A 7.0 anywhere California not nice but not many dead.
A 7.0 in New York city and total devastation. Likely 100,000+ dead.
An entirely different situation.
Bricks and unreinforced masonry are death in a major earthquake. Both are wide spread on the east coast. Very little remains of it on the west coast. East coasters have every reason to fear earthquakes, earthquakes that would otherwise do little damage on the west coast.
Largest ever earthquake in New York: 1944 09 05 - Between Massena, New York and Cornwall, Ontario, Canada - M 5.8
Source: Historic United States Earthquakes
Explain again why New York should be concerned about a M7.0 earthquake. I'm not getting it.