Adriatic posted:I wonder the same about faultline communities
The problem there is that the US is riddled with fault lines. If people were to avoid places where natural disasters could happen, nobody would live within a couple of miles of any coast line, and nowhere on the West coast or around the center of the country (as one of the most intense series earthquakes in US history was in the state of Missouri).
That's just not realistic.
I grew up in Tallahassee, Florida. A few hurricanes hit the area in the 20th century (and two in the last two years), but in the 28 years I lived there, only one hit the town, and there hadn't been one for many years before that. Statistically, weather doesn't hit the area very hard. So, people take the risk.
You have a chance for nature to mess you up almost anywhere you live. Yes, some people are practically asking for it (there is a river bank near where I grew up, at the base of a dam, that'd flood at least 2-3 times every year and every time, people were flooded out and crying to the TV cameras that it was horrible, even though it kept happening to them), but if you live long enough, you're likely to see something happen to you.
I live in an area that has the potential for a massive earthquake someday. The last happened in the 18th century and happens every few centuries or so and apparently nobody realized this until within my own lifetime. So now, we are bombarded with "It's going to happen any day now!" messages from people who apparently don't realize you can't predict earthquakes and none happen on a schedule. Is it a risk? Yeah, but it could be decades or centuries until it happens again. In a similar timeframe, natural disasters will hit other places numerous times, statistically.
Heck, how many people thought that there'd be a major earthquake in Virginia that damaged stuff in Washington DC, for crying out loud? Should everyone move away from that region of the country, knowing it could happen again someday?
