A new survey has found Americans fear earthquakes more than any other type of natural disaster. This is despite the fact that earthquakes have only killed 70 people in the U.S. from 1990 to 2016. Several types of natural disasters, like tornadoes, average more deaths per year.
When it comes to natural disasters, Americans fear earthquakes more than anything else. A new survey shows that 21.1 percent of those polled said they’re most fearful of earthquakes, with tornadoes coming in second place at 17.6 percent. Wildfires, hurricanes, flooding and droughts were also among the six types of natural disasters most feared by the 1,100 people surveyed.
Earthquakes worry us for a number of reasons, thanks to their violent nature and the psychological terror of the earth moving beneath our feet. They strike quickly and without warning. Storms, on the other hand, are tracked by meteorologists and can be prepared for or avoided by evacuation.
What about other natural disasters?
But if you’re going to truly frighten yourself over natural disasters, earthquakes are not the most likely to kill you, especially if you don’t live in an earthquake zone. From 1990 to 2016, only 70 people died in the U.S. from earthquakes. That pales in comparison to the 3,263 deaths from tropical cyclones from 1990 to 2017.
In fact, tornadoes average as many deaths per year as earthquakes have killed in the last 27 years combined. Flooding, which can sometimes be a slow-developing natural disaster, kills even more – 84 per year.
And while it isn’t traditionally categorized with the more violent natural disasters, heat is far deadlier than all other types of extreme weather, killing an average of 131 Americans each year.
Only three earthquakes in U.S. history have official death tolls higher than that. But of course when the next Big One hits Cascadia, San Francisco or New Madrid… The consequences will be cataclysmic!
What is the natural disaster you fear the most?
SECTION 9 AGENT ANDROID SECRETARY SAYS: most earthquakes are quite small and most people don’t feel them. Late at night when it is very quiet you can hear and feel the small ones in the 2.0 to 4.0’s. Lately I’ve have noticed near volcanoes and fault lines plus hot springs and increase in swarm quakes. The article forgot to mention the MEGA quakes of the last century but the only one, the Good Friday April 5 th 1964 quake hit the USA. The Great North Eastern 2011 mega quake in Japan killed over 16,000 people and damaged billions in USA dollars in agriculture and infrastructure resources and private property. Then there was the 2004 Banda Ache earthquake that caused the drowning of 235,000 from the Tsunamis. These don’t happen very often once every 100 or 500 or 1000 years but these numbers vary by how close you are to a large body of water. The scary part is if your at the site of one of these mega quakes you don’t walk or run but slide crammed down to the floor. Back and forth and all over the ground or floor for 5 or 10 minutes you can’t control where you go and what crashes into you. Your at the luck of the dice roll, pray for lucky numbers! !!?? Don’t believe me go take a look at the Alaska 1964 8mm or 16mm films of a medium sized fishing ship coming out over the docks smashing up items and folks. Or the family playing around with their new home movie camera sliding all over the floor inside there house!