We’re guessing your answer to this poll question, what natural disasters do you fear the most, will depend on where you live or spend the majority of your time. If you live in the Midwest, perhaps you fear tornadoes the most. If you live on the West Coast, it’s probably earthquakes.
But, wherever your geographic location is, there’s probably one or two of these that you fear the most, right? You can vote up to two times in this poll, so please tell us your top two. We’re curious to learn what they are. Thanks! (And please leave politics out of this.)
I don’t fear any natural disasters. —Diane
Great answer! The older I get the less concerned I get about my demise!
I checked tornado’s. They come when you sleep and there is no defense. No I won’t sleep underground, ‘just in case’…
I realized a long time ago (in my 74 years) that I can handle anything as long it’s temporary. I consider a natural disaster temporary, even though there are long-lasting, and frequently devastating, consequences. Have a great day, Tim. 😀 —Diane
Most of the other listed disasters, you can plan for, know in advance, savoir or get away from. The Yellowstone Supervolcano is overdue for eruption and will make Mount St.Helens seem like a small hiccup. It will affect the planet, and there is no way to get away from it. The chance of it happening in my lifetime is very remote, but someday, it WILL happen.
I don’t worry about it, but that wasn’t the question. It asked what I feared.
Blizzards! I also checked earthquakes even though we live in Michigan as it’s a natural disaster that comes with no warning.
Tornadoes top my list. They pop up at times and grow quickly. Although we have much better warning systems which is good a tornado can quickly result in major destruction
I have to say Tornado. I grew up in NE Kansas, so I know whereof I speak. AND … as I write this this morning … we’re under cloudy skies just outside Fort Worth, during a break in thunderstorms that hit last night and will likely come again later. But these are *JUST* thunderstorms … typical spring weather … NOT tornado storms. I know the difference, as does every single person who grew up with every spring this same way.
We’re headed north from here, through Oklahoma into Kansas again to visit family still there. Why this time of year? A grandchild’s high school graduation. But we have made it clear (I hope) that if tornadoes threaten, we’ll be headed at a right angle away from it…. back toward the mountains.
In the west and southwest damaging hail is common
Although the odds of this happening are probably low, I have developed a fear of being shot by a nut with gun.
I agree. Not a natural disaster, but far more likely. Or a nut with a moving car.
An average of more than 10 mass shootings a week in the US in 2021.
If congress would amend the law preventing Drs from telling the police about patients who clearly are dangerous to themselves and the public many of these shootings would stop. Just about every shooting evidence says the shooter was a mental case. PUT THESE NUT CASES AWAY and most of these shootings will stop.
When you have a permanent RV site on the southern coast of Florida, the fear of a hurricane is with you every year from June through November. We were lot owners in Hilton Head, SC the year Mathew had a direct hit. The Island and RV resort were devastated – loss of approximately 120,000 trees. Our Resort, alone, lost 550 trees. We were without power for a week and couldn’t get back in to the Resort for three weeks, because trees were down everywhere. And, this was with winds of only 90 MPH and 18 inches of rain!
Sink holes,
Tsunami
So glad I’m back not the only one 😉
We lost our home to a F-5 tornado in 1990.
you rapidly learn that everything you have is just “stuff”.
Family is what’s important.
I picked the Earthquake. Why you might ask? I survived the 9.4 Earthquake in Alaska in March 1964. You can not run and you can not hide from an Earthquake. All the other events there is some type of warning available. Some better than others. But not for Earthquakes. Just my two cents. Stay Safe, Stay Well, Safe Travels
My family also experienced that earthquake. I don’t fear earthquakes except maybe in a coastal area of Alaska.
July 4, 2019 we experienced a 6.4….no big deal. The next day a 7.1 hit us. The rolling and rocking motion actually made me sick to my stomach. We did have quite a bit of damage (not us personally) and I just can’t imagine what a 9.4 would be like.
Growing old
👍
Tornado. They come up fast and when you hear that warning and you’re away from home it can be hard to tell where it is in relation to where you are. I can travel away from a hurricane and with enough warning a forest fire.
Been through a tornado and in my RV. No warning,only thunderstorm watch. It was scary.
I have been through 3 hurricanes, avoided numerous tornadoes. Hurricanes give several days warning, if you’re caught by a hurricane it’s basically your own fault, tornadoes come up within a matter of minutes even seconds, escaping one is basically a blessing from God. My first hurricane was in Virginia Beach, VA in 1964 and I was out driving my car to see what all the excitement was about, lots of wind and rain but nothing like the tornadoes I had seen growing up primarily in IL.
Amen
I am not sure I fear any one more than another. I did select earthquakes because it is the only one we truly get no warning .
The best defense against a natural disaster is pre planning. I have been a rescue firefighter, an advanced first aid and CPR/AED instructor and a volunteer CERT member. We teach that a pre-plan it the most important defense. An emergency kit(get out quick) and knowing where you will go are at the top of the list. I have experienced almost every natural disaster except for a major earthquake. Felt 5.3 in Costa Rico where the bed moved across the room, but knew to get out and away of the building. Also, it is my nature to go towards disasters, not away. Knowledgeable help and assistance is needed after they occur by skilled people.
Be safe, wear your mask, wash your hands and keep social distancing. Add, pre-plan and make an emergency kit.
Hail
I live in CA, and for some reason am not that afraid of earthquakes. May be if I lived in a high rise, I would be. Those things sway a lot during earthquakes.
When we start traveling around, tornados might rationally come first on the fear list as they are unexpected and devastating. Dust and wind storms are fearful when traveling in an RV,
I have to confess, however, that my biggest, and quite irrational fear is of tsunamis. Somehow, the idea of an unexpected wall of water coming at me is terrifying.
My. Rainier and it’s subsequent lahar
EMP
Good one.
My biggest fear would be severe thunderstorms. You never know what will be generated. From straight line winds, large hail, or tornadoes. Dangerous enough in a house, but worse in a RV.
You don’t need to be an “expert” to recognize poor forest management. A good example is all the forest areas around Lake Tahoe. Sierra Club and TARPA have some of the worst restrictions on what is done (or more importantly, what is NOT done) to the forests all around the lake. As you head up Hwy 50 out of Carson City on your way to the Lake Tahoe area you can SEE all that grey forest – which is dead trees just WAITING for the next wildfire to sweep through. It’s only a matter of time. But, ‘they’ are preserving the pristine lake . . .
Though it’s not what you might consider a disaster , I fear lightning more than any of the disasters on your list.
Ditto here too.
Tornados and big time “respect” (fear) of lightning strikes! I was standing about 12’ from a light-pole that was struck. It tossed me several feet in the air and back onto my derrière. Left me with some nerve damage that lasted quite a few years.
Since you insist on bashing California (no I don’t live there but my son and family do), you would KNOW that the forestry budget was cut by the federal government a couple of years ago, as was most of the natural resource management programs and NPS budget.
Right…
tornado only because of where we live. best case warning for a tornado is about 15-mins. a flood, unless caused by a damn or levee failure, generally develops much more slowly as do wildfires. and lots and lots of warning/prep time for a hurricane. i’ve been in an earthquake before (13-story high rise) but we now live in a tertiary earthquake zone so not worried about them.
Earthquakes, without a doubt! November 30, 2018 we had a 7.1 quake that we thought would be the last thing we ever saw. After that we had 5.0+ and then much smaller ones. BU, you never know from the time of the first shake how big or how large this one will be! We lost lots of “stuff” and wound up going to the dump with hundreds of pounds of this stuff to throw away. We have also had our share of wildfires to contend with too! Nature can be scary and no matter what disaster hits you and your current area, you never know what may occur.
Alaska is a wild and beautiful place to live (I’ve lived here for 54 years) but natural disasters will occur and no matter what they are we do our best to be prepared but find out afterwards we might not have been as prepared as we thought we were!
Tornadoes (I live in the Midwest and consider hurricanes a cousin) and earthquakes (been in one overseas – no fun)
Tsunami
Mine too!
Hail and very high winds
We’ve dodged tornados, lived through and ran from hurricanes, survived a few hail storms and high winds. Floods and fires are my biggest fears. They can move faster than you would ever believe – we narrowly avoided having our coach destroyed in a flash flood in Kanab one year. If we had not heeded the warning from our phones, if we had driven back a little slower or not been watching to see the berm behind us fail, we would have lost a brand new coach. And a fast moving fire – some of them you can’t drive far enough fast enough. It’s not just wildfires either. If my hubby had joined me on my store run, no one would have been at our coach when the one parked directly behind us went up in flames. BTW – you can move a coach with the slides out….we’ve done it a few times now.
Another marriage… 🙂 Just like a bad tornado, as soon as you hear her whine, you just know you’re gonna lose your house…
Well, I wouldn’t call that a “natural” disaster, Wolfe. I’d call that a “man”-made disaster. Just sayin’. (And I’m only saying it because you know me and know I’m kidding [sorta].) 😆 —Diane
You both are just hilarious!
😆 Thanks, Pierre. That made me happy. Have a good night. 😀 —Diane
I don’t “fear” tornados, but they are the most likely natural disaster that will happen to us, given that we live in the SE corner of east Tennessee. What point is “fearing?” I take precautions and thank God for every day that I have.
I fill my fuel tanks just before going into the camping area so if I need to “get out of dodge” for any reason, I can travel at least a hundred miles. If the power goes out, there’s no way of getting fuel. There is little to no warning of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. One of the safest things you can do is be aware of the environment you’re in and take action should the need arise.
Probably depends on where you live and which is the most likely.
Hurricane and tornado. Live on Florida’s west coast, and family in the mid-west. Have seen or lived thru some of both. A breeze is nice, but once it gets out of hand…..
Tornados, because I haven’t been around one, but it can keep me from traveling or staying in certain areas at sometimes of year. Fires, because as mentioned, sometimes, you just can’t move fast enough. We were in Oregon on the coast when the Labor Day fires of 2020 started up.
Wind
Plague
Inflation wasn’t one of the choices