# How do you feel, what do you think about living in an earthquake zone?



## GARYJ65 (Feb 9, 2013)

I am from Mexico City, don't live there for a long time
I am not a strager to earthquakes, I lived the one in 1985
Did not leave DF due to that risk, but today, I would think about it more than twice and then decide not living in a high risk for earthquakes area anymore
I know...we have to die somehow, but if I can avoid some things and yet, live in a nice area, I prefer to do so


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## chicois8 (Aug 8, 2009)

I lived in San Francisco,CA all my life (66+ years) and could not care less, since the `06 quake building standards have improved and older building have been upgraded...

I might be nervous about Acapulco where beach sand was the standard mix for cement in smaller buildings and some homes years ago.......


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

It doesn't bother me in the least. It's just part of life in the D.F. I think that the enforcement of building codes have been strengthened since the big quake in 1985, hasn't it?


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

I closed escrow on my house in Mexicali in Nov.. I feel relieved it is gone. One reason is the 7.2 earthquake that put 10 cracks in the house when I was at home there in Sept. 2010. Also broken was 5 pieces of my mother´s antique crystal collection.


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## Longford (May 25, 2012)

I think living in high risk zones should be concerned. Not pre-occupied or always worried. But the dangers are real and the risks can be substantial. Some forethought is required, some planning for what to do "if" an event occurs. Then go about living your life. That's what I've done when confronted with the risks.


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## Lorij (Jul 8, 2012)

I still get freaked out about earthquakes. Southern Oaxaca definitely has its share. The first one I experienced scared me to death. Now I have eased up a lot and they don't bother me much anymore. In Alabama we have out share of tornadoes and to me they are much more frightening to deal with, so that's how I reason with it.


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## Longford (May 25, 2012)

Lorij said:


> I still get freaked out about earthquakes. Southern Oaxaca definitely has its share. The first one I experienced scared me to death. Now I have eased up a lot and they don't bother me much anymore. In Alabama we have out share of tornadoes and to me they are much more frightening to deal with, so that's how I reason with it.


There is probably very little to worry about in Puerto Angel, as regards earthquakes. Some shaking, for sure. There aren't many multi-story buildings which can collapse on you there. Not rusk-free, but minimal concerns. The concerns for someone living, say, in Acapulco or Mexico City and/or persons who live in structures poorly constructed and on rocky ground should probably play closer attention. 

People living in areas with frequent earthquakes which though they don't cause immediate noticeable damage would want to monitor their structures for signs of structural stress which would overtime increase risk levels. Typically, there are daily earthquakes along the Guerrero and Oaxaca coastlines.

The path in which earthquakes are felt and damage can occur vary by region of the world. Earthquakes occurring along the Pacific Coasts of Guerrero and Oaxaca are most often felt in Mexico City stronger than they're felt along those coastal areas, as one example. There are many older structures in the D.F. which are built on sandy landfill and for which the structures place residents at increased risk. D.F. residents are accustomed to earthquake evacuation drills and you see people on occasion leaving buildings when earthquakes are felt. People respond pretty well to these events.

In Mexico, it's been said that residents of and tourists in Acapulco are at greater risk than just about any other persons in other regions of the country because there are so many older structures, many of the buildings were not built to earthquake codes, and because of construction materials and the soil/sand/rocks on which structures are built. These facts don't prevent me from enjoying visits to Acapulco, but I always think about evacuation and protection measures when I arrive there. Then I enjoy myself!

Comparing tornados and earthquakes are a bit of a apples to oranges exercise. With tornados, we now have some advance warning in most of the USA. However, earthquakes occur without such an advance warning.


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

We lived in San Franciso for many years and had a couple of frightening experiences so, when we retired to Mexico we headed for Chiapas, the most seismically active región of the country where temblors are just about daily occurrences. In both San Francisco and San Cristóbal de Las Casas we made it a point to live on hills with bedrock and so far that has worked plus in San Cristóbal in the Jovel Valley, we are protected from valley inundations in an área infamous for flooding.

I am with Lorij in her above comment as a fellow native Alabamian. You want to be terrified, move to the Alabama Gulf Coast where I grew up and where you can experience recurring extremely dangerous hurricanes and tornadoes, sometimes at the same time. Those phenomena can blow your mind, to say nothing of your butt off the planet.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

I have read that 70% of earthquake happen in Chiapas mostly on the coast but I can see the damage some of them have done on our house. Nothing major but enought to have repairs done. I hate earthquake but our house is well built and hopefully there will not be a very large earthquake...that is what we all hope when we live in an earthquake prone area.
We take the usual precaution, not high bookcases, nothing above out bedand have a strong table to go under just in case. As far as the water we have an aljibe and a bucket and soe rope..plenty of wood to burn so that part is covered. I think no one is ever really ready for a big catastrophy. I agree with Lorij, the tornadoes are a whole lot scarier but I still hate the shaking ..


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## sparks (Jun 17, 2007)

I feel better being away from large city because infrastructure disruption might make it worse.

The 1995 quake off Manzanillo damaged a lot of badly built hotels along the coast north past La Manzanilla. Tsunami in Boca de Iguanas went inland 60 meters and wrapped a truck around a palm tree. The whole coast has a Tsunami warning system now.

2003 quake did quite a bit of damage in Colima city but mostly to older buildings.

We usually have a couple a year that you can't miss. Had a shallow one a few years ago that felt like a Semi running into the front of my house ... both the sound and the bounce.


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## lagoloo (Apr 12, 2011)

Having lived most of my life in California where earthquakes are common occurrences, they don't "shake" me up much.
I understand that the most loss of life is from storm surges along coastal areas. Everything else is way down the list. 
Now, if Mount Colima blows its stack.......????


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## sparks (Jun 17, 2007)

My grandmother was coming back from Santa Rosa in a horse and buggy after a week in the country. When they rounded a hill they could see San Francisco burning

I remember Duck and Cover in the 40's and 50's more than I do earthquakes in California


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## lagoloo (Apr 12, 2011)

That film is a classic propaganda film. Kudos for finding it.
In fact, if an atomic bomb strikes, kiddies, just kiss your sweet arse goodbye.


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

[_QUOTE=chicois8;2888553]I lived in San Francisco,CA all my life (66+ years) and could not care less, since the `06 quake building standards have improved and older building have been upgraded...

I might be nervous about Acapulco where beach sand was the standard mix for cement in smaller buildings and some homes years ago.......[/QUOTE]_

Well, Chicois, we lived in Northern Calfornia from 1972 to 2001, about ten of those years on Russian Hill overlooking North Beach and Chinatown and, while I am pleased for you that you ...could not care less about earthquakes in San Francisco because the city building standards were upgraded after the 06 earthquake, I had the unforgettable experience of the last big quake which devastated that city in the 80s. I had just left a job interview in San Jose that afternoon when that quake hit as I was driving down the streets of Downtown San Jose on my way to the freeway to return to my home in San Francisco and a truly frightening experience that was as the pavement under my car lost stability and the trees and power lines swayed erratically and violently to the point that their collapse seemed certain. The freeways to San Francisco and all bridges were closed and I had to drive back up the more primitive coast road in the dark and find my home in a dark city completely without street or traffic lights and, as I drove through the neighborhoods on those dark streets with roving gangs of people roaming the streets for no purpose clear to me except, perhaps to remain outside and commiserate with each other or, more cynically, to loot businesses or homes in a lawless atmosphere, I realized how fragile our much vaunted civility and rule of law was when things break down like that.

Bear in mind that, since my wife was on the road in Denver at the time and no one was at our residence in a high rise apartment building, I had no idea if that apartment building was even still standing but I was very pleased that she was not in town. Between the coast and my apartment in North Beach, I had to drive through the exclusive Marina District with its million dollar plus homes built on San Francisco Bay land fill where many of those mansions, built under the so called new standards after the 06 quake, were in ruins and many aflame. That much desired and extremely expensive millionaire row was a disaster and very Little if any help was expiditious in coming as the urban infrastructure of the city had been badly damaged and pólice and firemen had way more problems at that point than they could handle.

I finally arrived on Russian Hill to find my apartment building still intact and not even one shelf in my apartment disturbed in the least. Fortunately, that apartment building, as defective as the construction was, had been built on bedrock which spared it any damage. Yet, much of the city and much of neighboring Oakland , especially the bridges and elevated freeways and along the bay front was in a shambles and law and order were questionnable so this was not a good time to roam about town and who the hell was open anyway.

I might add that, despite serious damage and some loss of life, this quake was nowhere near the strength of the big one they expect at any time in California. That predicted quake will certainly be way more horrible than the 06 quake or the quake I had just experienced because the California of 06 is in no way the California of 2014. Hold on to your trousers.


I lived for years on the Alabama coast despite the onging possibilities of devastating hurricanes or tornadoes and lived for years in Los Angeles and San Francisco among other places in California despite the possibility major earthquakes. That Alabama coast and those California locations, including isolated rural áreas, were fine places to live so, what the hell, I accepted the dangers in both areas but I would never say I could not care less about being blown away by a tornado or buried alive by an earthquake.


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