ABSTRACT
Experts who study earthquakes and earthquake safety advocates have a different image of catastrophic earthquakes. Despite the potential for death, destruction, and deprivation, the threat of future earthquakes seems to be "no big deal". Most sociologists apparently concur with the judgments of pollsters, survey respondents, campaign managers, social change advocates, and television news directors. Textbooks written for social problems courses rarely have a chapter on the topic "Earthquakes as Social Problems" or even "Natural Disasters as Social Problems". Mental health professionals remind parents to avoid frightening children by what they say about earthquakes and by their own reactions to small earthquakes. The earthquake threat may be unique in another respect. It may be that earthquakes are acts of nature beyond human control. No matter how long we study the earth and its physical properties, we will never be able to explain why the earthquake threat is different from others that we often classify as social problems.
