Yeah... I yawned... it was mostly in jest however. We had the 6.8 Nisqually Earthquake here in 2001, our worst in 52 years, which thankfully yielded no deaths as I recall, many injuries but no deaths, still it was a doozy. Close to what some remember as the World Series Earthquake, Loma Prieta in 1989 which was 6.9 and unfortunately did result in loss of life.
Hope Irene is just wind and rain. Hurricanes make me a little jittery... more than the thought of an earthquake....but you are absolutely correct... it's all what you grew up with.