[wkat4242]

Well building cities on a major fault line is more akin to cursing yourself IMO. I guess people are betting "the big one" won't happen during their lifetime. The same with traffic, as it's caused by poor planning. The others are really acts of nature.

Ps not judging here, I'm just qualifying :) I'm from the Netherlands, from a part that was most decidedly below sea level which is also inviting disaster obviously. Especially with the rising sea levels. And one huge disaster also happened in the past.

We also have an entirely human caused earthquake problem in the northeast due to the empty spaces left by natural gas extraction.

[AlotOfReading]

To provide some context, the fault zone you're talking about runs the entire length of the Pacific coasts, from Chile to Alaska. It's larger than the entire Atlantic coast of mainland Europe several times over and extends inland for hundreds of kilometers. Outside the fault zone is mostly arid desert or something similarly hostile, excepting places like California with milder mediterreanean climates. "Don't build there" isn't really actionable.

[flagged24]

Can you talk about an earthquake problem if the strongest earthquake recorded was 3.6? The south of the Netherlands seems to be more prone to earthquakes: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_earthquakes_in_the_N...

[RetroTechie]

Not really, these are rare.

It's part of the north (mid / east of Groningen province), that has an earthquake problem.

These are mostly minor (like ~2 on Richter scale), but frequent. Causing structural damage in many (mostly older) houses, and people losing sleep over safety, house value & damage compensation. Imagine feeling minor quakes weekly, and seeing new cracks appear in the walls of your house every couple of months.

Cause of these quakes is man-made: natural gas extraction from Slochteren field. This field is slowly being closed, and subsoil will settle eventually. But that process is measured in decades. So quakes will continue for years.

Most houses affected by this, were built before Slochteren gasfield was even discovered, and earthquakes in this area didn't exist. So those houses' owners can't be blaimed for the problems they're having. Nor were those houses built with earthquakes in mind.

[flagged24]

That's a valid point (induced quakes in otherwise stable area). Still a 3.6 is equivalent to a heavy lorry passing by (I've experienced this myself). Something a house should be able to handle without problem. The 3.6 quake was the worst quake ever for that region. Most are well below this range as you mentioned.

[pro-kythera]

> most decidedly below sea level

Out of curiosity, are household-level defense measures at all common? Personal flotation and/or small boats, means for rooftop access, or such?

I will guess there can be cultural differences vis-a-vis fatalism and lack of preparation.

[Doxin]

We're surprisingly un-individualistic when it comes down to sea defense. This shows in things like the elections for the part of government that does water management and dyke maintenance: all the parties agree on pretty much everything.

I feel like we've got more trust in the government than people in the USA do too. I fully expect that if the dykes do break the government has a rescue plan in place and a playbook on the shelf ready to get dusted off.

After the 1953 North Sea flood a lot of things happened to make sure such things would never happen again. To quote a monument on Eastern Scheldt storm surge barrier, part of the delta works: "Here rule over the tides the moon, the wind, and us."

[southwesterly]

When I lived there, no. Kids learn to swim at a really early age and that’s it.

[wkat4242]

No. No people I know of have any such devices.