To not want to buy property for fear of WW3?

I'm a child of the seventies and spent my entire teenage years in the 1980s worried about WW3. I'm much more pragmatic now and, in the event of a nuclear apocalypse, I hope I won't survive the first wave. I'm laughing at the OP's idea of escaping to North America though. Surely that would be an equal target with Europe?
As for avoiding earthquakes, my SIL who lives on Vancouver island says the Big One is coming soon. She doesn't sleep with anything over her bed, the water tank and gas tank are strapped down and when we visited as few years ago, she admired a ceramic art piece I brought as a gift and said that one day all her nice things would break and be destroyed.

Ooh, thanks for that (genuinely)! 🤓

Oh yes, Cascadia subduction zone is a great rabbit hole to explore!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascadia_subduction_zone?wprov=sfla1

Or Pontefract 😂

The Pacific Coast is all earthquake prone. There's a super quake overdue in the Pacific NW and California is overdue for the big one. There has even been significant earthquakes in the Midwest and East coast. No where in the usa is completely earthquake free.

There are also sporadic hurricanes and occasional tornados (usually over water).

Hi @Vizella I don't want you to think you're mad.

We've just bought our first house and I've had this thought too so you aren't completely alone in your thinking. I'm fully aware I catastrophise and am able to move these thoughts along eventually but yeah, have thought that myself.

But the house should survive!

And also, America is a rather large place….I’m sure the op can find an area that doesn’t have tornadoes, hurricanes and earthquakes….

Sure, but the OP would need to move there as soon as possible because if she waits till WW3 starts (or even looks like a real possibility) she won't be able to leave the UK at all...........

Better apply to US immigration now OP. Good luck with that........

Our nuclear subs are based in Scotland. Might be more of a target than even South Yorkshire!

Ok op I’m going to go against the general consensus here. These are my thoughts:

Whilst I think it’s unlikely that there will be WW3, I think there’s a lot of uncertainty at the moment. I think that climate change and mass migration are a far bigger threat to us than war. The truth is that we don’t know what’s going to happen. I read in New Scientist that the world’s forests have recently been emitting more carbon than they’ve been absorbing. So essentially, unless the forest fires stop we may as well have no forest. That could create huge and quite immediate problems in the form of feedback loops. I’m not a scientist but that’s surely common sense?

So yes, your WW3 plan is quite amusing but in my opinion, going on with your life as if everything is normal is far more deluded. I don’t know whether you should buy a house but I don’t think it’s completely silly to keep a bit of flexibility in your plans. I mean, I don’t know what you’d do in this country except to drive to the north of Scotland and then starve.

Sorry for not telling you that you’re mad🤣

And also, America is a rather large place….I’m sure the op can find an area that doesn’t have tornadoes, hurricanes and earthquakes….🙄

It’s really entertained me that in the event of WW3 your plan is to rock up in the US and instantly find the perfect safe house in a perfect location.

How are you planning on escaping and where to?

The banks won’t be open because if we get to the stage where anyone with a few quid and the right passport thinks it’s time to make a run for it, their staff will be sorting themselves out, not going into work. Even if they were, they wouldn’t let you withdraw thousands in cash because everyone would be doing it. And I can’t imagine that any commercial pilots or sailors would risk being blasted out of the sky or sea simply to save your neck. And where do you think would take you if you’re not a citizen?

If we get to that stage, we’re all buggered, so you may as well be in the comfort of your own home.

Why is it that we have right wing media loudly decrying immigration, rioting on the streets, Farage in parliament, yet posters seem to think they can just choose where they are going to head to when the bombs start falling?

Not to undermine your worry OP, but some of the responses made me laugh. Seriously though, get to Yorkshire, its beautiful and you're near to the Peak District - there may be some caves to hide in if there's WW3.

Live your life. However and whenever you die, there are no pockets in a shroud.🙄

Take it you’re not aware of the Sheffield Blitz then? Sheffield was heavily bombed in WW2, although granted the steelworks have all but gone now, but maybe the “enemy” will have a real hatred of hendersons relish. You can never be too careful when catastrophising about future events which may or may not happen and about which you have no control over.

OP - in the event of nuclear war you may as well die in the comfort of your own home than in an over priced rental. I doubt you’d be able to flee to America, and they will definitely be heavily involved if not instrumental in any world war which does break out.

If it genuinely was WW3, surely they'd be nowhere to go?!
Sorry but your mindset is bizarre. You can't live like that, it's unhealthy.

Your thinking is quite skewed; firstly America isn't a safe landscape; divisive country, has nearly every natural disaster ie tornado etc, also how would you get there? secondly you're far more likely to be killed in an RTA despite you're 'oh I'll not get hit by a bus'

The irony is that this kind of bonkers risk averseness would probably make you quite a good homeowner.

No one ever thought lockdown would happen but it did.

Anything is possible.

Your job is remote, chances are if your house is destroyed you’ll be in it, so you won’t need anywhere else to live. Buy the house & enjoy your life.

So just go now then

Funny enough, I've viewed a few houses in Yorkshire with Anderson shelters in good condition. Perfect for OP.

I’d probably just focus on getting a visa and moving there.