

Ask HN: Are you afraid of the “big one” in California? - maclo

I&#x27;m a developer living in California. While I enjoy many things here, news of overdue earthquakes like this one [1] scares the hell out of me. I really want to settle down, but the idea of paying for a house in a very expensive and earthquake-prone state really troubles me.<p>I work remotely and as a immigrant I have no family to hold on to. So I can live in another state if I want. Still, I like California (after spending time in several other states) and I guess I&#x27;m looking for a reason not to have to leave.<p>Do you scare of earthquakes? If you do, what keep you from moving already (except for obvious reasons like jobs and family)? If you work remotely and can live anywhere in the US [2], where would you live?<p>[1] The Really Big One http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.newyorker.com&#x2F;magazine&#x2F;2015&#x2F;07&#x2F;20&#x2F;the-really-big-one<p>[2] If you think another country is better, please check out this question instead https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=10037690
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aliston
Honestly, if you're well prepared and live/work in buildings that have been
seismically retrofitted, you're probably better off in an earthquake than most
other natural disasters. San Francisco is making a lot of progress in terms of
earthquake preparedness (recently passed a soft-story ordinance, lots of new
building codes around earthquakes), and a lot of the infrastructure has been
retrofitted for earthquakes fairly recently (bay bridge, transbay tube...).

My advice would be to put together a good earthquake preparedness kit, move to
an apartment that has been seismically retrofitted, make sure your big
appliances are bolted to the wall, and move on with your life. Plenty of other
things to spend your time worrying about.

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Mz
Many years ago, after agonizing over one too many flood victim stories, I went
looking for a "safe" place to live. To my chagrin, I learned that humans
habitually live near water so they don't die of thirst and can also grow
crops. They also use water as a means of transport. Thus, most development is
in areas at some risk of flood. Further investigation showed that every place
has some kind of natural disaster. You can kind of choose which one bothers
you less, but you cannot escape them. The Midwest has tornadoes. The East
Coast has hurricanes. The far north has blizzards and ice storms. Etc. Etc.

I like California. My health is better here than elsewhere. For now, I expect
to be here for the foreseeable future.

~~~
GFischer
Even if you find a place that's free of most foreseeable natural catastrophes
(my own homeland, Uruguay, is such an example), you sometimes can't avoid
political or human-caused ones (wars, dictatorships, the taxman :P etc.)

So the "be prepared" advice elsewhere in the thread sounds good. If I ever
move to California I'll try to find an earthquake-safe place.

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Axsuul
No, not if you view it from the perspective of statistics. The chances of you
dying in a traffic accident are still much higher. In fact, it seems like
you're 20,000 times more likely to die from this than in an earthquake living
in California [1]. And you can always increase your chances of survival by
living on bedrock, or not directly on a fault line, or living in a newer
building (skyscrapers are actually safer than a 1-story house due to higher
requirements in safety).

[1]
[http://www.dartmouth.edu/~ears5/handouts/Prob_dying6_25_99.h...](http://www.dartmouth.edu/~ears5/handouts/Prob_dying6_25_99.html)

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maclo
Thanks all for offering your perspective. This comforts me a lot. I guess I
would start by stocking up supplies and checking whether the apartment I live
is properly retrofitted.

