[SirenSong71]

If you HAD to deal with one of them, which one would be the lesser evil for you? I went onto the California boards yesterday and was surprised to see that they did not have a separate forum for 'earthquakes' as Florida does for 'hurricanes'. I did a search and read some of the posts about earthquakes or 'shakers' as they call them in Cali. One poster said he experienced one where the ground was rolling like a carpet being rolled out! He still makes his home in Cali though, and also commented that he would take earthquakes over Florida hurricanes anyday, which prompted me to create this poll.

Man! The GROUND rolling??!!! I would be outta there!!

That's a little too scary for me!!

[fishdelasol]

At least with hurricanes you get several days notice and can prepare for it. You can even take a quick getaway if you really want to avoid being there for it.

[ssgt]

Originally Posted by fishdelasol

At least with hurricanes you get several days notice and can prepare for it. You can even take a quick getaway if you really want to avoid being there for it.

Now youve pointed that out you are gonna get it from the "Bash Florida" crowd!

!!!!RUN!!!!

[FHMullane]

I spent most of my life in CA and 11 years in FL. If you live in a rural area in CA in a single story house that has some earthquake protection and you are not on a major fault you will not be that bad off. 1.. Odds of the earthquake being so close and so strong are slim; 2. Chances are you can recover most important papers and possessions... even if some breakables are broken. If you have gas you need to know how to turn it off; 3. The decimated area is small and resources will come in quickly.

Hurricanes on the other hand... 1. lots of notice which creates anxiety; 2. Odds of getting one much much greater than an earthquake and not many places to go that might be better...obviously inland helps; 3. the loss is pretty great as you have two things... wind and water; 4. the whole state is chaotic and resources are limited and cannot get in easily and you cannot get out even in the aftermath; 5. this is a peninsula... very tough to deal with in a crisis.

So, as a result of the foregoing... the threat of earthquakes in CA is less threatening. BUT if one had to live and work in a highrise and drive on elevated freeways every day and lived in crowded areas on or near a major fault in LA, the Valley or Bay area... then that would probably scare me more.

Hope that helps

[INeedAChange]

it's a choice between two bad options

Originally Posted by FHMullane

I spent most of my life in CA and 11 years in FL. If you live in a rural area in CA in a single story house that has some earthquake protection and you are not on a major fault you will not be that bad off. 1.. Odds of the earthquake being so close and so strong are slim; 2. Chances are you can recover most important papers and possessions... even if some breakables are broken. If you have gas you need to know how to turn it off; 3. The decimated area is small and resources will come in quickly.

Hurricanes on the other hand... 1. lots of notice which creates anxiety; 2. Odds of getting one much much greater than an earthquake and not many places to go that might be better...obviously inland helps; 3. the loss is pretty great as you have two things... wind and water; 4. the whole state is chaotic and resources are limited and cannot get in easily and you cannot get out even in the aftermath; 5. this is a peninsula... very tough to deal with in a crisis.

So, as a result of the foregoing... the threat of earthquakes in CA is less threatening. BUT if one had to live and work in a highrise and drive on elevated freeways every day and lived in crowded areas on or near a major fault in LA, the Valley or Bay area... then that would probably scare me more.

Hope that helps

[ssgt]

Originally Posted by FHMullane

I spent most of my life in CA and 11 years in FL. If you live in a rural area in CA in a single story house that has some earthquake protection and you are not on a major fault you will not be that bad off. 1.. Odds of the earthquake being so close and so strong are slim; 2. Chances are you can recover most important papers and possessions... even if some breakables are broken. If you have gas you need to know how to turn it off; 3. The decimated area is small and resources will come in quickly.

Hurricanes on the other hand... 1. lots of notice which creates anxiety; 2. Odds of getting one much much greater than an earthquake and not many places to go that might be better...obviously inland helps; 3. the loss is pretty great as you have two things... wind and water; 4. the whole state is chaotic and resources are limited and cannot get in easily and you cannot get out even in the aftermath; 5. this is a peninsula... very tough to deal with in a crisis.
So, as a result of the foregoing... the threat of earthquakes in CA is less threatening. BUT if one had to live and work in a highrise and drive on elevated freeways every day and lived in crowded areas on or near a major fault in LA, the Valley or Bay area... then that would probably scare me more.

Hope that helps

Ummm.........

[sunrico90]

If you HAD to deal with one of them, which one would be the lesser evil for you?

Hurricane anytime. You can prepare and take action to get your family to a safehaven way prior to the actual landing. Experienced Andrew/Dennis; the flow of information got everyone informed and prepared. This includes rescue and food (maybe not the best, but better than nothing) and made the recovery process a lot easier for all.

Earthquakes normally don't give sufficient warning and the destruction can be monumental compare to the hurricane with infrastructures.

During my assignment to Panama we experienced 3 or 4 earthquakes and is scary to see everything moving and shaking and your bedroom is in the 3er floor of a cement house and you worry about the building collapsing. Normally in the early hours of the morning (2 or 3 AM).

I'll take the hurricanes before an earthquake

[tallrick]

It takes a lot more to build an earthquake proof structure and if it hits hard enough, fires and explosions can result. I prefer the hurricanes unless I am living on a farm. An earthquake hitting a rural area with tiny, sturdy homes would not be much of a disaster. I would rather face a hurricane than an earthquake. Now what about tornadoes?

[randian]

If you experienced an earthquake in Panama no wonder you were scared. The building codes there are pathetic. I have experienced major earthquakes (SF in '89) and many minor ones.

1) minor quakes are trivial. Any building built to remotely modern building codes can handle them without damage. At worst some stuff falls off shelves. Only the most fragile of people will be injured.

2) Modern buildings sustained no serious damage in the '89 quake. The section of SF that burned consisted of very old buildings that were sited on landfill, which is unstable during a quake. Even losing a section of the Bay Bridge during rush hour didn't kill nearly as many people as you'd think.

3) Relatively minor quakes kill thousands in the third world. A 7.1 earthquake in SF that would have killed hundreds of thousands most anywhere else killed what, less than 20 people? Death or serious injury during earthquakes in CA is a freak event.

4) Earthquakes seem scary, but they're really no big deal in California.

5) An earthquake in the Midwest would be a very scary thing. Remember the monster 17th or 18th century quake in the Midwest that was felt as far away as the Northeast? Fortunately it was sparsely populated then. Another one would probably take down major skyscrapers and kill thousands if it happened again near one of the major cities. Their building codes aren't up to snuff when it comes to major quakes, especially for houses and apartments. They still allow brick, for one thing, which would fall apart in a medium-power quake let alone a big one like in SF, and they don't tie down the framing to the foundation.

[Floridabound09]

I have experienced them both and believe me an earthquake scared me far more then the hurricane I was in.
As many posted, we were able to get prepared for the hurricane, but was not able to for the earthquake.
Don't like either, but would take the hurricane instead of the earthquake.