Job Discussion Forums

wintersweet · Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2005 7:01 am Post subject:

Actually, tornadoes cause more deaths and property damage each year than earthquakes do, in the US. I don't know about Japan; I don't think tornadoes occur as frequently there.

fluffyhamster · Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2005 7:42 am Post subject:

I should have probably said something like 'I guess big earthquakes cause more fatalities wherever and whenever they (relatively rarely and irregularly) strike than tornadoes (which seem to be mainly in America, and seasonally, quite regular, right? See quote from my Oxford Pop-up Reference Shelf below! Razz

).

fluffyhamster · Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2005 7:51 am Post subject:

Interesting point about buildings being made to withstand earthquakes, Lover - I doubt if a building (i.e. your average home) could ever be made to withstand the force of a full-on tornado!

wintersweet · Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2005 7:56 am Post subject:

Yeah, that's my part of the country, or it used to be, anyway. Don't miss it much.

In Taiwan people worried about hurricanes more than earthquakes ...

Anyway, guess what natural disaster/phenomenon kills the most people in the US every year: heat waves. Globally? Floods. So, try to keep cool and dry. Wink

... What were we talking about? Razz

(Oh yeah, Fukuoka. It looks like it's still raining there on tonight's NHK news. Sheesh ... I feel so sorry for all the people stuck in shelters.)

QueenSerenity42 · Joined: 09 Mar 2005 Posts: 35

I, too, have lived in both earthquake- and tornado-prone areas. (Yay Iowa and Idaho) I've experienced many, many tornadoes and one fairly serious earthquake. Admittedly, the earthquake I've been in didn't do a whole lot of damage, though I do vaguely remember standing in a doorway with my dad watching the S-waves make the road wave like water. I was still really little, and I know I thought it looked way cool.

Tornado vs. earthquake? Personally, I'll take a tornado every time. Here's why.

1. With tornadoes, you have WARNING. All it takes is a year in Tornado Alley and you'll learn to recognize the signs of tornado potential. Unless you are the unluckiest person on the planet and one drops straight on you, you will have at least some warning and some time to get to shelter. Even this is unlikely, however, seeing as they set off the warning sirens for a "thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado" nowadays. Yeah, I spend a lot of time cowering in the basement listening to the radio to find out if I'm gonna lose my house. And wondering which I'm more afraid of - the tornado or the spiders. (Spiders usually win. I'm majorly arachnophobic.) Earthquakes give little to no warning and, as has been previously stated, there is very little time to seek a safe place to ride it out.

2. Unless you're not very bright (like the putzes who grab a video camera and stand in front of the windows to film an oncoming tornado), your chances of getting through a tornado unharmed or with only minor injuries are very high. There is usually plenty of time to get to adequate shelter. Some unfortunate people don't have a storm basement in their homes, but even then, you can get to the innermost windowless room in the house and get under *some* protection. FYI for those who don't know - highway underpasses are one of the *worst* places you can try to take shelter from a tornado. That TV crew was way the heck lucky that they weren't killed. The farther you are above ground level, the higher the wind speeds you will be subjected to, and crouching under an overpass you are a major target for flying debris. You're way better lying in a ditch and holding on for dear life.

3. Tornadoes only affect very small areas, unlike the widespread damage of an earthquake. The biggest path I've ever heard of is a mile and a half wide and nearly 300 miles long (the "Tri-State Tornado" event, which was actually multiple twisters). A major earthquake can cause damage in a hundred mile plus *radius*. It's not going to hit one house and miss the next-door neighbor. It's going to shake up everything in the area, not to mention the potential tsunamis.

Wow, I feel like such a nerd. Can you tell what I like to study in my spare time? LOL

Lover · Joined: 14 Feb 2005 Posts: 86

fluffyhamster wrote:

Interesting point about buildings being made to withstand earthquakes, Lover - I doubt if a building (i.e. your average home) could ever be made to withstand the force of a full-on tornado!

That is what someone wrote on a post on this thread. I myself not have even reasonable knowledge about buildings being able to withstand earthquakes. I did see a show about how they made buildings able to shake because of metal inside the concrete, it made sense, but I don't know for sure.
So please don't say or think I am a troll. I was only speculating. I know very little about earthquakes and what to do if in one.

Lover · Joined: 14 Feb 2005 Posts: 86

Captain Onigiri · Joined: 20 Jan 2005 Posts: 103 Location: fly-over land

I guess earthquakes and tornados have differenct kinds of stresses. Earthquakes are all post-tramatic stress and tornados are all pre-tramatic stress. There is no panic in an earthquake until the earth starts to shake, then it's the trauma of the mess and after-shocks. In a tornado, it's the anticipation; the civil defense sirens, the interruption of regular TV broadcast by some very earnest man telling you you should have hit the deck five minutes ago. Granted, we have better warnings today with the advent of Dopplar Radar than we did 10 years ago but you can still have very little warning. While it's not too bad if you live in a home with a basement, if you were one of those poor schmucks that live in a mobile home park and have to get in your car and drive to a public shelter... of course that begs the question as to why you would be so stupid to live in a mobile home in a tornado zone, but lots of people do. One of life's mysteries.

Lover · Joined: 14 Feb 2005 Posts: 86

Captain Onigiri wrote:

Earthquakes are all post-tramatic stress and tornados are all pre-tramatic stress. There is no panic in an earthquake until the earth starts to shake, then it's the trauma of the mess and after-shocks. In a tornado, it's the anticipation

I have never been in a major earthquake, but sounds logical. I know the worst thing of tornados is the anticipation. After my awful experience, just hearing about tornados would send shivers up my spine.

[quote]While it's not too bad if you live in a home with a basement, if you were one of those poor schmucks that live in a mobile home park and have to get in your car and drive to a public shelter... of course that begs the question as to why you would be so stupid to live in a mobile home in a tornado zone, but lots of people do. One of life's mysteries.[/quote][[/quote]quote][

I would imagine people who live in a mobile home in a tornado zone are too poor to live somewhere else. Their job is probably their and so they can't afford to quit move some where else and find a new job. I guess people in that situtation also believe it won't happen to them.

QueenSerenity42 · Joined: 09 Mar 2005 Posts: 35

Captain Onigiri · Joined: 20 Jan 2005 Posts: 103 Location: fly-over land

Celeste · Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2005 5:06 am Post subject:

We had another aftershock last night that was rather long - about 10 seconds, but the shaking was much gentler than the original quake. The aftershocks have been rather disconcerting, but they haven't been big. The first few aftershocks really made me jumpy, but the startle effect is now diminished somewhat.