Ask HN: How serious is the earthquake risk in southern California?

2 pointsjoonix9y ago2 comments

I know there are some earthquake experts lurking around here as well as generally a more logical crowd so I thought I would ask.

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.

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?

Assume that I do not live in a "dingbat" apartment building, work in a modern office building, take precautions to secure furniture at home, keep a "go bag" of supplies, etc, should I fear dying in an earthquake?

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.

I look at the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, and they lost 185 people with only a population of 360,000.

2 comments

TaiFood9y ago

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.

joonixOP9y ago

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

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