Anonymous wrote:This is a question about how you tolerate uncertainty. In hurricane country you can expect multiple hurricanes every year, and the intensity is increasing. It's a near certainty you will have to deal with a serious storm. But, they don't sneak up on you.

In earthquake country, serious damaging quakes are rare (little ones are common). But, you don't know when the big one will hit and you can't control whether you'll be in a safe place when it does.

Playing the odds, earthquake country is safer. You may never encounter a big one and you don't waste half your year watching the weather and planning to evacuate. But you do have to just live with the risk.

This sounds right to me. I grew up in earthquake country and lived through Loma Prieta. Big earthquakes can be really devastating and come without warning. You can take measures to prepare--everything from building codes to securing your furniture and cabinets--but you cannot eliminate the risk from a truly large earthquake. But, they are rare. So, it comes down to whether or not the small but significant risk is going to weigh on your conscience in a way that affects your daily life. If not, earthquakes, hands down. But, if you are prone to anxiety, hurricanes might be better.

Have lived in both. Hurricane hands down. You know they are coming and can prepare for them. The terror of waking up At 2am to an earthquake is something I have no interest in repeating.

Earthquakes, no question. They happen so rarely and even the big ones (I was in LA for North Ridge) generally aren't a big deal. Sure, eventually there will be "THE BIG ONE", but i'll take those odds over the sureness that there will be multiple hurricane evacuations each year.

99.9% of the time you don't even think about them.

Wildfires, on the other hand...those are a bigger deal and have a much larger impact on daily living.

Neither. My family lives in Japan, which has both and both are terrible. I will never live in areas where there is a high risk of intense hurricanes or earthquakes. Luckily, there is plenty of employment and pleasant living to be had in more temperate locales. I'm surprised at the OP's question and the responses.

From an earthquake country and definitely earthquakes. Buildings are built to withstand earthquakes. Hurricanes are only getting worse.

I grew up in southern california and now live in North Carolina--not super close to the coast, but we do get hurricane activity.

Logically, hurricanes are a "better" choice in terms of a disaster. But honestly, all the lead-up to it makes me anxious like you wouldn't believe. I think that's because I grew up in California and at the time the main natural disaster wasn't one that came with a warning. (I would now say the main natural disaster in California is wildfires, so that's a bit different.)

I've also lived in the midwest and hated tornadoes even more. There's nothing like that scary yellow tornado sky.

We live on the coast in Florida, walking distance to the beach, in the first evacuation zone. There is warning, we leave. Its a slight hassle 2x a year. But we know what we need and what to bring. Its just 2 of us and the dogs. It would be much harder with kids. To us its paradise the rest of the year and don't really think about it.

Loma Prieta is going to feel like a gentle nudge in comparison to the big one on the Hayward or San Andreas. Seriously, if you lived through 1989, you still have no experience of a truly big quake. (Be grateful for it.)

Still... the west coast is worth the risk!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've lived in Florida and California. Earthquakes. So much less drama about them. They take up so much less time and thought.

You have never lived through a real earthquake. You had time to evacuate when the hurricane is coming. lots of time.

Who the hell are you? Do you know me? No. No you do not. So you don't know whether or not I've lived through the Loma Prieta earthquake.

I would definitely prefer earthquake country over hurricane.

Basically because due to what I read + see in the news -
The devastation for both is the same however earthquakes tend to occur much less frequently.

This is a question about how you tolerate uncertainty. In hurricane country you can expect multiple hurricanes every year, and the intensity is increasing. It's a near certainty you will have to deal with a serious storm. But, they don't sneak up on you.

In earthquake country, serious damaging quakes are rare (little ones are common). But, you don't know when the big one will hit and you can't control whether you'll be in a safe place when it does.

Playing the odds, earthquake country is safer. You may never encounter a big one and you don't waste half your year watching the weather and planning to evacuate. But you do have to just live with the risk.

Earthquake.

earthquake--no question--especially if it's somewhere like Oregon or Washington where they happen very rarely but are still part of the ring of fire. SoCal might be a tougher sell because the quakes are more frequent, but also because of the incessant wildfire issues. But really, earthquakes are NBD--you have a go bag and the ability to take care of yourself for a while and odds are you can shelter in place--especially if your house has been seismically retrofitted which many have (it keeps the house from falling into the basement.) It's big business right now. Anyway, it's untrue that there is no warning. They have meters all over the place monitoring seismic activity and they can usually tell by that if a bigger one is coming. Hurricanes are a yearly season and you can lose everything year after year. There's no earthquake season.

I lived where there are hurricanes. It was not bad at all.
Do you imagine huge tidal waves? That was not what it truly was.
Guess what fun is about an earthquake? You sit there, on your grandma's couch, and you wonder why did you and the couch move down, like a see-saw? You realize it is the earthquake, but you are a dumb kid. You don't know what to do.
You are lucky because nothing else happened.
Or you are dead because the house caved in on you while you were sitting there like an idiot before you realize what it is.

Hurricane. I can avoid a hurricane as it's coming our way for days. Earthquakes are not yet predictable.