Tornadoes V Eathquakes

[Adventurefamily]

Ok - so don't laugh or scoff at this next question, but for those of you who have lived in the US - particularly in the Tornado Alley area - how does the fear factor of wondering when the next big quake will hit compare to the cowering in the basement wondering if the house is going to be lifted away?
We are in South Central Indiana - not officially Tornado Alley - but with all the climate changes happening in the world - it is beginning to feel like it.
We just came through another night of tornado warnings, some touching down only a few miles from us, trees on houses, roofs pulled up - you get the idea right?
All of us hunkered down in the basement on camping mats for hours on end.
Anyway - My parents keep cautioning us about the earthquakes - they dont want us to go - but after this past week - i cant imagine that the "fear" of the unknown could be worse.
I am not downplaying by any means the devastation and loss of life those of you over in Christchurch have and still are experiencing. I am merely trying to figure out if we would handle the uncertainty well - since we already are used to dealing with extreme weather here. At least here though we have an idea of when conditions are "favourable" to creating tornado conditions - no advance warning for earthquakes.
How have those of you come to terms with it?
We take the stance that we could get hit by a drunk driver coming home from work and that we don't want to live in fear of what "might" happen.
Sorry - long post....

[Dell]

I don't believe the earthquake risk is any worse in NZ than in California - all part of the Pacific ring of fire. But if you look at the number of tornadoes each year, the associated property damage and deaths (over 500 deaths for just this year!) and compare it to property damage and deaths in NZ earthquakes (less than 200 deaths in the C'Ch quake) I feel much safer in NZ.

Keep in mind also that there are parts of NZ with lower seismic activity. My hometown of Warkworth (45 minutes N. of Auckland) is low risk.

[Dell]

More info:

This link gives you the major quakes in NZ in recent history and the number of deaths (under 500 total since 1843)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquakes_in_New_Zealand

I believe more have died in tornadoes in the past two months in the U.S.

[Adventurefamily]

Yes - you are right, the # of deaths so far this spring is pretty horrific here. The chance of earthquakes isn't enough to deter us. I am assuming people just accept that it is part of the life of living there - much like we do here with the tornadoes.
Thanks

[ralf-nz]

Keep in mind also that there are parts of NZ with lower seismic activity. My hometown of Warkworth (45 minutes N. of Auckland) is low risk.

In another thread I mentioned that various areas have been assigned with different hazard factors: Generally the South and the North have the lowest factors; Southern Alps the highest.

BTW we would use the word 'probability' here. The word 'risk' is used to describe a combination of 'probability' and 'consequence'. It is difficult enough to get a satisfying answer on the first. Getting it on the second is shear impossible in this instance. This is something the three (1 x Fjordland & 2 x Canterbury) recent major earthquakes here in NZ over the past two years indicate.

[Mamee & Co]

I think that it depends upon your personality. Some people cannot cope with the thought that it could happen anytime. Some do not think about it overly much, just have things prepared in case and get on with life.

In some ways I think that torndadoes would be worse as you are forewarned, so you can worry. EQs don't do that.

We are becoming a bit blase here....as witnessed recently in the office when the out of towner, who was in for a meeting, turned pale, grabbed his coat and headed for the door whilst the Christchurch crew laughed at him!

[NAP]

We are becoming a bit blase here....as witnessed recently in the office when the out of towner, who was in for a meeting, turned pale, grabbed his coat and headed for the door whilst the Christchurch crew laughed at him!

Awwww - reminds me of a story though that my inlaws told me - they used to live in Wellington and Palmy so were always used to quakes and being "prepared" to run/jump under desk whatever.. Anyhow.. when they moved up North they were in the bank one day when a big truck went by and the rumbling sound it makes apparently sounds like an earthquake/tremor, so they bolted for the door!! Meanwhile everyone else looked at them if they were nuts!! I know opposite to story above but interesting how people react!!

A friends mum here who is from Christchurch is really suffering from nerves. She came stayed up here for a few weeks and when we had thunder she nearly fainted and again when her son in law shifted a table... I think as has been said it depends on how you react to things, whether you will always thinking about "what might happen" etc..

[sophiedb]

We were talking about this comparison the other day, but in our case we've been here for the Feb quake now but never any tornadoes

The biggest thing here in Chch after the earthquakes seems to be infrastructure, particularly below ground. I could be completely missing it, but it looks as though tornadoes will happily rip buildings to pieces and throw everything (nailed down or otherwise) 5 miles up the road, but does it wreck the land? Do the roads stay put, the pipes intact?

Coping mechanisms since the quake seem to revolve around the safety of buildings, for instance I am quite happy in my single-storey, re-purposed library. I did visit the original six-storey office building the other day, still under repair, and it did feel solid. Looks and feels like a building site though, and the date to move back keeps getting replotted. I believe it currently sits anywhere from August to October.

And at home, some areas are still dealing with chemical toilets and portaloos as a way of life - anything involving water pressure is pretty stuffed, out east. Some roads may as well be tracks on a sheep station, for all the bumps and gravel, and the liquefaction that bubbled up in some areas has sunk the riverside areas to below sea level. Big, long-term impact stuff that you can't just rebuild from the ground up because you have to get the underground stuff sorted first.

I don't know that there is an answer to which is worse. I can tell you that we booked our one-way flights to Chch 6 hours before the September quake though, and we still came! (how nuts does that make us??)

[Adventurefamily]

Thanks Sophie for your input. I think it will all boil down to just having to be there. Some situations no matter how much you research etc have to be experienced personally to understand how you would cope. As I said the thought of it isn't enough to deter us. Wherever we could choose to go in the World - I'm sure there would be either the threat of a natural disaster or man-made lunacy! So on we go....

[Adventurefamily]

Christchurch is still a city we are really interested in! So that may qualify us for being in the nuts group too!