4 ms·
If I were in the U.S., I'd be more worried about the San Andreas fault and the "big one" due on San Francisco any time soon: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_A
by GFischer 13y ago
If I were in the U.S., I'd be more worried about the San Andreas fault and the "big one" due on San Francisco any time soon:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Andreas_Fault#The_University_of_California_study_on_.22the_next_big_one.22 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Andreas_Fault#The_Universit...
"The 2008 Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast (UCERF) has estimated that the probability of an M ≥ 6.7 earthquake within the next 30 years on the northern and southern segments of the San Andreas fault as 21% and 59%, respectively."
- Retric 13y agoA M 7 earhquake in California is bearly newsworthy and far from a significant threat. A low to mid 8 would cause significant property dammamge but few deaths. Even a 9 would only cause local problems. The Yellowstone Calder on the other hand would easily kill 50+% of everyone in the US with a low end eruption. Or put another way it's a significant threat to people livening in India. PS: A great way of comparing threats is to multiply risk times death totals over a decade. On that scale terrorists and eathquakes are a joke.
- DanBC 13y agoIn 1989 a 7.1 earthquake cause over $5bn of damage (excluding damage to roads, bridges, and State buildings.) (http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00001498.htm http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00001498.htm) Wikipedia doesn't show many > 7 earthquakes. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquakes_in_California#List_of_earthquakes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquakes_in_California#List...) (but maybe they have a weird inclusion criteria?)
- Retric 13y agoDeath's != property damage. Even the 10th most expensive hurricane to hit the US did 10billion in property damage with Katrina hitting 108 billion. Consider the 9.0 that hit japan in 2011. Despite 129,225 buildings totally collapsed, with a further 254,204 buildings 'half collapsed', and another 691,766 buildings partially damaged it killed under 20,000 people. That said, we have invested a lot to drive the death totals down in large part because earthquakes and hurricanes are fairly common. In comparison we are spending far to much on terrorism and far to little on the rare but civilization ending mega disasters.
- snowwrestler 13y ago> The Yellowstone Calder on the other hand would easily kill 50+% of everyone in the US with a low end eruption. This stat is crazy. A low-end eruption (by far the most typical kind) at Yellowstone would kill few people in the U.S. The eruptions aren't that big and the Yellowstone downwind area is one of the least populated areas of the country.
- Retric 13y agoUmm yea sorry, I meant high end eruption. I have no idea why I just said low.