Is Oregon safer than CA environmentally? (Portland, Salem: attorney, private school, earthquake)

[Jen78fl]

Hi all. Well my husband is in the coast guard and we will be moving next summer. Right now we are in Northern FL. Anyway, we have been to a few places on the east coast already and are thinking we might like a change and maybe try to go to the west coast. It looks really beautiful! We were thinking of CA but then with the earthquakes, landslides, and wildfires, were not so sure its a good place to live. So what Im wondering , is Oregon better than CA when it comes to those things? Also, I have a 5 year old son with autism and would like to be in an area where he will have good autism services. Anyway I appreciate any advice on this. Thanks!!

Jen

[Silverfall]

I have an ASD kid and Oregon is considered better than CA, but we stink compared to many of the NE states.

The only decent place for Autism services in Oregon is Portland. Everything else has some, but I wouldn't call them good. Just to give you an example, my daughter at Early Intervention got 15 minutes of speech therapy a week. We private pay for 90% of her services. She currently gets 30 minutes a week in kindergarten through Salem-Keizer. She does have an aide in her mainstream class, but we had to hire an attorney to get it.

I'm not trying to scare you off, but just want you to know the realities. There is one private school in Portland currently for Austim and there is another one starting up in Lake Oswego for the fall.

We have wildfires mostly in central Oregon. We have landslides along the coast in winter...comes with clay soil. Honestly if you steer clear of the designated landslide areas, there are many properties to choose from.

We have active volcanos in Oregon so we do get earthquakes, but they are really minor. They typically aren't felt by people. If you go the the USGS website they have some good information about it. I have lived here (Portland and Salem) for 19 years now and I felt an earthquake once.

Honestly, the natural hazards really aren't a big deal here, I don't think anyway.

[Steve97415]

Originally Posted by Silverfall

I have an ASD kid and Oregon is considered better than CA, but we stink compared to many of the NE states.

The only decent place for Autism services in Oregon is Portland. Everything else has some, but I wouldn't call them good. Just to give you an example, my daughter at Early Intervention got 15 minutes of speech therapy a week. We private pay for 90% of her services. She currently gets 30 minutes a week in kindergarten through Salem-Keizer. She does have an aide in her mainstream class, but we had to hire an attorney to get it.

I'm not trying to scare you off, but just want you to know the realities. There is one private school in Portland currently for Austim and there is another one starting up in Lake Oswego for the fall.

We have wildfires mostly in central Oregon. We have landslides along the coast in winter...comes with clay soil. Honestly if you steer clear of the designated landslide areas, there are many properties to choose from.

We have active volcanos in Oregon so we do get earthquakes, but they are really minor. They typically aren't felt by people. If you go the the USGS website they have some good information about it. I have lived here (Portland and Salem) for 19 years now and I felt an earthquake once.

Honestly, the natural hazards really aren't a big deal here, I don't think anyway.

This is sound advice and I agree with all of it.

If you suffer from natural disaster phobia, Oregon probably rates better than California, though there are other states east of the Rockies that would offer far more peace of mind. In addition, California's greater hazard liability is compounded by the extremely high population density that is found in the more desirable areas. Even in California though, few people would list natural disaster liability anywhere close to the top of their list of things they dislike about the state.

I would caution you, though, against thinking of Oregon as a Plan B fall-back for moving to California. Oregon and California are VERY different states and represent VERY different states of mind. If California is what you want, don't think you can find a slightly cloudier version of it just by going north of the 42nd parallel. This is Oregon...thinks look different here (official Dept. of Tourism motto).

[Todd.LA]

It's hard to generalize too much, as both Oregon and California are huge states. Which parts of OR or CA would you be moving to?

Both OR and CA are on fault lines, though CA has had more large earthquakes in recent history. On the other hand, buildings in California have had tougher building codes for earthquakes for a longer time than Oregon.

Both CA and OR have forest fires / wildfires, but they rarely affect heavily populated areas. Landslides are more of a CA thing, but they are uncommon. Basically, I wouldn't let fear of natural disasters effect your decision too much, because in either state the odds are quite low that you would be personally affected by such a disaster.