So California had another earthquake this past weekend. A Hurricane is heading towards Florida. Tornadoes normally go through the middle of our country. If you live next to an uncontrolled creek or river or in a low lying area, you can bet there will be flooding in your future.

My question is this:
Nobody can be so ignorant of common knowledge as written above that they don't understand the implications and risks of living in certain areas right? RIGHT???

So why in the world do these people act all surprised when something like this happens in their neck of the woods? If it is a given, why is it a big deal?

It's like living at the base of a snow covered cliff and being surprised when an avalanche covers up your house.

The people of California rank right up there on the list too. C'mon man, you live in a serious earthquake zone. When one happens it should not be a surprise, or a big deal, or anything. It should be expected and life goes on. If you want to make it a big deal then move to New Mexico or Utah or somewhere that ranks really low in natural disasters.

People who live in Florida, or anywhere in the gulf coast or east coast regions kill me when a hurricane happens. Like its a big surprise when one hits. Nevermind they have history of hundreds of hurricanes in the past on they have DAYS to prepare and get out of there.

Sometimes humans are just stupid.

Yeah, low in frequency maybe, but high in impact. When Yellowstone lets go we're fukked.

All along the Wasatch foothills on the east side of Salt Lake City we get mudslides. Every year there's at least one heavy rain and some neighborhood somewhere along the front gets a couple houses taken out, and everybody is so surprised and there's lots of talk about Something Must Be Done, and it slays me. You wanna do something? DON'T STRIP A 35* HILLSIDE OF VEGETATION SO YOU CAN BUILD A HOUSE. It happened again just a month ago, and the city engineers that let them build houses there in the first place have now condemned several of them, and there's this big hoorah about how the city has screwed these homeowners by cutting their property values in half due to the condemning, and holy crap if anyone gives these clowns money for their silly crappy mudslide homes I'm going to shit a brick. Do your damned due diligence before you buy. Caveat Emptor, dammit.

Three years ago (three? something like that) a bunch of homeowners down in Saint George got disaster bailout money when the river flooded and took out their multimilliondollar golf course McMansions. Here's a pro-tip, assh0les - if you can't afford to lose your multimilliondollar golf course McMansion when the river floods, DON'T BUILD IT ON THE FUKKIN RIVER.

Humans by nature always believe "It won't happen to me."

Another great reason we choose to live here in West Virginia. Where our house is located there is no chance of any form of natural disaster, and we are far enough from any major cities (like D.C.) that we don't have to worry about of flood of human(?) refuse if there is a man made disaster (such as a terrorist attack/dirty bomb).

My advice - stay in your nice/comfy city enclaves. Remember what happened in New Orleans. The government will be there to help you. Bwuahahahahahaha!

Yeah, don't forget about New Orleans. It's shocking what can happen when you build a city below water level.

RiffRaff is right "it won't happen to me" mentality is the answer.

Which, I think is by design. Simply put, would we ever leave our homes and go for a drive or swim in the ocean? Car accidents are a simple fact of life, it happens every day to hundreds maybe thousands, I don't know. But we go about our business every day fully knowning that the next intersection could be our last.


It's a very good question though, I often wondered why I live where I do? I mean at least in the mid west and east coast you guys get a warning system that gives you a anywhere form a few seconds to hours to prepare for the disaster. Here, on the west coast, the grounds just starts moving and that's it!

If you were to plot all the areas on the earth that didn't have any sort of at least occasional natural disaster, you'd have a very small plot of land to build on. Possibly zero!

While there are a few places that are /extremely/ likely to have a natural disaster on any particular acre of land. Most of the time the disasters are quite pin point, random, and on any acre of and, very very rare. Even living is a "disaster area" doesn't mean that your chance of personal being affected by one is more than 10,000:1. And for those others, that's why insurance exists.

I've lived in Ca my entire life (52 years) and though I have felt plenty of earthquakes, and live quite close to several faults, I have yet to have even a book fall off a shelf at my house. Same goes for everyone I personally know. In fact if you were to look at the number of people actually seriously affected by one (or for tornados whatever) compared to the population of the area as a whole you would see that it is ridiculously small % wise.

Life is a series of chances. You are more likely to die on the highway anywhere in the country (like hundreds of times) than to die in a flood or earthquake even if you live in a "prone" area.

Better sell those 4runners!!!

[Edit] In fact using this recent earthquake as an example is particularly weak as this fault has been dormant for over a million years. It seriously is like saying the entire United States should be evacuated because Yellowstone is overdue for a super eruption :P [/edit]

Greg, death is awaiting all of us, you wouldn't be "shocked" when it hits closer to home?
God forbid.

My point is, I don't get your point lol.

Accidents are eminent and when I've been in big accidents, I couldn't move my legs for minutes out of shock.

?

I totally disagree with your premise and example. This thread is about human nature, not the odds of dying. My point is this:
If you live near a fault line, don't b!tch if you are in an earthquake. If you live in Florida or even worse New Orleans, don't b!tch about a hurricane wiping you out. If you come out of it unscathed don't pretend that "you must be living right" or anything else. YOU chose to live there. YOU chose the increased risk. It's like people who live in higher risk areas are "surprised" when something like this happens! Why be surprised? Now, if someone living in Death Valley dies in a flood, then yes, we have the right to be surprised. Any person who gets hit by an asteroid has a right to go "WTF?"

You can mitigate the odds of dying is a car crash by driving slower, having a safer car or driving defensively. You can mitigate the odds of heart disease and cancer by not smoking or being a fat ba$tard. My point is you could mitigate the odds of dying (or at least not having your house blown away) by moving off the Outer Banks in NC.

To me, anyone who lives in a higher risk natural disaster area and is incredulous when something happens has the same credibility as the fat slob who smoke 3 packs a day, dying when he is 38 years old, showing up at the Pearly Gates thinking "Huh, I wonder why I'm here?"

That's the human nature I am talking about! Why, when people choose to live in higher risk locations, are surprised and dumbstruck when the proverbial brown stuff impacts the spinning machinery suspended from the ceiling?
Yes, we live in a free society and we can all make choices to determine our fate. I just wonder why those who tempt it make a big deal about it when it happens.

There was a Tornado that went right through downtown Salt lake, 15 years ago. I was in my 4Runner, right in front of the State Capitol, and had to make a run for it to avoid being caught in it. To date, that is the most aggressively I've ever driven my 4Runner.

Millions in property damage, and at least one death directly related.

There are also major fault lines along the Wasatch front. The majority of Utah residents live along the Wasatch front. The valleys where most of those people live, is the old silty lakebed of Lake Bonneville. When a sizable quake hits, which the Wasatch front is overdue to receive, the seismic waves will travel back and forth through the silty lakebed between the mountain ranges. Imagine ripples in a bathtub traveling back and forth from one side of the tub to the other. Anything and everything in those valleys is at risk of incurring damage.

Wildfires are another concern for much of the population. Humans doing stupid things start some of them, but Lightning is responsible for most of them.

Regarding the latest landslide, anyone with any common sense knows that was a situation just waiting to happen. I recall landslides when the area was an operating gravel pit. The Developer found some "experts" to deem the hillside safe. The City of the affected area has to accept the "experts" results and allow the Developer to develop their land, unless it wants to find itself in a losing Court battle.

I agree, if you live next to a River, expect that it can flood from time to time, and plan accordingly. Ie: measures to prevent the incursion of water onto your property, and insurance for when it does.

But the reality is that pretty much everyone living along the Wasatch Front, has the possibility of incurring property damage or death, due to the forces of nature.

You do realize that you are engaging in that very same behavior when you get into your car every day right? You can mitigate your own behavior but you can't mitigate anyone elses. Your car is STILL one of the biggest deathtraps there is.

1:100 chance of dying in your car in your lifetime and yet you get into that thing EVERY DAY. What kind of crazy "can't happen to me" thinking does it take to do that?

What are you going to say when it happens to you?

I really don't understand the point or impetus of this crazy thread subject.

Maybe we should have all just stayed in our caves where it's safe

Ditto

We can all compare where we live to some other place and temporarily feel like our home is better.

I'm sure there are things about the Appalachian Mountains that aren't that great.

"My question is this:
Nobody can be so ignorant of common knowledge as written above that they don't understand the implications and risks of living in certain areas right? RIGHT???

So why in the world do these people act all surprised when something like this happens in their neck of the woods? If it is a given, why is it a big deal?"

This was the question from the original post. To try to paraphrase myself:
Why don't people take responsibility for their own actions?
Why do they try to blame somebody or something for their own decisions?

This thread is why I am an engineer instead of a social worker.

Your "question" was answered in post #3.

True Brian - if we lived WAY back in a holler. The backwoods areas of WV can be just as dangerous as living in any city.