I've never been in a hurricane, but judging by the swath of destruction I've seen in the news, they seem nasty.

Thankfully we never get hurricanes here in California. Nor do we get many tornados or sand storms or blizzards. We just get earthquakes.

I know people who are deathly afraid of earthquakes. They dread spending any time in California for fear that the earth will split open and swallow them up.

Having lived in California for more then 30 years, I gotta say that I'll take earthquakes over any of the other natural disasters that hit this nation. I know that you don't get the advanced warning with earthquakes that you do with hurricanes, but that may be a blessing as well. There's no terror before the fact, just a quick shake and it's over. The vast majority of the earthquakes I've experienced have either been kind of fun, or I haven't even noticed them.

Also, earthquakes in this country tend to be less deadly than other storms. Seems like we lose about 50 people a year from Category 4 or 5 hurricanes. The only earthquake that I can recall with that kind of deadly force was the one in October of 1989 that happened during the World Series. About 50 people died in that one.

As it turns out, I don't really have a point to make here. Just that if you must experience one natural disaster this year, make it an earthquake.

I hope folks stay safe from Hurricane Katrina. For updates, check out Hattie's blog.