“Kathleen, I’m writing in response to Oliver E.’s letter to you last week on earthquakes in the Americas.
“The beauty of the San Francisco Bay Area is directly attributable to past earthquakes. The most dangerous earthquake zones in the Americas include San Francisco/Oakland/Berkeley, the Middle West areas around the New Madrid zone including Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, and Iowa, and the Montreal /Great Lakes fault zone. Other major earthquakes can be found in the recent history of Alaska and Hawaii and even South Carolina.
“Hurricanes pummel the East Coast, tornadoes most of the Midwest, and blizzards the north half of the country. There are wildfires and droughts all over the USA. Floods in the Missouri/Mississippi system and in the Rockies are endemic.
“Central America and the Andes are on the same ring of fire that afflicts all of California, Oregon, Washington State, British Columbia, Alaska, Japan, Indonesia, and elsewhere.
“I live in Medellin, Colombia. The folks here do not remember any earthquakes. They do not urinate in the street, as Oliver E. suggested. They have excellent health care, and the weather is springtime all year long. I moved here from San Francisco, and I feel seismically safer here. But you take your chances in most scenic areas around the Pacific.
“You, Kathleen, and Live and Invest Overseas are the reasons I chose beautiful, cultured, safe, clean, healthy, gentle, inexpensive Medellin for my retirement. And I couldn’t be happier with that choice.”
–Larry R., Ph.D Geologist/Geochemist/Educator
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