Glen,
Sadly you are pretty much on the mark. Every time I survey
tornado damage over the years, it gets worse. Big old houses
built from the 1880s through the early 1900s stand up pretty
well, but modern construction is crap! In a lot of homes, the
house isn't even tied to the foundation with more than a couple
of concrete nails throught the footers!! An 80 mph straight
line wind (quite common with high plains area thunderstorms)
will take them completely off their foundation! This is downright
criminal and it's largely a product of builders with a strong
lobby in local, state and federal government.
For people who don't live in tornado alley - your chances of
even seeing a tornado, let alone being hit by one is far smaller
that being in an earthquake. We average around 800 tornadoes
a year nation wide and only about 90 deaths, so we are doing
pretty good. Sadly about 80% of the deaths occur in trailer
homes and trailer parks. People continue to suffer from the
"It can't happen to me" syndrome! Who would live in a trailer
in the middle of tornado alley??!!
Personally, I prefer to take my chances with tornadoes rather
than earthquakes or hurricanes! I've got an excellent chance
of getting away from a tornado as while they are very intense,
they are also very localized. I've been in a 7.2 earthquake (bay
area - 1989) and in Hurricane Camile. You can't get away
from them. On the other hand, in the late 90s we were driving
instrumented vehicles to within a few hundred yards of some
violent tornadoes collecting research data and were in no
danger at all. With a hurricane or earthquake you feel totally
helpless. Even if you survive without injury. And their devistation
is VERY widespread. Hundreds die, are injured or loose
everything as opposed to only a handful in a tornado.
Now shall we talk Tsunami?? ;-)
Cheers!!
Jim - he of the inert midget in Dodge City
On 11/15/05, Glen Byrns <grbyrns@ucdavis.edu> wrote:
>
> All this may be true, but when you list the earthquake deaths versus
> hurricanes and tornadoes for the USA only, how do they look?
> Rhetorical question, I think we all know the answer.
>
>
> Two words......building codes
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