The first time I remember hearing that The Big One was imminent, I was 6 years old. It terrified me. I thought the earth was going to open up and swallow us at any moment. I had to wait for almost 10 years to see the earth open up. No one was swallowed though. That was almost 30 years ago and I haven't experienced an earthquake greater than a 5 since.

Is this another troll post?

First, thank you all for your contributions. I will not defer my travel.

No, it is not a troll post.

FranceInfo is probably the most serious media in France. They reported the fact that probability of a serious earthquake would be increasing for the next 7 days. Now, it is like all media, they need stories to fill the headlines. And this morning, you would have guessed, the attention has turned to Karadashian...

I read the same articles because of the headlines, and discovered that the science isn't certain, but that was buried well below the clickbait warnings.

So it's true that earthquakes remain entirely unpredictable. But surely there's no need to demonstrate one's own sang froid by being so scornful of an innocent question?

I used to live in California, still have property there, and earthquakes are scary. If mainstream media are reporting an increased likelihood, it's not crazy to try to find out what ground truth is.

There will be an earthquake in California whenever you come. There are earthquakes almost every day somewhere in the state, but we can't feel 90% of them.

If your earthquake nightmare looks like Italy, know that few buildings here are more than 100 years old. Los Angeles has the toughest earthquake building regulations in the U.S.

FWIW, Californians believe whatever Dr. Lucy Jones says. You can follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

http://laist.com/2016/10/02/earthqua...lucy_jones.php

I think we all believe that we will be on vacation when the Big One hits!! Seriously, you can't live in CA without being somewhat in denial. Is a big earthquake inevitable, yes, and so is dying. But for denial about our inevitable death, most of us would not get up in the morning to live our lives. Same with the big one, there is nothing we can do to prevent it, so we might as well enjoy our lovely state and prepare as best we can.

The chances of being injured in a car accident are greater.

You know, so what? I am tired of hearing that in response to a healthy concern about anything!

Doing what one can to be prepared for or avoid a disaster is not foolish, nor is asking what, if anything, one can do.

My chances of dying in a car accident are greater than of dying in a hurricane, but that doesn't mean I'm going to the Dominican Republic tomorrow, Hurricane Matthew be damned.

You can find out when a hurricane is coming and its likely path. Not the same with earthquakes, although you can choose to avoid any place in the world where earthquakes are prevalent. That eliminates a lot of interesting places.

Actually there is a minor fault line up the Hudson and some years ago we did feel the effects of an earthquake there. My understanding is that it is quite small and it appears the major quakes only come every 25 to 50 thousand years.

But I awoke one morning about 6 am convinced that someone was shaking my bed by the frame really hard (luckily it was already light or I would have thought there was an intruder). Saw on the news that am that there had been a small quake up the Hudson at that exact time.

It's true we don't get big quakes or any but tiny tornados or mud slides or forest fires (except the brush fires that sometimes close the Jersey Turnpike due to smoke). Hurricanes are usually more a PIA than anything else (except superstorm sandy, which was a major issue) and blizzards again a PIA, but a lot of people are inconvenienced for a couple of days.

But then we get planes flying into buildings.

No matter where you are, there's always something. If you think there's not you just haven't found it yet. Life is not all sunshine - for anyone anywhere.

The "big one" they're talking about is forecast for Southern CA. While I don't wish for it, I do admit that I've been a bit fascinated by them since I was a child in the Bay Area and hope I'm distant enough to escape the worst. I experienced 2 in Asia, in India (the Kashmir quake) and in Burma and it was interest they evoked, not fear. I've seen first hand what they can do but I assume it's having a history with them my entire life that explains my reaction. I'm far more afraid of the dark outside and of heights.

Texting during earthquake can be especially dangerous.

The alert was cancelled yesterday.

... and yet the Big One could occur any day.

nytraveler... I remember that quake... I woke up because the headboard was banging against the wall. I'd been in San Francisco when a 5.5 hit so knew the sound. I just thought..ummm, earthquake, and rolled over and went back to sleep. Actually, I'm told there is a fault that runs under 125th street. Someone wrote a novel about it's erupting a few years ago. Don't think it got much attention.

My first trip to CA was in the '60s and the Big One was predicted any day then.