Where to escape Mother Nature’s wrath
Mesa, Ariz., may not be home to much more than sand and cacti, but it also doesn’t play host to any hurricanes or earthquakes. That is why SustainLane.com selected it as the American city least at risk from natural disasters. Along with Newark, Calif.-based Risk Management Solutions, SustainLane, which provides information on healthy living and sustainable cities, studied the 50 largest cities in the U.S. for their vulnerability to natural disasters, such as hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, hailstorms and tornadoes. The frequency of the disasters and the amount of damage they cause were used to determine the cities’ risks. Conditions for such disasters do not exist in Mesa and Milwaukee, which tied for the city with the least risk of natural catastrophe. Miami, located on a peninsula in the middle of Hurricane Alley, was selected as the city most at risk of nature’s wrath.
Top five cities most at risk from natural disasters:
- Miami
- New Orleans
- Oakland, Calif.
- San Francisco
- Honolulu
Top five cities least at risk from natural disasters:
- Mesa, Ariz., and Milwaukee
- Cleveland
- El Paso, Texas
- Phoenix
- Tucson, Ariz.
Source: SustainLane.com, July 2006