like a gentle spring rain. Even if a hurricane directly struck Miami, the level of damage wouldn't approach San Francisco in '06 or Anchorage in '64. But a really gigantic earthquake will strike California maybe once or twice a century, while the Gulf Coast and Eastern Seaboard might get more than one bad hurricane in a single year.

All building construction here in California has changed much since then.

We don't know if huge fires and such would erupt like last time.


And I recall Alaska was hit by a huge quake once. Ground got really messed up and some town was hit, but I don't recall fires or anything like that.

[TrailerParkJawa]

A major earthquake will make even a really bad hurricane like Andrew or Camille seem like a gentle spring rain. Even if a hurricane directly struck Miami, the level of damage wouldn't approach San Francisco in '06 or Anchorage in '64. But a really gigantic earthquake will strike California maybe once or twice a century, while the Gulf Coast and Eastern Seaboard might get more than one bad hurricane in a single year.

All building construction here in California has changed much since then.

We don't know if huge fires and such would erupt like last time.


And I recall Alaska was hit by a huge quake once. Ground got really messed up and some town was hit, but I don't recall fires or anything like that.

If a really big quake hit there would be big fires to be sure. Especially if the quake hits during a time when lots of people are cooking. Would the fires run rampant like in 06'. Perhaps not, but I would not be surprised to see entire blocks burn down.

[Drewcifer]

I live in the midwest, but have spent a lot of time in California, having family there.

It's funny, people on the west coast usually laugh off earthquakes, but are mortified by the idea of living in the midwest with tornadoes. Of course, the opposite is true here; people get excited about tornadoes but are scared to death of earthquakes.

What's the ironic about that is that one of the most active seismic areas in North America is the New Madrid fault zone in the bootheel of Missouri. It is also the site of the largest recorded earthquake in the US, which occured during the winter of 1811-12.

[Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi]

Well, at least fear of earthquakes is more rational than the fear of having to eat blubber and ride a dogsled to work in year-round 20 below zero weather in Alaska many kids in America seem to have. Ever notice how many kids, even teenagers seem to think that?

As for where I live, I live a couple dozen miles west of Pittsburgh, and there are almost no disasters. Hell, we don't even have weather extremes! It's just the same 80-degrees with rain in the summer and 30-degrees with dissapointingly little snow in the winter.

[KingGlamis]

CA native here. Not too worried about quakes, even though I know that thinking is shallow. In the Northridge quake in the 90s my sisters house got completely trashed. Everything made of glass broke.

But the grass is always greener on the other side. I think CA weather is so boring I wish we had more excitement. I will be moving to AZ soon, and even though their storms are not that destructive (for the most part), I still find the monsoons they get to be very cool as compared to the boring CA weather.

[Exonerate]

I lived in Taiwan for quite a while. Been through quite a few level 3/4 earthquakes, and too many hurricanes to count.

I currently reside in California, and have yet to have experienced an earthquake... To be honest, I'm not really concerned, since there's little chance I'll be injured, even in the event of a major quake, since there are no tall buildings in my area and nothing will fall ontop of me.

[Col. Crackpot]

hurricanes aren't the monsters there made to be. you get dozens of hours warning and they start to fizzle as soon as they hit the coastline. i've been through 2 direct hits , a category 3 (gloria 1986) and a category 2 (bob 1991). the power went out for a few days and we lost some roof shingles and siding. a few big trees went down. some flooding and some coastal homes were washed out (after they were safely evacuated) With the exception of the big once in a lifetime monsters (Andrew that hit Florida and the Great Northeast Hurricane of 1938) they aren't that bad. Earthquakes on the other hand spring up on a moments notice and there is no safe 'high ground' to run to.