[bremensaki]

From an Australian perspective, the USA can look like a place where the earth might suddenly turn to jelly and knock your city down, or giant wind vortexes could descend from the sky and carry you away - things which seem more terrifying to me than a few animals I can easily avoid.

I kind of assume those things are blown out of proportion in media much the same way our wildlife is.

[oneeyedpigeon]

We should take into account the fact that Terry Pratchett lived in England where there is very little in the way of either deadly wildlife or significant natural disasters.

[sbierwagen]

Those are generally problems in the warm parts of the US. If you can survive snowy winters, you won't see much of the more exciting natural disasters. There are no hurricanes or tornadoes in Maine.