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I think this thread just proves that some people have an agenda to criticize Arizona and will contrive any weak argument to achieve that purpose. It is well know that Phoenix is RELATIVELY (compared to other areas) is safe from natural disasters but of course, we have these lunatics who will argue that Phoenix isn't safe because we've experienced some floods in limited areas or that it's possible a tornado could touch down here because we had a tornado warning this summer (even though tornado warnings are a regular occurrence in many other cities like Dallas). I don't think people in Arizona are idiots but I do think a significant number of posters on this thread are complete idiots.
Are there any big natural disasters that can happen in Phoenix? It seems like Phoenix is one of the safest US cities when it comes to disasters....no disasterous earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes, snow storms, tsunamis, etc.
Earthquakes can happen. I know there are huge fallen boulders in Sabino Canyon near Tucson because of an earthquake in the 8.0 range that happened in the late 1800s.
They are less frequent than in CA, but they can still happen.
Somehow I feel more likely to die in an earthquake in L.A. where I am currently working (and typing this response) than in the Phoenix or Tucson metro area.
Oh an asteroid could strike Phoenix so it must be unsafe! Good grief! We are talking about more safety from natural events. "More," in place of "100%." Folks, do you know the difference?
Quote:
Originally Posted by mysticaltyger
Earthquakes can happen. I know there are huge fallen boulders in Sabino Canyon near Tucson because of an earthquake in the 8.0 range that happened in the late 1800s.
They are less frequent than in CA, but they can still happen.
Earthquakes can happen. I know there are huge fallen boulders in Sabino Canyon near Tucson because of an earthquake in the 8.0 range that happened in the late 1800s.
They are less frequent than in CA, but they can still happen.
That is an understatement!
The thread is about Phoenix not Tucson. Did a major earthquake occur in Phoenix in the last 200 years. NO! Again, let's take the context of the question into mind. The OP is asking his question relative to other cities. It's absolutely foolish to even insinuate that this is an earthquake prone area or that a person risks experiencing earthquakes living here.
The thread is about Phoenix not Tucson. Did a major earthquake occur in Phoenix in the last 200 years. NO! Again, let's take the context of the question into mind. The OP is asking his question relative to other cities. It's absolutely foolish to even insinuate that this is an earthquake prone area or that a person risks experiencing earthquakes living here.
IF we can feel an earthquake hundreds of miles away in mexico, im pretty sure we would be able to feel a large earthquake in tucson. Natural occurrences that result in disaster won't always be obvious, but I guess for you to understand the risk they would have to be. The OP said nothing about other cities, again it should be obvious since other cities have already had disasters lol......and it's been said since we are in a valley of sediment, we have a unique risk from earthquakes in ca and mexico, see like I said it won't always be as obvious as a huge fault line running directly under your feet, sometimes the risk comes in a different way.....but watever this was actually pretty much over before you came as I posted a link to the county emergency management which states we have flood, dam breach, and subsidence risks. Tell me this if we don't have a risk of a flood why would the county spend millions of dollars on a huge flood protection project that is monitored 24/7 even when it isn't raining?? The risk is lowered because of this project, but that also limits what we can deal with, and a disaster is only an event away. You might not know this but a tropical storm actually moved west of phoenix before breaching a dam (tropical storm Nora). Like I said it's only an event away, if it does I know all we'll hear is "this is arizona, this doesn't happen" just like after the storm back in august of 2008, it was a supercell, the type of storms that produce tornadoes. It proves if the ingredients are right, whatever natural occurrence it results in WILL happen, it' not just gonna go away because we named the ground phoenix lol. I definitely wouldn't make a big deal out of it, as even people in other cities don't. But I honestly think something will happen eventually and people will make it worse by not taking it seriously.
Somehow I feel more likely to die in an earthquake in L.A. where I am currently working (and typing this response) than in the Phoenix or Tucson metro area.
Oh an asteroid could strike Phoenix so it must be unsafe! Good grief! We are talking about more safety from natural events. "More," in place of "100%." Folks, do you know the difference?
Nobody said anything about more the OP says "any natural disasters" not "safety from natural events" which there is no such thing as a level of safety because you only know what is possible, you can't predict the future and you don't know to what extent it will happen.
Example: You stated you live above a fault, but how do you know you are at risk for a large natural disaster? Just because you hear it right? The fault line could just periodically relieve stress and not produce any large earthquakes. On the other hand we in phoenix are not at risk for a large earthquake, but we are in a valley with many dams, canals, and a couple dammed up rivers. Every city has a different risk so you can't say one is "more safe" than the other. Your argument wouldn't make any sense, if we don't have a risk of a large earthquake in PHX, then you obviously would feel more safe here than in L.A. Like I said before we have one of the best flood protection projects in the nation, which is constantly monitored even when it's not raining. If there is millions of dollars spend on a flood protection project, and a monitoring system there is obviously a notable risk. As a matter of fact I can bet our flood risk is higher than L.A's, so I could say I feel a lot more likely to die in a flood here where im working (and typing this message) than in L.A......see different risks, and people here would not be so confident about the flood risk if we didn't have the protection system we have, but it's stupid to have complete confidence in a structure when it comes to your life. Again to people arguing we "don't have any disasters" we are a young city and we haven't even had any real tests for one and two im not saying OMG freak out cause there is a small threat, i am saying you have no idea what the level of threat is because it doesn't take huge floods to happen often to create a risk of disaster, all it takes is a possibility and ONE EVENT.....so all you can go on are possibilities....Is it a big deal? NO, but it's definitely worth mentioning.
Lightning Data - General Discussion
Lightning kills more people every year than do tornadoes and hurricanes combined and we get a lot of lightning here. People aren't afraid of it though, so use to it, but it actually is more life threatening than the other disasters that people flee. It's a silent killer. lol
8000 people were taken out by lightning last year. Ouchie.....
We actually attract scientist that study the stuff, because we are so abundant. Lightning rod anyone?
All disasters are not really taken seriously until it's you or someone you know, heck, we couldn't survive with that kind of fear. I have a friend in Florida who tells me hurricanes are no biggy. lol
Every state has it's natural weakness, and it's human one too. Ours are just sneakier than others. I doubt you would find a place without something. If you do, let us know. lol
Besides, didn't you hear about the giant SCORPION AND KILLER BEE sightings? It's like our Sasquach, or Big Foot of the desert. It is half scorp, half killer bee and has human legs. Thats what we should really be talking about people, come on, priorities!!!
Your argument is weak..actually it's down right assinine. No place is technically safe because any place on this planet is prone to some natural occurrence that could kill people. This is why you examine statistics and assess odds. Furthermore, when people ask these questions, they are asking them relative to other areas. This is why they have reading comprehension or verbal sections on standardized tests. They want to assess if people can think and apply simple concepts like context. What is the context of this question. Is the OP asking if a tornado or another natural "occurrence" EVER occurred in Arizona or he is asking about the odds of experiencing one here versus some place else? Unless you are a complete moron, you know the answer to that.
Again, your argument fails to account for relative risk. Technically anyone could step outside of their home and be killed by lightning. Based on your argument, that place is no longer safe even though only 90 people in the entire United States are killed by lightning each year. So again, you are argument is futile because you aren't accounting for odds.
"Then you aren't safe anywhere in the world".
That's fine, you can waste your energy preparing and getting worried about an event that has an extremely low risk of occurring and we will spend that time actually being productive. Based on your "unique" deductive reasoning skills, I will take you criticism of Arizona residents' thinking skills as a compliment.
I can see you took my comments and tried to criticize them, but in order to try and prove your point you had to take them all out of context and I have no idea where you were trying to go with that but anyway,
First off, you bring up our comprehension skills, but yet you can't understand the OP said NOTHING ABOUT OTHER PLACES!!!!!!!!!!!! The question was are there any natural disasters. Which one can only assume he is talking about the threat, which asks if there are ANY, not "how often" or "what are the odds" because newsflash, YOU CAN'T PREDICT THE WEATHER!!!! so you have no idea of any odds. You bring up that there hasn't been any large disasters in phoenix before, but that wuld be absolutely stupid to go on. Before the great san fran earthquake, wat major one happened before that? New Orleans is 300 years old but yet a major disaster didn't happen until this decade despite the vulnerability. If we were just talking about number of threats and how often they happened in the past, then you would have an argument. You and others are acting like it's a one sided issue, but it's not. One would think a city in missouri has a better chance of experiencing disaster from a flood because they get way more rain right?? But it's not a valid argument if even the much less amount of rain we culd get would cause just as bad a flood because our ground can't take in as much as missouri can. This is one of my points, it's stupid to compare phoenix to other cities because we are a unique area, with unique risks as many other cities are. so comparing phx to anywhere else in the country is out of the question.
Your reply about the lighting when you tried to criticize my comment on the shooter just shows your poor comprehensive skills AGAIN,
I can sense the urge to sound smart in your reply as if there is some obvious logic that the rest of us idiots just don't understand LOL. In that effort you just took it WAY too far and made urself look and sound very foolish....you tried to take my comment on the shooter and my comment on the percentage I would feel safe and put em together.....again I see I have to break this down for you, my point was someone made the comment phoenix was "safe". No city is safe, you know why? because every city has at least one threat........You cannot say that a city that has a threat has a small percentage of it happening because again, you cannot predict the weather. (that goes back to my New Orleans point, you can't argue the likelyhood of something, only the actual threat, and phoenix does have threats) So if you have no control or knowledge of when the threat could affect you, how could you say you are safe? YOU CAN'T not unless you live in a city where there is no threat, which you yourself said doesn't exist, so argue with that smart guy. Yes, I was saying that the home would not be quote on quote safe, if the disaster is you getting shot the risk is much smaller inside the house than out, but if there is even a 1% chance of a disaster because the door is unlocked then you'd have to be a complete moron to say you are safe. Just like u can't predict the whether u wuldn't be able to control the shooter in the situation. Tell me this isn't stupid, from ur point of view you are resting on the level of safety in ur home compared to the level outside. You say ur safe because their is only a 1% chance but that's COMPARED TO OUTSIDE. From the shooters point of view, if he wants to get in he can, because the door is open, that was the factor in the chance and that's all he needs is a chance, now ur 1% seems comes to mind right??? but keep in mind that was only compared to outside, odds and percentages mean nothing to the shooter because that door is open, that's all he needs and all he has to do is walk in. Now if he decides he wants to do that, what are your changes of safety now? . When I made the statement that I wouldn't feel safe unless there was a 0% percent chance of something happening, I was proving a point, so ur comment about me not feeling safe anywhere in the world is true, but u tried to make an argument of wat I said when u didn't know u were actually agreeing with me, why? because u didn't read the whole posts, or maybe u just couldn't comprehend them all LOL.
O yeah and ur comment about the lightning is totally redundant, we are talking about natural threats which could cause disasters......If you didn't know that was the whole topic of this thread.
"That's fine, you can waste your energy preparing and getting worried about an event that has an extremely low risk of occurring and we will spend that time actually being productive".
that's my whole point moron, extremely low doesn't mean 0. You can pretend it does, but it doesn't. Again this is why in our country someone always has to die before something is done about any threat to society. Say through that extremely low risk something does happen, who is better off the people who were informed and prepared for it, or the people who just acted like it wouldn't happen because the chances are low?......See now after SAn fran earthquake, katrina and such, people are so aware of what could happen, but IT'S ALREADY HAPPENED IDIOTS!!!!!!!!!!! NOW U WANT TO BE WORRIED ABOUT WAT COULD HAPPEN????? WHAT IF PEOPLE TOOK THE THREATS AS SERIOUS BEFORE THESE EVENTS HAPPENED AS THEY DO AFTER?? WE WOULDN'T EVEN BE TALKING ABOUT A DISASTER THEY WULD JUST BE NORMAL NATURAL OCCURRENCES.
Last edited by Brandonrchrd; 04-20-2010 at 12:13 AM..
I think this thread has completely run its course, and has degenerated into argument and name calling. Moderators???
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