Tango,
One of the things that has tickled me a lot over the years has been the abundant commentary I've heard from "easterners" about how scary are the California earthquakes. I've lived here most of my life (it isn't quite over yet) and have seen a few of those 'quakes up close. I've mostly been in Northern CA well away from prime earthquake country, so I've not seen the bad ones like in SFO or LAX. And ironically the worst US earthquake was along the Mississippi River...the New Madrid fault.
But when I think about what you have seen in a one month period there in FLA and what has happened in tornado alley further west and the awesome humidity and heat throughout the country east of the Rockies, I don't see any real threat from the 'quakes here.
Yup, hot summers here, but humidity is typically 15-25% so it's more like being in an oven. Much easier to tolerate than the combined heat and humidity and I have been there and lived through some of it so I know what it is about. Yup, we have seen tornadoes here in N. CA, too, but the average width of a local tornado is 100 yards rather than those giants in tornado alley. Plus short lived. Not in the summer time either!
The other thing that has intrigued me about living back east is that everyone builds a stick framed house. After seeing the incredible pictures after tornadoes and typhoons, I simply cannot understand why more people do not build safer concrete structures. There is a ferrocement dome that had a firestorm run over it in S. CA that required little more than a coat of paint to look prime again. It was the only house in the neighborhood to survive!
Ah well, we all do what we can, eh? My very best wishes for you and yours!
bearkiller