image courtesy of Yahoo NewsHave you seen Ike? He's HUGE! It kinda makes me wonder why people choose to live in areas prone to Mother Nature's destruction. I remember after Hurricane Katrina I actually looked at a map to see where exactly New Orleans was. People, its in the middle of the gulf! Well, practically.
Then, of course, I remember that people love places as much as, well, their family. And home isn't just where family is sometimes. Sometimes home is about a specific place, with specific memories, and specific scents and sights and sounds. So I guess I get it on some level.
Natural disasters have always fascinated me a bit. Growing up in Seattle, we were always told that 'the big one' was coming. And we practiced earthquake drills at school and talked about what to do in case the rumbling started. And then I lived through an earthquake. All 5.2 Richter's of an earthquake. And the scariness of earthquakes dissipated some because not much happened in that 10 seconds of rumbling and shaking. Then I went to college, and they said we were on a fault line there... and a big one was coming. Then we moved to Idaho. And they said we were on a fault line... and a big one was coming and would cause major flooding (or something like that). So me and earthquakes are pretty indifferent to one another. Now, if I lived on the California coast, I might be singing a different tune.
Which makes me wonder (reader participation, please!): If you had to pick one natural disaster to occur where you are in two days time, what would you pick and why? Tsunami, hurricane, earthquake, forest fire, tornado... any I didn't think of?
Me personally? I can't stand wet carpet, walls, etc. and all the mold issues, so I'd avoid a hurricane. The tsunami thing scares me because that wave is just so big and crushingly powerful. And we'd be dealing with lots of wet there, too. I really love the wind, but tornadoes scare me because they are so unpredictable. I guess I'd pick an earthquake or forest fire. What about you?
And are there any natural disaster threats where you live now and what are they?
5 comments:
Oh I'd for SURE pick an earthquake. They come and go in a matter of seconds... and unless you're right in the epicenter they don't do much more damage than move some pictures around or knock something off of a dresser. No harm done really. Plus you don't have any warning... so you don't have time to get scared--it hits and then its over. My natural disaster of choice :)
Humm . . . I'd really rather not pick. Why don't you (or HF) surprise me? :-)
Recently, 10 homes were lost near Columbia Village (near Micron) when a bad windstorm with fire went thru. Pretty tramatic for those families. A few other homes were damaged with one death.
I've often wondered why people who lived in Louisana would still want to live there after Katrina. But I agree, home is home. I'd LOVE to live on the Oregon Coast cause it's so beautiful. (They are in a tsunami zone. . . so I don't know how smart that would be.)
Gabrielle
I lived thru a HUGE (7.2 on the rictor scale)earthquake in San Jose. This was in 1989 and I was 8 years old. This has TERRIFIED me of earthquakes ever since. I guess I saw a lot of damage and death on the news and so I freaked out. Not to mention we had over 100 after shocks, and sometimes those were big too.
I guess I would pick...forest fire. First I would make sure I had fire insurance, then I wouldn't mind buying a bunch of new stuff after the fire, as well as building a new house!
I'm with earthquake too. fault line livivg will do that for you. fun to catch up on this past week's posts!
I think I would go for the tornado and just pray it doesn't hit MY house. But really, NONE.
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