how concerned about natural disasters are you?

[nageov3t]

I had lunch today with a friend who's a little hysterical about the whole idea after the earthquake and flooding in NJ... she's pretty convinced that we're living in the end times and told me about some mountain on an island in the Atlantic that's supposed to fall into the ocean and create a tidal wave that's going to bury the entire NYC-metro area

she's downloaded every hurricane/earthquake/whatever app she could find for her iphone to get real-time updates every time there's a developing tropical storm. lol.

personally, I'm not too worried. if something happens, I'll deal with it then. I live on high-ish ground, so for my neighborhood to flood, the waters would have to be catastrophically high. not too worried about earthquakes since I've experienced a grand total of 1 in the 20 years that I've lived in the mid-atlantic, and this isn't exactly a tornado-prone area.

the worst I can fathom would be a blizzard of epic proportions snowing me inside my house for an extended period, but preparing for that seems like just a matter of ensuring that you have a decent supply of dry/canned goods and other essentials.

 

[FoBoT]

yeah, i saw that on TV
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megatsunami#Canary_Islands

The Cumbre Vieja volcano is currently in a dormant stage, but will almost certainly erupt again in the future. Day and Ward hypothesize[14][15] that if such an eruption causes the western flank to fail, a megatsunami will be generated.

the western half of the volcano has an approximate volume of 500 cubic kilometres (120 cu mi) and an estimated mass of 1,500,000,000,000 metric tons (1.7×1012 short tons) If it were to catastrophically slide into the ocean, it could generate a wave with an initial height of about 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) at the island, and a likely height of around 50 metres (164 ft) at the Caribbean and the Eastern North American seaboard when it runs ashore eight or more hours later. Tens of millions of lives would be lost as New York, Boston, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Miami, Havana, and many other cities near the Atlantic coast are leveled.

 

[Newbian]

Not very as the only thing you have to worry about around here is freezing rain during winter and even then it's only bad if you are stupid enough to drive in it.

 

[lxskllr]

I'm not at all concerned. Tsunami? Bring it on. The east coast could use a good douching.

 

[Spikesoldier]

not concerned until it happens to me

 

[Ronstang]

Not very. I have weathered every hurricane to hit the Texas coast since 1970. I have watched 90 ft tall pine trees bending over 45 degrees in my back yard. I have been without power for more than 10 days twice in that time. Life goes on. Don't worry, be happy!

 

[bhanson]

Not too much. The only likely possibility here is flooding, but the city is pretty well equipped for that.

Still not a bad idea to keep some potable water and flashlights around. I do practice tactical parking.

This bit of awesomeness might come in handy during a mass evac

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Not at all. The only natural disaster or weather related deaths around here are about children left in cars, hikers running out of water, and old people getting heat strokes.

 

[TwiceOver]

Living in north central usa, about the only thing I have to worry about is tornadoes for a month or two and seasonal flooding after winter for maybe a month. In general... Not concerned at all.

 

[purbeast0]

not one bit. all i did during the hurricane irene panic was buy an extra bottle of liquor and 2 extra 2 liters of soda, just in case i lost power and was stuck really doing nothing.

 

[Saint Nick]

I'm not.

 

[SithSolo1]

Shit happens. Either its the end times and we're all gonna die or its not. We need to just keep on, keepin on. If we all huddle together and chant "woe is me, the end is nigh" it will sure as death be the end of society as we know it.

 

[Crusty]

34k acres on fire next door...

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Shit happens. Either its the end times and we're all gonna die or its not. We need to just keep on, keepin on. If we all huddle together and chant "woe is me, the end is nigh" it will sure as death be the end of society as we know it.

Humanity has predicted the end times for millennia. I find your fear of such events irrational and historically unfounded.

yeah I know you were being ironic

 

[CPA]

-62%

 

[Leros]

34k acres on fire next door...

I have very little fear for the actual city of Austin.

 

[Cyco]

Don't really care, what happens happens. Nothing you can do when you're next in line.

 

[MotionMan]

The only serious natural disaster we would get around here is an earthquake. We have emergency kits in the house, my office and our cars. Not much else we can do, so I don't worry about it much.

We will also get extreme heat and some rain-related flooding, but I do not worry about those at all.

MotionMan

 

[makken]

Depends on the type and location.

A typhoon in hong kong? Pretty concerned about
An earthquake in san francisco? Moderately concerned
An asteroid hitting earth/yellowstone blowing up? Not at all

 

[khon]

I'm not worried at all, since I live in a part of the world where there aren't really any natural disasters.

The most we ever get is a storm or some mild flooding.

No earthquakes, no hurricanes, no wildfires, no extreme temperatures, no tornadoes, no volcanoes, nothing at all.

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

I lived in Alaska most of my life. Cali people are amateures when it comes to earthquakes. And then there's the cold snaps that make people in Montana say "Holy Shit!" Then I moved to Hawaii where I've been through two major tsunamis in the last two years.

It's a part of life.

I'm aware... But as far as being concerned on a daily basis... no. I'm not. It doesn't enter into my normal, daily thought process.

 

[Wyndru]

Not concerned, it's a nice check from the gov't and insurance companies

j/k, but I think in our area most people are a little more concerned than before since we've actually been hit by something that did significant damage.

I'm sure in another 10 years we will return to thinking we are invincible.

 

[Fingolfin269]

What's the point in being concerned? If you live in an area prone to natural disasters, such as tornados for me, then throw some supplies in the closet in case a tornado shows up one day. No point in worrying about it all day/every day though.

 

[Jeff7]

Be sure to mention the Yellowstone supervolcano at some point too, or the unusual lack of sunspots last year.

Thus far, the reliability of all end-of-world predictions remains at 0%.



The main concern I've got here is tornadoes. It seems like there's a tornado warning nearly every month during the summer, and the storm systems causing them often like to come through at night. Touchdowns don't seem to be common though, and any that do show up aren't very powerful, though even a "minor" tornado would still wreck this building.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

im not but i probably should be considering i live in san francisco. supposedly a really big earthquake would make the earth in downtown sf melt. the last time there was a big quake it left big rips in the walls of two of my condos. if there ever was a tsumani in the pacific it would do a lot of damage as well, the city is right on the water