San Andreas Fault (Los Angeles: live in, codes, dangerous)

[lesallimc]

Originally Posted by bhcompy

yet people still die from them, just like earthquakes.

Yes, but the point I'm making is that if you know a hurricane is coming several days in advance, you can pack your car and leave (unless you are being stubborn.) You might lose your house, but if you are inland you are not going to lose your life. You can't make the same statement about an earthquake that you get no warning for....

[JTGJR]

Deaths from:

Northridge earthquake: 57
Loma Prieta earthquake: 63
1906 SF earthquake: 664

Hurricane Katrina: 1836
Hurricane Ivan: 163

[lesallimc]

Originally Posted by JTGJR

Deaths from:

Northridge earthquake: 57
Loma Prieta earthquake: 63
1906 SF earthquake: 664

Hurricane Katrina: 1836
Hurricane Ivan: 163

You can throw out statistics to support any argument. Unfortunately, many of those hurricane deaths were due to low income residents with no access to a car to leave. (I'm assuming if you are in LA you have transport...) I'm from the South and know people affected by both of those tragedies. The point I'm making is..... if you know a hurricane is coming and you have the resources, you can leave..... Also, we haven't experienced the "Big One" (laugh if you will, but the experts say there is a 99% chance it is coming in the next 30 years), so those comparisons aren't really "comparisons" to begin with.

I don't think there is any intelligent way to dispute that point (unless trying just makes you feel better about where you live...)

[Fleet]

Originally Posted by lesallimc

You can throw out statistics to support any argument. Unfortunately, many of those hurricane deaths were due to low income residents with no access to a car to leave. I'm assuming if you are in LA you have transport...)( I'm from the South and know people affected by both of those tragedies. The point I'm making is..... if you know a hurricane is coming and you have the resources, you can leave..... Also, we haven't experienced the "Big One" (laugh if you will, but the experts say there is a 99% chance it is coming in the next 30 years), so those comparisons aren't really "comparisons" to begin with.

Not everyone in L.A. has a car.

[lesallimc]

Originally Posted by Fleet

Not everyone in L.A. has a car.

I was referring to the poster and not the LA population in general.....

The ORIGINAL point I was making is hurricanes come with a warning, earthquakes do not. You can take that warning and act on it. It seems like a pretty simple point to me. Didn't realize it would require this much explanation...

[Fleet]

Originally Posted by lesallimc

I was referring to the poster and not the LA population in general.....

The ORIGINAL point I was making is hurricanes come with a warning, earthquakes do not. You can take that warning and act on it. It seems like a pretty simple point to me. Didn't realize it would require this much explanation...

Yes, hurricanes have a warning, but look how many are still killed from them.
Also, the chance of being killed in an earthquake in California is actally quite small.

[lesallimc]

Originally Posted by Fleet

Yes, hurricanes have a warning, but look how many are still killed from them.
Also, the chance of being killed in an earthquake in California is actally quite small.

I would like the statistic on how many people who have headed inland after receiving a hurricane warning were killed. Typically difficult to get killed hanging out in a mall four hours inland. How do we know the chance of being killed in an earthquake in California for a magnitude 8.0 quake if one hasn't hit yet in SoCal during the time it has been so populated....

[ElleBebe]

There are still ways of preparing for earthquakes: living in architecturally sound buildings, securing heavy furniture to the floor and walls so it doesn't fall on you (or eliminating it all together), acting responsibly when an earthquake occurs, and so on.

The bottom line is there is a possibility for tragedy wherever you live. No one can live in a vacuum. I'm not going to refuse to visit the top of a skyscraper because a plane might fly into it, or an earthquake might occur while I'm in it. I'm not going to avoid flying because the plane might crash. I'm not going to avoid cars because I might get in an accident. I'm not going to avoid swimming because I might drown. I'm not going to stop eating because I might choke. You learn to live responsibly to decrease your risk, but you're never going to cut the risk to nil. Life requires risk taking. California has a lot of plus sides, for all the risk there is of an earthquake.

[lesallimc]

Originally Posted by ElleBebe

There are still ways of preparing for earthquakes: living in architecturally sound buildings, securing heavy furniture to the floor and walls so it doesn't fall on you

I completely agree with this statement (although experts agree this won't help much if an 8.0 hits nearby.) My point is, you can do the same thing for hurricanes (board up windows, etc.), but you DON'T have to be there when it occurs because you know it is coming (thereby protecting yourself.) You don't get that warning with an earthquake.

I'm not telling everyone to leave California, I'm just making a well justified point. Confused as to why it is so hard to understand (or maybe as I said before it brings other a sense of comfort to dispute it....)

[ElleBebe]

My point is that we're choosing not to live in fear. Yes, earthquakes can strike any moment. So can things falling out of the sky, car crashes, random shootings, heart attacks, strokes, sinkholes... so on and so forth. We live despite the chances of those things happening. Perhaps for some people, the benefits of living in California outweigh the risk of earthquakes. That's certainly the case for me.