Natural hazards

I don't remember if I've mentioned here already - I'm in the process of applying to grad schools. My favorite school is the University of Washington, and I was just in Seattle this past week checking out the program (and hanging out with some friends I have up there). When I got back to my grandparent's house, my grandpa showed me an article with the statement "I know you're keen on Seattle, but you should be aware of the hazards..." What kind of gloom and doom was he insinuating??

The article was about earthquakes. I'll admit that the subject is relatively close to my heart (I almost minored in geology, and actually took a plate tectonics class in college). I think its pretty cool that despite how much fancy techology we have, we still do not know how to predict earthquakes. But, apparently there is such a field as "paleoseismology" - the study of past earthquakes! Imagine meeting a paleoseismologist in a bar: "and what do YOU do?" I think that's up there on the impressment (did I just make up that word?) level of "oh yeah, I'm a quantum physicist" or "oh yeah, I'm a theoretical mathematician." Honestly (and perhaps I'm biased because I've actually taken some geology classes), I think it would be much harder to be a quatum physicist or a theoretical mathematician, but my stock image of a paleoseismologist is rather Indiana Jones-ish.

Apparently Seattle is one of the worst places in the world for an earthquake - the underlying geology would amplify seismic waves and thus their damage potential. But what are you going to do? I could move back to Virginia, but then there's hurricane season and the risk of governmental subterfuge. Pick your poison?