Study: Calif. overdue for big quake

[dullard]

Originally posted by: MrsSkoorb
And I thought tornados were bad....

I'm always confused about this. People in earthquake prone regions always say they avoid tornados - you are in danger anywere. But A tornado kills at most a handful of people, while an earthquake can kill many, many thousands. I've lived in the midwest for 20 years and still don't know a single person who knows anyone else ever harmed by a tornado. Yet everyone in California has felt an earthquake. The two just don't compare in the slightest.

 

[Jfur]

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: MrsSkoorb
And I thought tornados were bad....

I'm always confused about this. People in earthquake prone regions always say they avoid tornados - you are in danger anywere. But A tornado kills at most a handful of people, while an earthquake can kill many, many thousands. I've lived in the midwest for 20 years and still don't know a single person who knows anyone else ever harmed by a tornado. Yet everyone in California has felt an earthquake. The two just don't compare in the slightest.

Do you know anyone who was badly injured or killed in an earthquake (in the U.S.)? Not that it won't happen, but quakes in most of our lifetimes have so far been quite benign. If I were in the midwest I'd be concerned about both. For me the worst fear is tsunami, although every time there's a warning people flock to the shore ...

 

[rh71]

Hmmm... I personally know 1 person in all of CA if you can believe that. I better warn her that she just moved on top of the San Andreas fault.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: MrsSkoorb
And I thought tornados were bad....

I'm always confused about this. People in earthquake prone regions always say they avoid tornados - you are in danger anywere. But A tornado kills at most a handful of people, while an earthquake can kill many, many thousands. I've lived in the midwest for 20 years and still don't know a single person who knows anyone else ever harmed by a tornado. Yet everyone in California has felt an earthquake. The two just don't compare in the slightest.

tornado kills often same with floods and hurricanes

earth quakes don't kill all that many people. they don't happen often, and with decent engineering, u probably survive. only deaths i remember were from that double decker freeway that was built like sh*t even then 63 people died total, its not as if thousands die like you said. that was the worst earth quake we had in a while in 89 i just swayed a bit.

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: Jfur
Do you know anyone who was badly injured or killed in an earthquake (in the U.S.)? Not that it won't happen, but quakes in most of our lifetimes have so far been quite benign. If I were in the midwest I'd be concerned about both. For me the worst fear is tsunami, although every time there's a warning people flock to the shore ...

Me personally I don't know of anyone hurt in an earthquake (and I lived in California for 5 years). But I've had a few items fall off of shelves and break. So I've been economically more harmed by earthquakes than tornados. But the fact remains that an earthquake is unavoidable but you can quite easilly move out of a tornados path. And an earthquake's potential for death and destruction is far far greater than a tornado. To make up for this, there are more tornados than major earthquakes of course, but the fear associated with them is far less.

In my home state, Nebraska, there is an average of 1 tornado death per year. However no deaths at all occured in any of the 1990s - meaning that tornado warning systems have reduced the chance of tornado deaths significantly. Yet if one magnitude 8 earthquake hit an earthquake prone region in California is estimated that 14,000 people would die. Yes the population density in California is greater, meaning that the numbers aren't as extreme as they look, but not enough to count for the disparity. Heck if you look in the history books often one of the worst tornado nights ever reported was in Grand Island, Nebraska - and a whopping 4 people died (7 tornados ripped through the heart of the city). It is just the disparity in potential destruction that makes earthquakes far more scary.

earth quakes don't kill all that many people. they don't happen often, and with decent engineering, u probably survive

That is just since California hasn't had any big earthquakes in a while. "In 1995, Kobe, Japan, a densely populated community less prepared for earthquakes than Northridge, was devastated by the most costly earthquake ever to occur. Property losses were projected at $96 billion, and at least 5,378 people were killed. These two earthquakes tested building codes and construction practices, as well as emergency preparedness and response procedures." Source. That 5000 deaths in one incident at one location was probably equivalent to all the tornado deaths total in the whole world for the last 50 years.

Edit: In the 50 years between 1950 and 1999, there were a total of 4460 tornado deaths in the US. Since the US has the vast majority of all the world's tornados, my estimate above is close.

 

[0roo0roo]

That is just since California hasn't had any big earthquakes in a while. "In 1995, Kobe, Japan, a densely populated community less prepared for earthquakes than Northridge, was devastated by the most costly earthquake ever to occur. Property losses were projected at $96 billion, and at least 5,378 people were killed. These two earthquakes tested building codes and construction practices, as well as emergency preparedness and response procedures." Source. That 5000 deaths in one incident at one location was probably equivalent to all the tornado deaths total in the whole world for the last 50 years.

isn't japan mostly densly populated? high rises and such? in california we're like one big suburb


you also focus too much on tornados.. they are centralized obviously sure they move around, but they aren't like hurricanes.

add hurricanes and the extreme damage they reak, the massive floods in the plains, if they don't kill, they cause mass damage. homelessness etc

then theres simple cold. people do die from the cold still mostly transients and old, but still