What's scarier to you? Tornadoes or Earthquakes?

[Brovane]

I voted Earthquake.

A tornado if you are properly prepared you can have warning. The key is being properly prepared. If you live in that area you need to have a house with either a storm shelter or a safe room.

A earthquake can come out of no-where and strike and can cause massive damage with no warning.

 

[MrWizzard]

Tornado, can wipe your entire house out instantly giving you no warning or time to even try and get away.

At least with an Earthquake you can probably get outside to your yard if you are in your house.

... you ever tried running while a decent size earthquake is going on in a house......lol

 

[zerocool84]

I thought people said you could run and hide from tornadoes? Were all those who died just stupid or invalids?

MotionMan

So obviously in a prepared first world country, tornadoes are more dangerous than earthquakes.

 

[MotionMan]

the reverse I would think.

Really? A 6.9 earthquake hit here in 1994 and a number of buildings and a couple freeway overpasses collapsed.

A tornado hits and it seems like an entire neighborhood is turned into toothpicks.

MotionMan

 

[Brovane]

Really? A 6.9 earthquake hit here in 1994 and a number of buildings and a couple freeway overpasses collapsed.

A tornado hits and it seems like an entire neighborhood is turned into toothpicks.

MotionMan

Tornado's can be devastating occurances. However a 6.9 quake isn't really a powerful earthquake. You have to compare it more to the scale and devastation that the Japanese 9.0 earthquake.

 

[MotionMan]

Tornado's can be devastating occurances. However a 6.9 quake isn't really a powerful earthquake. You have to compare it more to the scale and devastation that the Japanese 9.0 earthquake.

So your run-of-the-mill tornado should be compared to a 9.0 quake because a 6.9 quake is not big enough?

Yeah, tornadoes are scarier than earthquakes.

MotionMan

 

[MotionMan]

... you ever tried running while a decent size earthquake is going on in a house......lol

Not to mention that it is usually more dangerous outside than inside during an earthquake.

MotionMan

 

[zerocool84]

Tornado's can be devastating occurances. However a 6.9 quake isn't really a powerful earthquake. You have to compare it more to the scale and devastation that the Japanese 9.0 earthquake.

The earthquake didn't do much damage, it was the tsunami that did the most damage.

 

[Locut0s]

The earthquake didn't do much damage, it was the tsunami that did the most damage.

Any other country and the quake would have done a lot more damage. Much of the reason for there not being any damage from the quake was the excellent building codes they have.

 

[sdifox]

Really? A 6.9 earthquake hit here in 1994 and a number of buildings and a couple freeway overpasses collapsed.

A tornado hits and it seems like an entire neighborhood is turned into toothpicks.

MotionMan

Right, wood stick houses vs re-barred concrete structures...

 

[BoomerD]

Right, wood stick houses vs re-barred concrete structures...

Yet that same earthquake hit an area full of wood stick houses...and the freeway overpass suffered more damage than most houses did.

In all the pics of places devastated by tornadoes, I don't see too much left standing...and these are far from being "the biggest, strongest" tornadoes in history...the 9.0 earthquake in Japan was the 4th or 5th largest earthquake ever recorded. (and has been mentioned, the vast majority of damage was from the tsunami that followed...not the quake.

 

[eits]

earthquakes are way scarier. they can do almost the same amount of damage, if not worse, but in a much larger area and they happen with practically no warning.

tornadoes come with warning sirens and you have time to prepare. plus, tornadoes are pretty much in a concentrated area (mainly flat areas with not many big buildings or street traffic, like trailer parks or rural areas).

 

[BoomerD]

earthquakes are way scarier. they can do almost the same amount of damage, if not worse, but in a much larger area and they happen with practically no warning.

tornadoes come with warning sirens and you have time to prepare. plus, tornadoes are pretty much in a concentrated area (mainly flat areas with not many big buildings or street traffic, like trailer parks or rural areas).

I'm still not sure how folks can say quakes are worse/more scary than tornadoes. As I posted earlier, this last batch of storms killed more people than all the earthquakes in the USA since 1965...
While it's true that quakes do happen with no notice that we're yet aware of, they kill fewer people...and in spite of all the tornado warnings, they kill more people...

 

[natto fire]

Is it irony that the shelters that "protect" us from the elements are the same ones that can kill us in a quake?

 

[Brigandier]

Is it irony that the shelters that "protect" us from the elements are the same ones that can kill us in a quake?

Really?

 

[Lurknomore]

I love tornadoes because they always seem to take out Teabagger settlements throughout the country. It's like God is telling them something.

From the looks of many those surviving (and undoubtedly those who didn't), they sure didn't look like baggers.
Baggers are usually hit by summer and fall tornadoes in tornado alley.
Spring tornadoes are usually much more severe and can happen anywhere from teabagger to Obama to mixed bagger/Obama country.

 

[MotionMan]

Right, wood stick houses vs re-barred concrete structures...

Our houses survived the quake as well. No toothpicks.

MotionMan

 

[MotionMan]

Is it irony that the shelters that "protect" us from the elements are the same ones that can kill us in a quake?

Not most of those that are built to code.

I rather be indoors than outdoors during an earthquake.

MotionMan

 

[eits]

I'm still not sure how folks can say quakes are worse/more scary than tornadoes. As I posted earlier, this last batch of storms killed more people than all the earthquakes in the USA since 1965...
While it's true that quakes do happen with no notice that we're yet aware of, they kill fewer people...and in spite of all the tornado warnings, they kill more people...

people in trailers don't have a basement.

the tornadoes that went through the st. louis area didn't kill anyone either, but they really hurt the airport and destroyed quite a few houses.

if a big quake hit st. louis, lots more buildings and homes would be hurt or knocked over and you'd find more people being killed or burried under rubble.

 

[Nemesis 1]

Interesting question but very short sighted. IN these TIMES there should be more options . Meteor shower that kill. Volcanos. Landslides . Floods. ect ect ect. Than after all the dieing . PLAGUE! AS I said last year the 2 beast which have not been seen since the 5th day of creation awake and they have. Dieing in our time is going to be easy . Its the method we perfer which alludes us.

http://thewatchers.adorraeli.com/2011/04/13/giant-ocean-whirlpools-puzzle-scientists/


I am as sure of this as. I am That this math here. Isn't a coinsidence its as they meant it to be.

My birth year 1951. take the last 2 digits 51 add to this your age in 2011. For me thats 60 .

51+60= 111. Everyone here will also come up with 111 with there birthdate last 2 digits + age in 2011= 111. You just keep those tinfoiled hates your wearing making you think everthings going to be just fine . BOOOOooooo

 

[BoomerD]

Interesting question but very short sighted. IN these TIMES there should be more options . Meteor shower that kill. Volcanos. Landslides . Floods. ect ect ect. Than after all the dieing . PLAGUE! AS I said last year the 2 beast which have not been seen since the 5th day of creation awake and they have. Dieing in our time is going to be easy . Its the method we perfer which alludes us.

http://thewatchers.adorraeli.com/2011/04/13/giant-ocean-whirlpools-puzzle-scientists/


I am as sure of this as. I am That this math here. Isn't a coinsidence its as they meant it to be.

My birth year 1951. take the last 2 digits 51 add to this your age in 2011. For me thats 60 .

51+60= 111. Everyone here will also come up with 111 with there birthdate last 2 digits + age in 2011= 111. You just keep those tinfoiled hates your wearing making you think everthings going to be just fine . BOOOOooooo

Dood...you should REALLY lay off the heavy drugs...

 

[BoomerD]

people in trailers don't have a basement.

the tornadoes that went through the st. louis area didn't kill anyone either, but they really hurt the airport and destroyed quite a few houses.

if a big quake hit st. louis, lots more buildings and homes would be hurt or knocked over and you'd find more people being killed or burried under rubble.

Try your "trailer park trash" with the folks who lost houses...and lives in those houses.
Yes, St. Louis would be a shambles after a big earthquake. You don't build for them there. The Loma Prieta quake wasn't very big by comparison to the recent quake in Japan, but did surprisingly little damage overall. Yes, a section of the Bay Bridge upper deck fell...and a section of the Cypress Freeway collapsed, (double decker freeway) which resulted in most of the deaths from that earthquake, but there were very little severe damage to major buildings...because of the stringent seismic building codes.

Here's some interesting reading on the New Madrid quake zone:

http://www.riverfronttimes.com/1999-12-15/news/on-shaky-ground/

In particular, on page 3, I find this:

The Missouri State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) anticipates that a 6.7 shock would significantly damage more than 32,000 buildings in eastern Missouri. Many buildings would totally or partially collapse. Some houses could shift on their foundations. Towers and chimneys would fall. The estimated damage represents 6 percent of the total number of structures in the affected area and would be comparable to the 1994 quake in Northridge, Calif., which killed 57 people, injured 1,500 and caused $15 billion in property damage.

In contrast to California, however, the consequences here could be more far-reaching because faults in the Mississippi Valley are buried under sedimentary deposits up to a mile deep. These conditions allow seismic waves to travel as much as 20 times farther than they do in California. As a result, a moderate New Madrid quake would shake a seven-state region -- Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi and Indiana -- like a bowl of jelly.

And on page 5:

When that happens, chunks of the St. Louis infrastructure will fall apart. Building codes in the city of St. Louis and St. Louis County have only included seismic-safety standards since 1987. Structures built before that date are not required to adhere to the current guidelines unless the building undergoes major renovation. Even then, the building does not have to be seismically retrofitted unless there is a change in its usage, according to the St. Louis building code.

"Unreinforced masonry buildings are probably going to have the most damage and sometimes complete collapse," says John C. Theiss, a structural engineer for EQE-Theiss in St. Louis. EQE specializes in designing buildings to withstand earthquakes. In the city of St. Louis, an estimated 66,000 residences -- 75 percent of the housing stock -- are unreinforced brick structures, according to the Missouri Seismic Safety Commission. Almost all of the two- and four-family flats lining the city's residential streets were constructed long before the seismic-safety standards came into effect. Some of these structures were built more than a century ago.

And on page 6, a bit that should be of particular interest to you:

Nowhere are the economic risks higher, however, than areas such as Chesterfield, where river bottoms are undergoing rampant development. Soils in the floodplain are typically unstable and subject to liquefaction in the event of an earthquake. The sand boils in southeast Missouri, which remain evident from the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-12, were caused by liquefaction. The phenomenon often occurs when seismic activity transforms loosely packed sand and silt into a fluid mass as a result of extreme pressure in the groundwater. The water table in the Missouri River bottom in St. Louis County is sometimes only a few feet from the surface. Whereas levees can redirect floodwaters elsewhere, nothing can stop a major earthquake from shaking the alluvial plain and turning parts of it into a giant cache of quicksand.

Did you know that 3 of the 10 biggest earthquakes in the USA were on the New Madrid Fault in the early 1800's? (just about 200 years ago...not even a blink of an eye in geological time)

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/states/events/1811-1812.php#december_16

 

[bargetrav]

What most people don't realize, is you don't have time to get away from a Tornado in the vast majority of cases, and also most people don't have shelters. What naive fools think every person in tornado alley has a storm shelter? In Texas/Oklahoma you can't really even safely have a basement as the soil is complete shit here, so you're stuck sitting in your fucking bathroom hoping the tornado actually misses your house.

The number one thing NOT to do is try to get in your car and run, quickest and surefire way to die. If you're in your car, parking under an overpass will just ensure it kills you quicker as the wind speeds are actually magnified under the bridge.

 

[yh125d]

What most people don't realize, is you don't have time to get away from a Tornado in the vast majority of cases, and also most people don't have shelters. What naive fools think every person in tornado alley has a storm shelter? In Texas/Oklahoma you can't really even safely have a basement as the soil is complete shit here, so you're stuck sitting in your fucking bathroom hoping the tornado actually misses your house.

The number one thing NOT to do is try to get in your car and run, quickest and surefire way to die. If you're in your car, parking under an overpass will just ensure it kills you quicker as the wind speeds are actually magnified under the bridge.

What the hell are you on about? You absolutely can have basements in oklahoma, and I'm sure texas too

 

[twinrider1]

Earthquakes.
I don't see people wanting to drive armored cars into big earthquakes.