It’s been mentioned that we have earthquakes here in L.A. No tremors lately (knock on wood). But don’t forget the fires and mudslides. And the occasional riot, but I guess that doesn’t fit under the natural description.
Well, I live in good old neutral Northern Ireland on the western edge of Europe so… nowt much really.
A few high winds, a bit of snow, nothing too bad. If global warming strikes hard and sea levels rise I doubt the Lagan Weir would prevent much of the city (and possibly my office in the University escaping) And if that volcano on the west African coast causes a large landslide into the Atlantic, it could sweep up the Irish sea and clobber us too. But that’s a big if.
ZebraShaSha, I live in Greensboro, too. My opinion differs a bit, though, since I had $30,000 in damage to my house from a tornado this past September 17th. :eek:
Tornados are definitely a possibility and a relatively common problem here. We had another tornado warning just this past Thursday. It’s not nearly as bad as in “Tornado Alley” though, so I suppose we have it pretty good here for the most part.
Jammer
Earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanoes (oh, my!). I can see the Cascades and Mt. Rainier from here, and we got a fair dusting of ash in the second Mt. St. Helens eruption in 1980. I live less than a mile from the beach, in a city with a maximum elevation of about 23 feet. Since the Indian Ocean tsunamis, the local media reminds us almost daily that the Cascadia Subduction Zone is just off the coast, and when (not if) it slips we will have about 10 minutes to get to high ground before the first wave hits.
Still, I’ll take all that over tornados. Those things are scary!
Oh, I forgot! In 1986 or so we had this thing called the Lizard Man in the swamps, which would evidently come up and eat the chrome off your car. It was the subject of a crapload of smirking news broadcasts at the time; I want to say there were mabye three Lizard Man accounts. I am totally not kidding, I’m giggling insanely as I type this but I bet nobody else remembers it. There was even a song!
Actually our volcanoes are pretty safe. I’m more worried about tsunamis, earthquakes, landslides and hurricanes. All of those (with volcanoes) are all going to occur only a few times in your lifetime.
The big swells that strike the North Shore every winter are going to create a whole lot of damage sooner or later.
When I lived in Kentucky tornadoes were the number one disaster; scarcely a year went by that we didn’t hide in the basement during a severe storm. The storm on April 3 1974 was particularly bad. While the tornadoes didn’t hit Lexington they hit several surrounding towns and killed more than 300 people in the midwest and southeast.
In Albuquerque the problems are drought (sort of a given in a desert) and flash floods. During a drought not only do garden plants, crops, and wildlife die, fires also break out. One fire burnt part of Los Alamos in May of 2000:
http://www.asu.edu/caed/proceedings01/WEBB/webb.htm
Floods don’t cause as much damage but since the ground out here sometimes doesn’t absorb water very well rain may have nowhere to go but into the nearest channel–which in a town may be a street filled with motorists. Sometimes cars and trucks get swept away and the fire crews have to rescue passengers. Sinkholes and gullies also appear during these floods.
In my part of Ohio (SW) it’s basically tornadoes. The threat is not terribly high compared to many other places, but in this immediate area people are still a bit shaky from the Xenia tornado of 1974 (of same outbreak mentioned above by KRC), probably one of the most infamous tornadoes in the country’s recent history.
Tornadoes in Northern Michigan, but they are really rare in the town I’m in. I’ve been here a long time and we’ve never had a funnel cloud touch down.
That leaves blizzards and ice storms.
My Father sojourned there to meet my Mother.
A lovely place. I speak with her accent.
Flash flooding, tornadoes, and hurricanes. But here in MS we don’t get the latter as bad as our neighbor, Florida. I was in Sarasota this summer, and I saw some truly nasty damage in Punta Gorda. I saw houses that had been ripped in half, where one half is untouched, and then the other half is strewn for blocks. I saw a church were the steeple had been completely ripped off. Whoa.
I couldn’t imagine living far from the ocean or one of the great lakes. I was born just outside of Boston and have spent all my days here. I’m going to grad school in Davis, CA, this fall, which isn’t too terribly far from the Pacific, so I’m happy.
Hurricanes, flooding, earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis.
I enjoy the variety.
None to speak of. But most people from warmer climes would think all of January is a natural disaster, I suspect. 
Well, last summer I got hit by three seperate hurricanes. My rented college house in Orlando got Charley and my house in Vero Beach got the northern eyewall of both Frances and Jeanne. Besides hurricanes we only have to worry about severe T-storms and semi-frequent but small tornadoes.
Auckland NZ, here. With two harbours, each facing a different part of the oceans, we have double the risk of tsunami damage should it happen. Our volcanic field all around us and underneath us is quiet, but a new one will form at some point. Hopefully, further out east and seaward. We can still expect major economic disruption at best, though, if/when that happens.
Earthquakes: the nearest major fault is to the west, in the Kaipara. We’re fairly stable here. We do get small localised tornadoes, and flooding in low lying areas, but Auckland is in the main a hilly place (thanks to the aforementioned volcanic field).
If Taupo blows again, we will likely be smothered in ash deposit. If Mt Taranaki blows, we’ll lose power due to main line disruption. In the main, though – we don’t worry much up here.
None. Hurray!
Pennyslvania.
Central Susquehanna River valley to be specific.
According to our local weather forecaster (admittedly not a wonderful source) we are “one of the most flood prone” areas in the US.
Here in central Alabama, tornados are the big threat (we’re having severe weather this weekend, as a matter of fact). Of course we also get the rare blizzard, and twice in the past ten years have been smacked by hurricanes. Hey, we’ve got something for everybody!
The Strait of Georgia is just outside. I suppose there might be some danger of a tsunamim but I’m guessing Vancouver Island would be a good blockade against one.
Looking the other way, Mt. Baker is – what? 50 miles away? There might be some danger of an eruption.
I haven’t felt an earthquake since I’ve been here. I miss earthquakes.