Have you ever been involved in a natural disaster & what was it?

Blizzard of '78, a week after my 10th birthday. No school for at least a week, great sledding, Mom stayed home with us... It was a blast!

I lived about a kilometer down the slope of a volcano for two years... We had frequent (2-3 per week) tremors, but only one "quake" (it threw me out of bed and cracked the wall of the house, otherwise no damage, though). When living in Liberia, I experienced quite a few floods and mud/land slides (the car I was in fell into a hole in the road about 5x3 meters area-wise and probably 3 meters deep).
New England provides blizzards occasionally, though I have not been very adversely affected by them.

Actually this survey brought back good memories of the math teacher who helped me out, both times my life was in serious danger from natural disasters- first when I was stranded in a blizzard, and later in a hurricane. When the hurricane came around and she scooped me into her car just before a tree fell where I had been, she and I laughed about how she always seemed to be there, just in time.

I've been in a blizzard, but I don't really consider that a natural disaster. I remembers back in '78...

The fire was not exactly a natural disaster in that the idiot who lived downstairs fell asleep while smoking in bed. Fortunately I believe the only damage was to his apartment.

Once, back in Egypt, there was this -really- bad year where we had (among other things): Blood, Locusts, Famine, Vermin, Diseased Cows, and the Slaying of the First-Born.

Whew--that's the last time I use -that- travel agent!

I had to say "hurricane" and "blizzard," but I don't consider those "natural disasters," they're just "the weather." Where I grew up hurricanes rarely do much damage (maybe some tree limbs and power lines down, maybe a little flooding) and blizzards are so run-of-the-mill it doesn't really occur to me to think about their damage in terms of "disaster." I've never experienced any personal or severe property damage because of weather.

I was about to check "never", and then remembered I had been in the tail end of a hurricane (actually only about 70 mph winds by that time) and a tree fell on our house, damaging it. The damage was fairly minor and no one was hurt.

I've always wanted to be in an earthquake, but just an itsy-bitsy one. And I'm terrified of tornadoes to the point that I throw up out of nervousness when the sirens go off.

Ooh, I've always wanted to be in a blizzard too, but no such luck.

Oh yeah, I suppose we have had a hurricane or two, but those weren't any worse than a Nor'easter.

I forgot all about the blizzard; it just didn't seem like that big a deal, even though the governor declared a state of emergency for two days. It's just some snow, is all. And none of the hurricanes that I experienced was anything much; they're usually pretty feeble by the time they make it up to New England. (I have fond memories of flying a kite from the roof of our house in a hurricane once, and trying to light a cigarette.)

The hurricanes and the blizzard I have been in were more fun than disaster - so I also selected "never been in a natural disaster" as well.

but I would like to see a tornado... from a distance.

I forgot about the blizzard of '78.. I was 2 years old, and snowed in at my grandmother's house... Also, they called the giant snowstorm in '96 in Ohio a blizzard.

Two people died in the Whittier earthquake: one of a heart attack, and one from being at the bottom of a well which had had bricks piled at its mouth. Given the large population of the affected area, this does not qualify as any more of a disaster than a minor snowstorm which causes a fatal car accident, so I didn't mark it.

Oh, I was out driving (in Andrew the Daewoo, appropriately enough) on Route 2 the time the tornado touched down, and I've been in blizzards and hurricanes, but again not serious ones.

I got 4" of water in my basement.

**phi: You own a car made by Daewoo? Eek!

daver: It was Traciy's, and no, not any more. I found the car to be very well-engineered in that no part was of higher quality than any other part; the entire car fell apart, all at once, at 85,000 miles and one was left with the impression that no money had been wasted in its construction. And it got great (40 mpg, back when that was unusual) gas mileage and was larger on the inside than it was on the outside.

January 17th 1994 -- I was visiting a friend of mine in Redondo Bch. CA. We had just got back to her apartment at about 4:30 ish AM, when the Northridge earthquake hit. We weren't at the epicenter but sure did get rocked around for a good 25-30 seconds. Her pool cracked, dishes fell, I cried! It was one of the scariest things that has ever happened to me.

**Phi: Heh, just like The Deacon's Masterpiece. I have a grudging admiration for that sort of engineering, but I'd not want a Daewoo car.

I was living in the San Francisco area during the last big earthquake out there (89? I can't remember). I hadn't realized how bad the quake was till I was driving about a half hour later and found no radio stations on the air.

I haven't been involved in a natural disaster...interesting wording. I have been witness to a hurricane(so I checked that), but by the time they get here they are fairly tame. never been damaged, and the worst I have faced is a power outage.

daver: no, me neither. "Andrew", of course, was taken from the hurricane of that name; the car was definitely a disaster.

The house next door once caught fire on the inside and no one noticed until smoke started coming out of the clapboards. I was driving by and saw smoke in the air, and went up to the door to knock and see if anyone was home and ask if they knew their backyard fire was out of control.

When I saw faint flickering through the door, I considered throwing a brick through the window in case the dog was alive in there, but finally opted to call the fire department instead. I was the first call.

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IIRC, '78 wasn't such a bad blizzard, but that it happened during rush hour, so by the time the plows came out all the streets were blocked with wrecked and abandoned cars and it took a week to clean up the mess. They brought in front-end loaders to clean the snow and every now and again they would pick up a car by accident.

Never..unless you count snowstorms, which aren't generally categorized as disasters.

A tornado blew away my pool and killed my favorite tree and i've been in blizzards and hail storms too. Nothing real bad ever happened besides people's houses getting ruined by tornadoes who lived by us