To Quake Or Not To Quake ~ That Is The Question (San Francisco: house, tornadoes)

[dreamfollower]

If money was not any kind of determining factor in moving, how many would elect to move out of CA because of the threat of a big quake?

The postings on this site that refer to quake activity tend to be extremely philosophical, but I do not know if this is because of complacency or the inability to make the move. The magnitude of a large quake is bad enough, but who is to say that the duration of a quake is going to only and always be limited to 1-minute? And who is to say that the amount of aftershocks will be only a few of lesser magnitude?

The predictiion for So CA is for the most part due to the fact that it has gone without a large quake for an extended period, which does not bode well; and then again ~ it may never happen despite the propensity.

But since daily life is better spent without a constant cloud over one's head, whether it be tornadoes or quakes or floods, if the free choice to move to an area that does not automatically have a prediction in place of this kind were an option ~ how many would not waste one minute in leaving?

[Charles]

What's with all the earthquake posts lately?

Earthquakes were never a factor for me, in fact where I moved to (Colorado) and where I am considering moving to (Alabama) weather related (icy roads) are much riskier than earthquakes.
I'd also bet that earthquakes are not a factor for 99% of Californians and 99.99% of City Data posters. Unless one has a phobia, I don't think it matters much. There are a lot of other reasons why people are considering leaving California.

[SandyCo]

I once read that Californians live in a state of "collective denial", meaning that yes, we're aware that there are earthquakes here, but we're able to push it to the back of our minds. Part of the problem is that most of (myself included) have no concept of what a huge earthquake feels like. I've felt two medium sized earthquakes in my life, but I really have no idea what a big earthquake (like San Francisco in 1906 or Anchorage, AK in 1964) would be like. I've heard the stories - the earth shook for up to five minutes in Alaska, for example - but I can't internalize that. That's probably a good thing, because I'd never be able to sleep at night!

As in all things, we prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

[18Montclair]

Earthquakes are not a factor at all to me.

I was a 10th grader during the Loma Prieta Earthquake in 1989 and honestly I thought my brother was doing jumping jacks until the house really started swaying back and forth-it wasnt really scary but rattled nerves I guess, and that was a 7.0-not that isnt a serious thing, cause people died but 99.9999999999999999% of us came out just fine.

Out of staters seem so preoccupied with earthquakes? Its somewhat amusing.

[irvm]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

Earthquakes are not a factor at all to me.

Out of staters seem so preoccupied with earthquakes? Its somewhat amusing.

There's a phobia for every state here on City-Data.
Here we don't have quakes, we have SNAKES! OMG!
(not really, but people are always asking about them)

They are fun to read.

[bhcompy]

when i move out of california it is going to be because of housing being to expensive and not because of earthquakes. honestly, southern california is the best place in the world to live. you have every activity you can think of(including being within a few hours of skiing in snow and swimming in the ocean) and perfect weather yearround(barring these 100+ temp heatwaves a few times a year, but that is tolerable).

[DMenscha]

Up here in Gold Country there are no major fault lines or history of earthquakes. Every now and then the caldera around Mono Lake shakes and we get a tiny little feel for what that's about. A lot of CA isn't affected at all by EQ's.

I think there's too many of you standing in one spot, the earth just can't handle the pressure