
Magnitude 6.5 earthquake hits off Northern California coast - v4n4d1s
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-earthquake-northern-california-20161208-story.html
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ejcx
I'm here in SF and didn't feel a thing. I see some people on reddit felt it a
little bit, and that it lasted quite a while.

I'm not seismologist, so I have no idea if this is possible, but I hope it
doesn't jolt anything closer to the city loose.

Good time to remind everyone to have an earthquake bag available and a plan
with your family, and be prepared for -=The Big One=-

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amorphid
I am in SF and felt it. I live on the 9th floor of an 11 story building. The
building swayed just enough to notice it. If I didn't know what an earthquake
is, I may not have realized it was one. Had I been asleep, the quake would
probably not have awakened me.

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darkstar999
There should be a mass exodus away from seismically active areas. "The big
one" is guaranteed to happen, not if, but when. Maybe this is too political
for this week?

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mikestew
And to where do you suggest I move? Everywhere has something that can kill you
in spectacular fashion. Indiana, where I grew up: tornadoes and cold that can
literally kill if underdressed. Hurricanes and trigger-happy residents in
Florida. You get the point.

Or I can stay in Washington where "the big one" or an eruption of Mount
Rainier _might_ happen in my lifetime. In the meantime I won't be shoveling
snow, watching my roof torn off, or shuttering my windows every other year.

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wfunction
I agree with your sentiment, but cold isn't a natural disaster; it's
predictable and you can prepare for it systematically and people have been
living through it just fine. And it doesn't destroy your entire life like an
earthquake does.

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jonknee
Tornados do destroy your entire life though and they are quite common in the
Midwest.

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takeda
but unlike earthquake, you have ample time to at least save yourself, no?

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mikestew
No, at least not sometimes (for non-trivial amounts of "sometimes"). Take my
anecdata in another comment on this thread. Partly cloudy day, something blows
in from the west. Dad and I decide it's going to rain soon enough, we should
head to the house. About halfway between the house and the barn, Dad says
"run!". That sound of screeching metal and shredding wood? Yeah, that would be
the entire roof structure of the barn being lifted up and deposited in a
neighboring field. We're talking a building that has more square feet than
your average McMansion. And that was a small tornado. The only mitigation for
the big, freight-train-sized tornadoes is that there's usually some harsh
weather to go along with it to warn you that something _might_ be coming.

Okay, so you're not outside. You're sitting cozy in your living room watching
_Orange is the New Black_. Tornado warning on the news, but tornadoes are very
localized and you don't have a basement in your manufactured home. So what are
you going to do, run to the neighbor's _again_ to huddle in their basement for
what probably turns out to be a non-event? Nah, it'll be fine. Until it isn't.
And by the time it looks like you really ought to be knocking on the
neighbor's door, you sure as hell don't want to be caught outside.

Now, the weather services are usually good about a heads-up, with tornado
watches (could be a tornado) and warnings (confirmed sighting). A lot of towns
have a siren that's goes off on a sighting. But it is quite possible to be
caught unaware, and there isn't a lot of time before that giant sucky thing
moving at 35mph gets to where you're at.

