Does anyone own an earthquake detector? For example, here's one: QuakeAlarm . And if you own one, have you ever seen one in action during a real earthquake?

I've always thought that it makes a lot of sense to have one in the bedroom, at least here in California. We have smoke detectors to protect us in our sleep from fire, so why not an earthquake detector? Although our building is quite new and built to the latest building codes and our bedroom is pretty safe as far as not having heavy objects near the bed, a really big earthquake can be an extremely violent experience and even just a short lead time in "waking up" could be the difference between flipping out from the sudden shaking and just being freaked but relatively awake.

Actually, maybe it's just a luxury in places like California where structures and people are expecting a big earthquake. I should just be happy that my building and bedroom are safe. But perhaps places like the Midwest are the people who truly could benefit from it.

Don't forget that the largest earthquake in US history occurred on the New Madrid fault in Missouri. How many houses in Missouri are ready for a magnitude 7 quake? Or how many people know that there's an earthquake fault under Manhattan? I used to live in Manhattan and I actually felt a small earthquake there once, about 5 years ago, I think. Even a moderate quake (by California standards) could cause significant damage to all those really old, unreinforced brick buildings in NYC.