Being a true, dyed in the wool, Californian by transplant (from ND, Sauny's from MO), we wouldn't live in Florida for any amount of money. It's too dangerous. You get creamed every year or two and it does in a major portion of the State. You will probably mention the terror word Earthquake. They are rare and they are confined. They shake a very small area usually less that fifty miles across and usually have few if any deaths. The damage in the last big one south of SF killed some people on a freeway that collapsed. It was undergoing retrofitting and they just had not completed it yet. The buildings that collapsed were old ones that were not built to earthquake standards. I believe all California towns have a state mandate to get a retrofit schedule in order. I believe all buildings will be retrofitted or demolished in the next five years.
      The largest earthquake in the 48 states was in Madrid MO!

      Can you retrofit for a hurricane? I have been in two hurricanes myself, Carol (1954) and the eye went right over me. Then Edna went over Boston again but I wasn't in the eye this time.

      Now that I'm on that kick, I really believe if people would do what I think they should do, the damage in a hurricane could be reduced by a LARGE factor. People just don't understand where the damage comes from in a hurricane.

                it's the PRESSURE DROP.

      Standard atmospheric pressure is 29.92" inches of mercury, 14.7 #/sq. inch. During a hurricane the pressure can drop to near 25" of mercury or 12.3 #/sq. in., a drop of 2.3 #/sq. in. Doesn't sound like much. But that is 331.2 #/ sq. ft. If a wall in the building is 8 feet high and 15 feet long, the force on the wall is almost 20 tons! And nails have almost zero withdrawal protection.

      A tornado (same general principle) went across the north side of Fargo ND. I saw the results about two weeks later. I saw a house foundation and the house was gone. The first floor was probably two feet above ground level. There was a piano still there as one might expect, it is very heavy. But there was also a somewhat flimsy table there. If the wind had done this, the table would be long gone! The house had exploded because of the tremendous pressure differential.
      There was a story in the paper about an insurance adjustor going through a neighborhood and came to a good looking house and said to the owner something to the effect that it looked undamaged. The owner said to come around to the NE corner and there were the drapes hanging outside under the eaves.

                THERE WAS NO ATTEMPT TO EXPLAIN THIS.

     The explanation was obvious but ignored. They had closed up the house real tight. The pressure outside dropped dramatically, the internal pressure in the house stayed the same, there was a large pressure differential and the nails at the weakest place let go. The roof pulled away from the upper plate, the air rushed out through the gap, the drapes went out with the rush of air, the pressure difference eased and the roof settled back down with the drapes outside!

      In hurricane Carol, I was in a Quonset hut at Lawrence Hanscom Field outside Boston, by Lincoln. The eye went over me and everything was calm and the sun was out and bright. So I grabbed the opportunity, got in my car to drive into downtown Lincoln. I followed a cop car through a park because of the downed trees and electric wires in the street. I parked in front of lunch place. As I was about to enter, the large front glass window of a liquor store a few doors away shattered and burst into the street. It was so obvious that the store had exploded through the weakest point, the window!

      Some time later there was Hurricane Hugo! I wrote Charles Kuralt and explained all this. I told him. "The next time a big hurricane is expected, why don't you go there with two cameras. Find two relatively identical adjacent houses. Button one up tight. Vent the other, preferably on the downwind side to minimize water damage. But also open all internal doors and block them open with a chair or something. Open all internal orifices, the the attic and to the basement if there is one. Block them all open so they cannot close or an internal wall may be laid down into the next room! Then wait and when the hurricane comes. film both houses and see the result."
      I never got an answer. And what happened not too long after.
                HURRICANE ANDREW!

           ---In great frustration, Chas---

      PS. I just saw some graphic pictures of a big tornado out in the midwest. Several people killed. Looks like a bunch of "explosions" to me.