WASHINGTON, Aug 13: Mark Monmonier says America is full of danger, and some of its riskiest areas are favorite vacation spots and one scores high on surveys of best places to live.

Monmonier is a map expert who dwells on dangers ranging from crime to natural disasters in a book, Cartographies of danger: Mapping hazards in America.

His list of the 10 riskiest places in the United States (US) is topped by ``almost any place in California,'' and not just because of earthquakes. There are wildfires, landslides and a few active volcanoes. The country's most-populace state also has tsunamis once called tidal waves, as well as smog, freeway snipers, riots, oil spills and water shortages.

``I don't suppose I'll be terribly popular (in California),'' said Monmonier, who teaches map-making at Syracuse University in New York.

Second on his list is Seattle, Washington, ranked high among best places to live. It's on Monmonier's risky list because it lies just 70 miles from active volcanoes on Mount Rainier and glacier peak.

The list also includes a few popular vacation destinations in North Carolina's outer banks, located in prime hurricane territory, and Alaska and Hawaii, where coastlines are vulnerable to earthquake-generated giant waves and some major cities in the South, where warm weather leaves residents vulnerable to crime all year.

Monmonier has for years collected maps showing danger areas. His book tackles dangers by topic in chapters ranging from `Crimescapes' to `Ill winds' to `Lavas and other strangers'.

``Maps are pretty good indications of how much we really know about hazards,'' he explained. ``You can look at some maps and really see how peoples' understanding, how science's understanding, has improved.''

He cites the example of tornadoes. Most people consider `Tornado Alley' in Oklahoma and Texas to be the most dangerous area for twisters. But maps of Tornado activity show the danger area shifts over time. In April, a tornado is more likely to occur in Indiana or Illinois and moves to other states in May and June.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.