But, for me, the idea of a tornado or hurricane hitting where I am scares the hell out of me more than earthquakes." Why?
Because I have experienced earthquakes all my life. There is a funny story about my mother in Seattle coming outside and blaming my Dad for an earthquake because he was digging a well I think then on the 2 1/2 acres we lived on. She watched him jump out of the hole he was digging so he wouldn't be buried alive in the quake only to be greeted with a hysterical wife then in 1948 I believe.
Which is pretty funny for me to think about now.
But then, we moved to California where earthquakes generally are much worse than Seattle but not as bad as the 1964 quake in Anchorage Alaska.
So, I guess I prefer Earthquakes because I'm almost 70 and no earthquake has killed me yet. So, I'm pretty lucky. No earthquake has even put me or anyone I know in the hospital but I have been banged up pretty good during the 1971 quake.
1971 San Fernando earthquake - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1971_San_Fernando_earthquake
I think we prefer sort of what we are used to and I'm more used to Earthquakes. For example, you are likely going to experience up to 10 earthquakes a year anywhere in California that are going to move your chandaliers for example. So, you will be seeing hanging lamps swinging from this earthquake. And maybe you might experience one quake a year or so that something will falll off a kitchen counter or a milk carton will fall on the floor.
But, if you are used to this it isn't a problem. most of the time you just laugh or you find it sort of exciting that something is actually happening (if you are a Californian used to this).
I think the quake that frightened me most was a 5.0 quake in Orange California because I was afraid for my 5 year old daughter's life.
I was watching TV with my cousin when all of a sudden a quake hit. So I ran outside to see where my 5 year old daughter was to protect her. She was in the middle of my cousin's swimming pool on a float. She asked me why all the water was going out of the swimming pool?
I forced myself to stay calm and said, "I need you to stay in the center of the pool away from the edges!" as the water sloshed out of the pool in al directions from the 5.0 quake.
when it had calmed down enough I got her out of the pool in case there were aftershocks.
So, it wasn't when I got beat up in 1971 against a wall waking up at 6 am or so that scared me the most it was a little 5.0 with my daughter in the middle of a swimming pool on a float.
So, like I said we all prefer what we know about and I know about earthquakes so I'm not very afraid of them.
None of them have killed or put in the hospital anyone I know or have known.
So, some people prefer Hurricanes and tornadoes to Earthquakes but that's not me.
However, when we bought our most recent home just before 2000 I made sure it was at least 100 feet in elevation about a mile from the beach here in California. I was really grateful for this during the 2004 and 2011 Tsunamis that hit Indonesia, India and Thailand and then the 2011 hit Japan. 250,0000 people died from the 2004 tsunami and 35,000 died in Japan from the 2011 Tsunami, both caused by an Earthquake.
We are on the Ring of Fire here anywhere on the Pacific Ocean. Tsunamis small or large are just something you need to prepare for anywhere on the Pacific Ocean.
Most of the time if you are far enough out to sea during a tsunami the boat or ship will just rise up but if you are near land (within 5 miles of land) even being in a boat or ship can be fatal during a large enough tsunami.
There was a story I read in Reader's digest about a man and his son in a fishing boat off Alaska. The quake hit in 1964 and he watched the sea go way out and then he saw a 100 foot tall tsunami wave coming towards his boat with his 9 or 10 year old son and he on it. He put his fishing boat at full speed and then just barely crested the wave before it broke but then watched the wave break and suck all the thousands of 100 plus foot trees out to sea and then he had to dodge huge trees too at that point which was almost worse than the first problem. But, somehow he and his son survived all this.
What a mess that would have been because all those trees eventually would wind up on the beaches there through natural wave action.
But, somehow that man and his fishing boat and his son all survived this in the end. But, people on shore hit with this Tsunami wave didn't.
However, when we bought our most recent home just before 2000 I made sure it was at least 100 feet in elevation about a mile from the beach here in California. I was really grateful for this during the 2004 and 2011 Tsunamis that hit Indonesia, India and Thailand and then the 2011 hit Japan. 250,0000 people died from the 2004 tsunami and 35,000 died in Japan from the 2011 Tsunami, both caused by an Earthquake.
We are on the Ring of Fire here anywhere on the Pacific Ocean. Tsunamis small or large are just something you need to prepare for anywhere on the Pacific Ocean.
Most of the time if you are far enough out to sea during a tsunami the boat or ship will just rise up but if you are near land (within 5 miles of land) even being in a boat or ship can be fatal during a large enough tsunami.
There was a story I read in Reader's digest about a man and his son in a fishing boat off Alaska. The quake hit in 1964 and he watched the sea go way out and then he saw a 100 foot tall tsunami wave coming towards his boat with his 9 or 10 year old son and he on it. He put his fishing boat at full speed and then just barely crested the wave before it broke but then watched the wave break and suck all the thousands of 100 plus foot trees out to sea and then he had to dodge huge trees too at that point which was almost worse than the first problem. But, somehow he and his son survived all this.
What a mess that would have been because all those trees eventually would wind up on the beaches there through natural wave action.
But, somehow that man and his fishing boat and his son all survived this in the end. But, people on shore hit with this Tsunami wave didn't.
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