Worst Natural Disaster

[flks511]

Which is the last one you'd want to have hit your town?

EDIT: Don't consider town location. Answer is if there was the possibilty that any of these could hit your town and which would be most devastating.

[BulleTheory]

considering im from long island...i have to say a tsunami.

[apsterling]

Considering I'm in Scottsdale... probably Volcano, but any of em' would pretty much devastate this town. Volcano would just level and burn us.

[TheZeroKid]

I live in Miami, in the suburbs. So I guess a tsunami would be pretty devastating seeing as we wouldn't really be prepared for it. We get hurricanes all the fucking time. I really wanted to say avalanche just to wonder how it would play out in my town, due to lack of mountains...or rather an abundance of FLAT in southern FL.

I was gonna be an anime nerd and say Vash The Stampede, but I didn't think enough people would get it.

[muttley]

Who cares, take Buckeye off of the map so we don't have to suffer anymore!

But really, I don't know if any of these would get to us. Maybe an earthquake, but it's not very likely.

[kazuma_ootaro28]

An avalanche would be less likely to occur where I live, haha. A volcano eruption would be the worst (would burn like hell, and that would just suck).

[LamarVannoy]

i live quite close to the water so a tsunami is probably the most likely to occur here but atleast its better than a volacanic eruption.

[secretsociety92]

Already had a few small earthquakes over here and I doubt they wiil get any bigger. Only had one tornado, so I guess that is a rare event. Seeing as the majority of my town is on the coastline it would probably be a hurricane, that would almost certainly wipe my house off the map and most likely the rest of my town.

[Hull]

Obviously a volcano eruption.

[dorfmac]

Is there really aNy question? It's volcano. Pyroclastic flow, anyone?

[darkmartheight]

I fear tornadoes the most out of this list. Probably because they can/have happened near me.

[jgord88]

Tornados aren't shit.

[Machu505]

Literally none of these apply to me in my current location, but I've always had a fear of tornadoes.

[jjjkman]

I live in Miami, in the suburbs. So I guess a tsunami would be pretty devastating seeing as we wouldn't really be prepared for it. We get hurricanes all the fucking time. I really wanted to say avalanche just to wonder how it would play out in my town, due to lack of mountains...or rather an abundance of FLAT in southern FL.

I was gonna be an anime nerd and say Vash The Stampede, but I didn't think enough people would get it.

Trigun :-)

Don't really get how the reference applies here though.

I've been terrified of tornadoes since I was little...but I'd probably have to go with volcano eruption...'cause that would just suck.

[TheZeroKid]

Because Vash was classified as the first localized disaster. Where he goes, shit goes down.

[kdefrisc]

Obviously a volcano eruption.


lol i dont know isn't volcanic flow pretty slow... i guess it would fuck everything up but wouldn't be too hard to get away from

[showyourteeth]

volcano
i guess

they're all pretty bad

[Chiodosbros13]

I'd have to say Tsunami. Have you seen the size of some of those waves? Holy Shit!

[hcky0819]

In an Earthquake, there is no where to run. It affects the largest area and the strongest cause more damage and casualties then any other natural disaster at their respective worse.

[briewer]

I'd like to see all six of them level this stupid fucking town I'm living in.

[texasisbrendan]

The worst would be a volcano, especially if the town ended up in a Pompeii situation

[Ari Christos]

I lived in Florida up until last August and we always had "hurricane days" off. It was cool, but there was always that threat of losing your home/car/life. No school still rocked though.

[jordalsh]

Volcano... Did you see what happened to Pompeii!!????

[MyWorldEntire]

Plain White T's most recent album.

[VIVALAMATT]

man, fuck tsunamis. lol

[TotalCollapse]

Tornado

[seraph1214]

For me it's between volcano and tsunami, but I'd rather drown than fucking melt to death.

[Shin Akuma]

tsunami ...but i m really afraid of tornados .. i always have nightmares with tornados running after me :-(

[princesschad]

Tsunamis are terrifying.

[fightinirish217]

Tornadoes scare me, all of these are bad. I live in the NYC suburbs so I'm also pretty close to water.

[IanIsSuperRad]

Plague of locusts.

[ihatecayte]

I fear tornadoes the most out of this list. Probably because they can/have happened near me.

exactly. tornadoes totally freak my shit out.

[darkmartheight]

exactly. tornadoes totally freak my shit out.
When I was a kid, I used to live in a trailer (trashy I know) and there was a tornado nearby. freaked the shit out of me.

[shoe print]

Tsunamis are terrifying because they seem to come from no where, and the weather doesn't even have to be bad out. So no warning. But for where I live, Tornado

[Indoor Living]

I meant to click tsunami. Whoops. I accidentally picked hurricane.

[ihatecayte]

When I was a kid, I used to live in a trailer (trashy I know) and there was a tornado nearby. freaked the shit out of me.

buh! last year, i lived just 20 min southeast of this string of small towns that got hit by this gnarly like, F4 tornado. the storm itself was ridiculous and i lived in a second story apartment by myself. can we say panic attack? that's how much i hate them. ugh. gotta get out of the midwest... ha.

[notoaststereo]

tsunamis are the scariest fucking things ever.

[kdefrisc]

http://www.nataliedee.com/052009/sharkano.jpg
sharkano

[PunkRocks]

Here are my thoughts on the subject:

One of the main flaws I see in what people are saying in this thread is caused by the fact that the severity of these disasters are relative to ones location at the time of the disaster. Yes, I'd rather be in an open field during an earthquake (what, is a blade of grass going to fall on you?) than during a hurricane. But on the other hand, I'd rather be in a concrete parking garage during a hurricane instead of during an earthquake. The bathroom of a house is safer during a tornado than a tsunami, but higher ground is better tsunami defense than tornado defense.

So, since its like 6-something AM and I can't sleep, I'm going to babble on and on about the dangerous qualities of each natural disaster so that you can decide.


Hurricanes
The worst aspect of hurricanes is the storm surge, which is basically a wall of flooding sea-water that can impact hundreds of miles of coastline with up to 25ft waves. Following that, winds anywhere from 74-150+ mph can exist in the eye wall of the storm. Hurricanes often spawn "weaker" tornadoes in their outer bands once they make landfall, with most being EF0-EF2 tornadoes. As the storm pushes inland and the winds die down, the main thread is flooding from massive amounts of rainfall.

Arguments for being the worst: Considerably frequent occurrences worldwide, very large 'footprint' of affected area.
See: Hurricanes Katrina, Andrew, Camille, and the 1900 Galveston Hurricane.

Tsunamis
The worst aspect of tsunamis is that they strike areas with typically few escape options, and they generally strike with little warning. They can impact up to thousands of miles of coastline with a series of pounding and fast-moving waves. Depending on their strength and the layout of the coastline and surrounding area, tsunamis can advance anywhere from a few hundred feet to several miles inland.

Arguments for being the worst: Little warning, fast moving. Often strike areas with no high, safe ground.
See: Tsunami 2004.

Tornadoes
EF5 tornadoes, the strongest on the scientific scale used to measure their strength, are nicknamed "The Finger of God" for a reason. They are capable of erasing the existence of anything in their path. Tornadoes are hard to predict, fast moving, and incredibly powerful. With winds that can top 300mph, they can crush anything in their path. The good news is that their path is usually less than half a mile wide. The bad news is that these paths can be anywhere from a few yards to a few hundred miles in length, and they can be spawned by storms travelling up to 50-60mph over land. While advance warning times have grown better in recent years, most Americans are lucky to have a 10-15 minute warning time.

Arguments for being the worst: Mind-bogglingly strong winds coupled with short warning-times and unpredictable behaviors.
See: March 1925 Tri-State Tornado, 1974 Super Outbreak, 1979 Wichita Falls Tornado

Earthquakes
While my knowledge on earthquakes is limited, I do know the main threat of earthquakes to humans doesn't come from the quake itself, but from the dangers posed by heavy or harmful objects that have shifted during the quake. Unstable buildings, furniture, roads and bridges, as well as gas and water lines can cause injury or death. In areas where buildings are not built to withstand earthquakes (or if there were to be a massive earthquake even in prepared areas), buildings and structures can and do easily collapse leading to very high casualty numbers.

Arguments for being the worst: No warning, aftershocks can turn seemingly-safe post-quake structures into death traps.
See: 2004 Sumatra, 2003 Iran, 1976 China, 1556 China (830,000 dead)

Volcanic Eruption
Volcanoes by far affect the largest area out of all these listed natural disasters. The sheer power of their eruptions can 'explode' mountains, sending debris and molten rock hurling like missiles over hundreds of square miles of surrounding area. Ash and soot blanket anywhere downwind of the eruption, killing plants, animals, and people. Large eruptions can send smoke and ash miles into the atmosphere which can contaminate hundreds of thousands of miles of land as well as change Earth's climate. This can cause famine and starvation in areas thousands of miles away. Closer to the eruption, non-restricted lava flows will incinerate anything they come into contact with while drastically and permanently altering the surrounding landscape. Volcanic eruptions can also release large pockets of poisonous sulfuric gases.

Arguments for being the worst: Massive, long-lasting global effects. Ability to completely erase anything located in its proximity at time of eruption.
See: Pompeii, 1902 Mount Pelee, Mount St. Helens, 1815 Tambora

Avalances
Avalances are often over-looked due to the general remote areas of occurrence, however they still deserve a spot here. Depending on the landscape, avalanches can be a few hundred feet to over a mile in width, and travel at speeds of 150+ mph. The sheer force of avalanches can remove buildings from their foundations and crush them in a matter of seconds, while burying everything in their path in feet of snow. Anything swept up in an avalanche; trees, boulders, people, cars, buildings, etc, becomes part of the avalanche.

Arguments for being the worst: Can consist of over 10 million tons of very fast moving mass. Happen in areas where rescue is often difficult.
See: 1970 Peru, 1999 France & Austria, Avalanches during World War I




Aaaaand... wow. That ended up being a lot more than I expected. Its 7am, I should probably go to bed now.

[simensays]

Volcanic eruptions are avoidable. Most-likely one can outrun the pouring ooze. Tornado is f-up but you can see it. A Tsunami, your f-ed up. An earthquake, just avoid things falling on you and you're good.