I guess people truly do get used to whatever their own area's "natural disaster" is.
I remember a long time ago being on the phone long distance with another webmaster. I idly remarked - as Californians tend to do - that "oh, we just had an earthquake" then proceeded to keep talking about whatever we had been talking about...while the webmaster on the other end proceeded to have kittens over the whole thing. I believe he started with "HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT SO CALMLY?!?!?" then became downright shrill.
So the house shook for a few seconds. Been there, done that, was there again. We lived on top of a hill and frankly never felt most of them. Our new home sits on top of a higher hill, and since we're now happy home owners, we're insured out the wazoo in case the whole thing falls down around our ears, which is extremely unlikely. Not impossible, mind you, but unlikely.
The first earthquake I ever felt was in Louisville, KY, of all places. I turned to my beloved spouse and said "why did you kick my chair?" He looked at me from across the table between the chairs and said "I didn't kick your chair. I can't even reach your chair. That was an earthquake." I made the mistake of arguing with him...until the nightly news informed us that it had, indeed, been an earthquake. Oops.