Where are the safer places to live in the United States as it pertains to avoiding natural disasters?

Question

Tornados, Hurricanes, Earthquakes, Cyclones, Wildfires, Blizzards, Floods, Tsunamis....So many natural disasters and bad weather events out there! And they seem to be all over the news these days.

So are there safer places to live in the United States than others if one wants to live in greater peace and harmony with Mother Nature and with less fear of getting wiped out or severely hampered/damaged due to nature-related events?

And beyond the United States, are there other locations or countries in the world where these risks are less than in others? Is there a guide published on this or an official list that ranks safest places to live, weather-wise?

And on the flipside of this question, where are the places that one definately does NOT want to live because of the greater risk of these natural disasters?

Answer 1

Vermont. No natural disasters here, we are surrounded by mountains protecting us the worst we get is snow in the winter and some times little hail also during the winter. The average temperature in the summer is between 70 - 80, sometimes it can reach mid 90's.

So come to Vermont great friendly people and amazing landscape and NO natural disasters.

Answer 2

Nowhere is safe and whatever mother nature may dish out is all up to God. I'm not a doomsayer, but it sure seems to me think we are getting closer to the end of times as according to the bible. Makes me think anyways.

Answer 3

While no place is ever perfectly safe, I personally think, after all the tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, heat waves and massive snowstorms that continually plague other parts of the country, I have to say that the Pacific Northwest probably has the safest climate to human life, the least financial loss during extremely bad weather, and the best ability to handle major storms.

The Pacific Northwest can be victim to flooding, especially with the snow pack is very high (it seems like these floods take place once every decade or so of that often), though low areas are the only areas in any real danger.  Lots of rain during the rainy season, sun in the spring & summer, and mild weather the rest of the year.  We have a pretty good drainage system in this area, though, and, at least in my city, hardly any streets ever have enough water sitting in the street to worry about.

The NW is also susceptible to volcanoes, but with the exception to St. Helens in the 80's, there hasn't been a volcano blow in over 700 years (that's a rough estimate.)

People hardly ever die in either of these scenarios, and flooding, while it can be expensive to fix, does not have the financial high wind cost that comes from hurricanes and tornadoes (but again, it hardly ever floods here, and you'd have to have a low-lying house to suffer any damage at all.)

So, unless you get depressed anytime it rains, I'd have to say the Northwest is a great place to live, with minimal natural impact.

Answer 4

This is the third flood my home has endured. They left a lock open upstream. I am going to get some new floors boards, trees gone, roof finish, paint...thanks to FEMA. When we lived in Colorado there was a flood,,,get this, a glacier melted. My Dad took us to the mountains, and at one place we were allowed to get out of the car and listen to a glacier moving/groaning. I think I partly died of absolute fear. Always knowing you'll have to pull someone out of the ditch, (because of the massive snow), right before or after you went in to a ditch, did something gross to my brain. I moved to Kansas. I know about Tornadoes...I don't want to talk/think about them. We lived one year in Missouri. Nothing happened, the Ozarks..everyone loves Missouri. Smells good there.

Answer 5

There are no safer place in the US nor anywhere else in the world. All is the same. It comes as a package of being alive. Even animals face the same situation in every different stages of life.It's Mother Nature's way of telling" This is my home and you're all trespassing.Take it or leave it(dead)".

Answer 6

Let's see:  Northwest has great climate, but is prone to earthquakes and volcanoes.  Watch out when Mt. Ranier blows its top!  Seattle might be flattened.  Very few harmful critters there, too.

Northeast has few volcanoes and earthquakes, but powerful winter storms and very short summers.  They also have tiny deer ticks carrying Lyme disease.  Beautiful place and near ideal if you can handle the ticks and the long cold winters.  

Southeast has hurricanes, South has hurricanes and tornadoes and rising sea levels will inundate Florida, Midwest has tornadoes and even some earthquakes around the New Madrid fault.  The Rocky Mountain area has fewer earthquakes and volcanoes than the west coast, and fewer tornadoes than the east, but it still has all of them, and it has deadly megafauna such as grizzlies, elk, buffalo, and such that can kill people, not to mention very dangerous winter storms again.  

All that's left are the western slopes of the Appalachians, especially around Pennsylvania and West Virginia.  The least tornadoes occur in West Virginia--just look at the big hole of a  tornado danger map.  The Appalachians are very old, so they are not very geologically active, meaning few earthquakes or volcanoes.  Very few dangerous critters--a couple black bears or copperheads, but not normally deadly.  They have relatively mild winters and summers (not as mild as the Northwest though).  The only weather problem there is occasional flooding, and that is easily avoided by living on a hill.  The ticks are bigger than in the northeast, so easily detected and removed.  Really, West Virginia is the most immune to major disaster.  You just have to watch out for some of the backroads, meth-cooking, gun-toting hillbillies and you'll be OK.

Answer 7

new england and the new york city metro area are probably the safest. but they get some nasty snow storms

ultimately the safest place is the place that is most prepared, so by that definition, miami-dade county, florida would be safest