Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with earthquakes

Natural disasters colliding with man-made disasters?

coizero — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 03:41:56 -0800

I'm looking for an instance of a large-scale man made disaster (such as a war) that collided with a large-scale natural disaster (such as a hurricane) in the same territory. Any nation, any era ... as long as it's fact. Thank you for any help you can offer. :-) This is my first time posting on metafilter; I hope I haven't mis-categorized my question. I had difficulty deciding among "society & culture," "science and nature," and "law & government."

Choosing between size, safety, location in an LA rental.

crabintheocean — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 10:30:46 -0800

Priorities when choosing somewhere to live? Safety? Size? Location? As new parents to be in an expensive city, help us decide what we can give up. As previously discussed my wife and I are moving to Los Angeles in the next couple of months, and trying to make a baby in a similar time frame, and we're trying to narrow down our housing search with a view to my flying out for a week in early September and getting us a place. It's starting to look like we can't afford what we want, and I'd appreciate some advice from anyone who's made a similar decision (not just from LA folks), on what we should prioritize.

We're in our mid twenties and both make around $60,000 right now (with the expectation of more in the next few years, but not a lot more). However, we're determined that one of us stay home with the kid for a couple of years, so I want us to be able to live on $60,000 + small amounts of money I can get from working here and there. I think that means we can just about manage $1800 a month for rent.

Now it gets messy, I really really want to live in Los Feliz, or just south of there in East Hollywood near a metro station. We would also think about Pasadena etc near the gold line. I really don't want to live in a big concrete housing complex (see Northridge/the big one etc) I want to find us a little wooden house. I also think we need two bedrooms (baby, and family who visit from abroad often). It doesn't look like we can get all this for $1800, so what gives?

I'm starting to get a little whiny and discouraged - I don't want to move from one piece of isolated suburbia to another, or condemn my wife to a two hour car commute. I don't want to be crushed to death, or scared of it all the time, and I don't think we can have a baby, plus my family to stay with just one bedroom (I also mostly work from home right now). But unless there's some magic answer I haven't thought about (go into debt? take less time off work?), I need to suck up one of those options, so folks in LA, folks with babies, folks with apartments... I would appreciate your wisdom.

Which SF neighborhood is safest with respect to earthquakes?

ngn01 — Thu, 17 May 2007 16:21:49 -0800

MovingtoSF-filter: Which San Francisco neighborhoods are more resilient [for a lack of a better term] to earthquakes? Marina, for example, is built on trash so it is probably not the safest. Looking to stay within San Francisco proper, close to downtown preferably.

Do you live in an area with frequent earthquakes? Can you give some advice?

ebeeb — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 21:21:26 -0800

I've recently moved to San Francisco and experienced my first earthquake. During the very minor quake (so minor I thought it was a truck driving by for a second) I noticed one of my book shelves wobble. So I'm wondering: how can I protect collectibles and such from falling off/breaking in a more serious earthquake? I'm sure there is only so much I can do. But have you used products like museum wax? Or screwed your Ikea bookshelves into the wall with those straps they always provide? Is it worth the trouble?

Thanks!

Volunteering for Tsunami Victims

floanna — Fri, 31 Dec 2004 18:55:40 -0800

Does anyone know of any charities/aid agencies in the London area that are in need of volunteers for the Tsunami Earthquake Appeal? [MI] Ideally I'd like to help on the phone lines/office work as a I come from a customer service background and would best suit my skills. If there are other options then I am happy to lend a hand in any way. I've already emailed the Disasters Emergency Committee but I guess it might take a while to hear back. The only phone numbers I can find are for donations and I don't want to stop money coming through by phoning them. I hope someone can put me in the right direction - I need to help in some small way as well as donating money. Thanks and Happy New Year all.