Slate Magazine once did a half-serious assessment of the safest places to live in the United States.
Where To Hide From Mother NatureWithout the aid of a massive supercomputer and with what may be a spotty data base and debatable decision rules, Slate examined the historical record on earthquakes, landslides, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, extreme cold, extreme heat, blizzards, volcanoes, dust devils, etc., for a total of about 30 events.
So, you don't want to live on a major river, near a coast, in tornado alley, on top of a fault, or in the boonies -- it's hard to get medical care there. Their conclusion:
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After much debate, then, we settled on Slate's "America's Best Place to Avoid Death Due to Natural Disaster": the area in and around Storrs, Conn., home to the University of Connecticut. It lies in Tolland County, which was not part of the 1999 federal disaster declaration for Tropical Storm Floyd. It's a safe 50 miles from the sound and not close to any rivers. It also has relatively easy access to a major city (Hartford) in the event an evacuation or hospitalization becomes necessary.
This conclusion is by no means scientific, nor can safety ever be completely guaranteed; as moviegoers and Rick Moody fans are already aware, Connecticut does have its share of dangerous ice storms. And we're open to suggestions about other candidates for the title. If you want to make a case for your hometown, please drop us a line. In the meantime, the parents of UConn students can sleep a little easier tonight.
Some people in Storrs thought they felt this week's earthquake. However, the marching band was practicing at the time, and they might have confused its effects with those of an earthquake. This weekend Tolland County may receive wind gusts around 115mph from Irene, and the soil is already waterlogged -- trees may fall over. It might not be nice at all over the weekend. Those ice storms have historically darkened and frozen people's homes for more than a week at times, and black ice usually takes a deadly toll each winter. There was a tornado warning this summer, and the frequent heavy snows of 2010-2011 were getting really bothersome. It is a bear to live in Storrs during an Ice Age; the Laurentide Ice Sheet covered the campus with an ice shield more than a mile thick. Checking the Ice Age forecast section of your newspaper is recommended before making major investments in property. The place does have its problems.
The major risk of living in Storrs, however, is only indirectly caused by Mother Nature. The UConn Dairy Bar produces a wickedly rich ice cream from its own cows' creamy milk. Connecticut tends to come out on the thinner side
when states are compared, so the damage wreaked by the Dairy Bar is being contained by effective counter-measures. It has been noted that varsity women's basketball teams often have unpleasant experiences when visiting Storrs, but Mother Nature is not entirely responsible for that. A force of nature, Geno Auriemma, is more responsible.
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For those of you interested, check your homeowner's policy and see if it covers earthquake damage or if you are going to be another one lined up at the FEMA office. 
