He was probably quite serious. Just as the guy who did a presentation at a risk management conference I attended 6 or 8 years ago in Portland was quite serious about the Cascadia subduction zone earthquake that will eventually hit the western half of Washington/Oregon. It's likely to be as destructive as the 1964 Alaska earthquake but in a MUCH more populous part of the world. But we don't know whether it will happen tomorrow or 200 years from now. Personally I started counting down the minutes until my plane was due to take off and return me to the safety of California.