And man, there’s many. Blizzards, floods, hurricanes, typhoons, tornados, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions…the list goes on.
But which do you think would be the most terrifying to experience of all of them?
For some reason, I think that an earthquake would have to be the worst to be in all of them. And I don’t mean one of those little ones that California get at least once a day. I mean one that would regester an 8 or 9; if it hit with the impact that this hurricane did.
If any of the natural disasters hit with that kind of force, which would you want the least to be in, being as it would be the scariest?
I’ve been in a hurricane and a major earthquake. With a hurricane you generally have warning but the fright is prolonged. The earthquake is fast and furious and comes without warning. Which in my opinion made it far worse.
I’ve been in just about every type of disaster. I was in Broward County during Hurricane Andrew, Columbus OH during the Blizzard of 1978, I’ve been in minor earthquakes (a 4.8 aftershock of the Northridge quake) and have been in numerous tornado warnings although never sustained a direct hit.
I think hurricanes are the worst. The storm last longer and spreads destruction over a large area.
Earthquake is over so fast, you either made it or you didn’t.
Most of the rest can kill you, but death is not assured. Maybe the storm will break / waters recede before you die. A guy can come by on a raft or a snow mobile and rescue you. Experience tells us that most people are more fascinated by wind events (tornado/hurricane) than they are scared by them, given the propensity of people to be out in the storm filming it and saying “Wow! That giant razor sharp piece of sheet metal just blew past me at 50 miles per hour! Back to you in the studio Lori!”
But fear? OHMIGODIMGOINGTODIE! type fear? Forest fire.
Being caught in a forest fire. Hundred foot wall of flames racing toward you, running, running, only to be trapped against the cliff. Knowing that no earthly force can rescue you and you are about to be burned alive. All hope gone. Now THAT’S fear.
I’ve been in a big quake. Terrifying, yes, but I still think a hurricane would be worse, because it goes on for hours. At least the quake was over in twenty or thirty seconds.
Perhaps we should further refine what we mean by disaster.
Disease (such as a flu pandemic) might be the worst for me, not knowing if or when it might strike, if it is really over, watching family and friends dropping.
I am absolutely scared crapless of tornadoes. I’ve been through hurricanes and earthquakes, but, lordy, just the warning that there is a tornado or possiblility of tornadoes sends me into a catotonic shock, wondering why the hell I live in a building without a basement.
I’ve been on the edge of a hurricane. I dont mean to sound callous but it was very fun at the time. Our house was on stilts so there was no danger of the house flooding and it was neat being able to swim in the driveway over the next few days. Digging the car out of the mud, not so much fun.
I can’t imagine an earthquake would be much fun. One of the unspoken promises of life is that the ground is a pretty safe place to be, it can’t be nice to have that burst.
Sorry-not going all Charles Bronson, but I can’t summon terror for any of them. Either I’ll die or I won’t. My least desirable would be flood/hurricane/dam burst because water is so relentless and powerful. All you can do to escape it is go up, and if you run out of ‘up’, prepare to have sex.
Hm, I’m going to have to go with BoringDad’s suggestion. A forest fire would indeed be the worst for me. I am horrified by the idea of burning alive - not to mention having one’s house burn to the ground. Yup, that would have to be the ultimate in fear.
Out of all them I’ll take the blizzard. (Provided that I have a wood burning stove with an unlimited supply of firewood, the makings for s’mores, some fresh water and an enthralling book - until someone comes to rescue me of course! )
Blizzards are not scary at all if you are already home and have supplies. One of the neat things about blizzards is that if you lose power, your food won’t spoil because you can just put it in the garage and it stays nice and cold. Also, water is pretty much a non-issue, unless your blizzard is combined with a freak toxic waste spill or something like that.
But I do have a special fear of being caught outside in a blizzard. Visibility is just about nil, and it’s easy to become disoriented and walk away from shelter, even if it is very close to you. Normal landmarks that might help you navigate, like a curb, are completely covered. Because of snow drifting, you can’t even rely on things like uphill and downhill, it doesn’t help you to know that your house is downhill from where you are presently.
It’s still not my #1 fear though, that is volcanos. It’s not a bad phobia to have, though, because I’ve found it to be fairly easy to avoid them. My fear comes from the fact that with volcanos, you have a high risk of a disaster combo, like earthquakes, tidal waves, widespread fires, and “blizzards” of ash.
Blizzards don’t bother me. Like delphica said, if you’re prepared and home, they’re not too bad. When I was growing up in Michigan, they were even kind of fun. There was massive amounts of snow, no school, and it seemed like we were a feeling of camping at home!
Tornados don’t bother me either. As mentioned, they don’t produce the widespread destruction of other storms. Yeah, it sucks if they hit your house, but they don’t wipe out the entire state infrastructure.
Hurricanes always worried me a bit but none has ever made me fear for my life. The few that come up to Maryland are more property damage risks.
Earthquakes frighten me in principal, but the one time I experienced one first hand I didn’t know what it was till much later. The ground shook, then it stopped, and I thought my neighbor had blown up the car he was always working on in his garage! (To be fair, I was just a kid.)
Now fire–any kind of fire, scares the crap out of me. Forrest fires! Almost too scarey to think about. Actually, the thing that scares me more about earthquakes is any fires that may start afterwards.
Seeing what has happened to the Mississippi Gulf Coast makes a believer out of me, then there is New Orleans that thought it had dodged the bullet until the floods came. Yeah, Katrina is about as bad as it gets, but I’m not discounting earthquakes, tornadoes, fires either. If we ever had a blizzard in Mississippi we wouldn’t know what to do.
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