Natural Disaster - Which is Worse?

Question

Earthquakes
Floods
Wild Fires
Tornados ??

Explain why for the 10 points!

Answer 1

Earthquakes= not bad for me, because I don't live in a danger zone.
Floods= don't scare me, I can swim strongly and pack up all my valuable possesions (pats DS Lite lovingly) in about two minutes.
Wildfires= again, not in the danger zone.
So that leaves tornados, because they strike so quickly and you never know how bad they will be. Where I live, from about last week till the end of September, everyday merrits a "tornado watch" (or is it warning? Which ever one is worse). They can take out whole sections of a town in seconds and you can't be prepared for them. Luckily, I have a deep basement so when they come, I just go down in the nasty, windowless hole and wait 'em out.

Answer 2

Earthquakes are the worst!

Floods - You always float in the water on boat and move to higher ground and rebuild.

Wild Fires - You can always clear brush away and build your house out of fire retardant materials. You can ever build your house away from brush to eliminate the threat almost completely

Tornado's - You can always move to a place where they just don't get tornadoes. For that manner, you can even build homes underground that reduce the threats a tornado imposes.

But earthquakes can happen anywhere at anytime to anyone. Earthquakes can also cause other disasters like tsunamis to occur.
And because you can only approximate which areas are more likely to have earthquakes than others, no one is ever safe. Its ground related. So pretty much anywhere you live, your not safe. And though a million years from now you your area might be known as earthquake country, there will always be the possibility of it happening before then.

Earthquakes are the worst because they can't be avoided or prevented or have their strength measured until after the fact. No building on this planet is strong enough to withstand the earths strongest earthquake. This planet has a violent history where although things happen over long lengths of time, chaotic events can also change locations on maps permanently.

Answer 3

It would all depend on where they happened and how many people lived there.

I would think a fire would cause the most damage and as it got bigger it woudl get hotter and literally kill everyone and everything in it's path. You couldn't get away from it unless you had some kind of fire proof air sealed shelter.

Floods would also be bad because a flood wouldn't be called a flood unless it was more than normal and unexpected. It would depend on how big the flood is and the area that's flooding but wouldn't kill nearly as many people as a fire that covered the same area with the same number of people. You could swim or climb up something and you wouldnt' die if you touched water!

Tornados are bad but there are usualy only a couple at a time and only cover a small amout of area and most areas that have tornados have underground protection. you can drive and run away from tornados and they'll only hurt you if they're right in your path. A tornado could hurt a city that has never had one but still only where it touched down.

Earthquakes can cause a lot of problems but only poorly built cities with a lot of people in condenses areas. They also only last for a few seconds and only hurt you if you fall or something falls on you. They can also be avoided by building safer buildings and being somewhere that nothing could fall on you!

So i would have to say Fires and the subsequent in that order. What's worse to you? Fire water earth or air?

Answer 4

Depends on where you are and what damage is done. Wild fires as bad as they are wipe out a lot of the land and trees but not always houses and people. If forewarned, people can escape a tornado, but may lose most if not all of their posessions. Again, if forewarned, people can escape a flood by evacuating the city/town, etc, but also lose their homes and posessions. Now earthquakes occur spontaneously and in most cases there is not enough time to warn the people, so I would stick with earthquakes as being the worse. At least in other cases, people have a chance to escape and save their lives.

Answer 5

I've been in 3 tornadoes, 2 earthquakes, 1 flood and no wild fires, so I'd say it depends on your geographical location as to which would be the worst.

Answer 6

You can put out a wild fire (though not easy)
You can survive an earthquake if you use your wits
The same for a tornado-(after growing up in tornado country, you learn how!)

But a flood?
It destroys all (remember Katrina?)-you can't put it out. You
can run from it (if lucky) or float (if you have a boat) or swim
(for how long?), but that water is coming in no matter what.

Remember the story of Noah's Ark?
I think God used the most destructive method to 'cleanse the earth'.
:)

Answer 7

I'd say wild fires because...

1. Earthquakes occur on fault lines (ie. the Pacific Ring of Fire). People who choose to live in those areas accept the risk of a possible earthquake or tsunami.
2. Massive floods are limited to hurricane-proned areas. Sure there are other floods, but they don't cause nearly as much damage as a wildfire. See below.
3. Tornados are few and far between in most areas. Yes, there are specific areas that are prone to tornados, but they usually happen in less-populated areas, like trailer parks.

Lightning can strike ANYWHERE at ANYTIME. Human response time is usually slow, allowing the fire to get out of control, making it that much difficult for firefighters to douse it. They require a lot of human resources and equipment.
They also destroy large amounts of valuable forest, animals, farmland, and properties, causing a significant environmental impact that'll take DECADES to replace.

Answer 8

Well, I would say which ever gets you first! If an earthquake doesn't swallow you and the floods don't drowned you and the wild fires don't suffocate you, well all that's left is being blown away by the tornado. Then if the plane doesn't crash, and the ship doesn't sink, and your job doesn't cause you to have a heart attack, and cancer doesn't grab you, why worry, by the time we survive all of this, we're old enough to die. So live while you can!

Answer 9

I would have to say wild fires. You have to leave your house or burn alive. I can swim good so floods would not bother me. Tornados already lived through 3. Earthquakes are not all that bad either been through 2 out in cali.

Answer 10

Tornadoes are the worst- because there is no warning system in most places. We had some come through in Central FL several years back, and over 40 people died because there were no warnings.

Earthquakes are bad, but people chose to live on a fault line.

Wildfires- people can get away, same with floods.