Tornadoes

Why?
Although both are unpredictable ( well mostly ) you can determine that tornado weather is near and that can be forecast to some extent. NB - I love using the site www.wunderground.com to check on the latest weather.
You can build tornado shelters that can protect you to some extent.

For both of these there is no earthquake equivalent :( Earthquake prediction is not as good as weather but getting better for sure and you have to be pretty good to build a place that you know is earthquake proof. Yeah, I know you can but again, for simplicity sake its harder than building out your basement.

The very thought of either gives me the creeps hehehe I live where its geographically stable and not prone to big weather events. My greatest danger is bushfire and THAT is worse than a tornado I think :( well...not sure....both are scary!

Well I guess I'd have to say earthquakes since I live in California. The earthquakes I've experienced were quite scary. One time I was in a police station with my husband filing an accident report and a big earthquake hit. Everyone froze for a second and then cops in uniform were ducking under desks and trying to take cover. They didn't even bother to help the regular citizens as you would expect cops to do. It made me realize that they are people too. I've never been in a tornado, so I can't really judge that one. From the news it seems to be far more destructive than the earthquakes I've experienced so far. (knock on wood).

I live right in the heart of tornado alley and I always thought I would prefer to live where tornados were. However, the Oklahoma May 3rd, 1999 tornado which missed my house by a mere 5 miles almost changed my mind. Hubby and I was working together at the time and desperate to get home to make sure the kids were safe. We missed driving right into it by 5 minutes.

I live in the midwest where tornados are common, although they've come near town one has never actually gone through town in my lifetime. I'd like to move out west, where earthquakes are common, though.

Either way, the building you're in can fall down on you so I really don't see much difference, except that tornadoes can pick you up and carry you away if you go outside and sometimes even from inside if it picks the house up. There'd be a lot more debris flying around during a tornado.

So I guess I'd prefer to live in a place that had earthquakes!

Personally, I have lived in a region where tornadoes were very common pretty much all year around. We even had a very severe tornado about 7 miles away from us right after Christmas, a time of year when you would least expect severe weather. We had snow coupled with very warm weather one day and suddenly we were hearing the announcement of a tornado touching down on the radio while driving to a shopping center. We quickly turned around and went home. Although I did not grow up in this tornado-ridden state, I did live there for 3 years and I was terrified every time we had tornado watch or warnings in the news. However, when having to choose a lesser of two evils, I think I would have to go with tornadoes, since you can taken a number of preventative measures. Most people that live in a state frequented by tornadoes will have some type of action plan in place in case of an emergency. Many of the residents living in nearby towns had their own tornado shelters built or knew exactly which part of the house they would have to migrate to in order to be safe, in case a tornado struck. Of course, most states here in the US could potentially experience tornadoes, although many will not. Therefore, I think the people living in a state in which tornadoes occur more frequently may be better informed and prepared for such an event as other states in which tornadoes do typically not occur.

Earthquakes. I spent two decades in California and only experienced two major earthquakes. Both were before I was ten and if I hadn't moved across the state I only would have been in one. I spent a week in the midwest during peak tornado season and had two warnings. Heck, there are at least two or three tornado warnings a year where I live now and we're not even in an area that can really get them. I'll stick with massive ground shaking, thank you very much.

The best answer to this conundrum is to live where there are tornados, but build a subterranean house. I've thought about this before and this is the ideal answer I came up with.

I have lived through earthquakes. Honestly, the fact that they occur without warning often lulls one in to a false sense of security; but, when they happen they can reek havoc. The way I see it, tornadoes at least afford you a some degree of warning in terms of the weather forming around you. I would prefer to live in tornado country as opposed to earthquake country.