
Ask HN: How serious is the earthquake risk in southern California? - joonix
I know there are some earthquake experts lurking around here as well as generally a more logical crowd so I thought I would ask.<p>I am thinking of moving to the Los Angeles area. The earthquake risk is still in the back of my mind. I do not want to put my spouse and future family at risk.<p>If I live, say in the westside of LA, what is the risk that I die in an earthquake? What are the risks that a freeway collapses as I am driving on it?<p>Assume that I do not live in a &quot;dingbat&quot; apartment building, work in a modern office building, take precautions to secure furniture at home, keep a &quot;go bag&quot; of supplies, etc, should I fear dying in an earthquake?<p>I am not so worried about the doomsday scenarios that people paint about the aftermath, such as looting and such. I lived through a couple of major hurricanes and in the aftermath people were helping each other and we got through it. I am concerned about the actual shaking though.<p>I look at the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, and they lost 185 people with only a population of 360,000.
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TaiFood
The issue should be framed as what are the chances your home or workplace will
collapse during a major earthquake.

I believe a reasonable person will conclude taking reasonable precautions to
supplant overwhelmed first responders is the only investment a person need to
actually plan in event of a nearby major earthquake.

To believe your family will be harmed by a collapsed building in California is
unreasonable hysteria.

Our construction standards have been upgraded to survive the quake.

The few block radius of destruction is infinitesimally small to predict.

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joonix
Thanks. What about all the elevated freeways in LA? Looking at the helicopter
reports from the Northridge quake, the collapses are pretty terrifying.

