Waiting for the Big One in California

[itsrobert]

Haiti is a reminder that it's coming to California, nobody knows when. Hopefully the buildings hold up. It could be today or 100 years from now. It is coming and this is not fantasy. It's real. That being said, I rather go through a 7.0 here than any other part of the world if given a choice.

[Cronus Protagonist]

1. My building could withstand the big one

Although I think I'd be surrounded by total annihilation.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. My choice is Mexico City

I went through several while growing up and there was minor damage.

It took the 8.1 to do what it did and the infrastructure was still up... for the most part.

But an 8.1 that lasts a minute and a half is 1000 times stronger than this.

Now a seven pointer with these same characteristics in the LA Basin, right by the sand. I am not sure all those building codes will do much of a difference. This was one of the most dangerous TYPE of quakes out there.

See characteristics of this quake...

Surface, right under the city, very narrow P wave and sandy substrate.

[itsrobert]

18. Not discounting your memory, but the Mexio City Earthquake

was centered 350KM away in the Pacific Ocean. Distance does have something do with the damage in Mexico City. Haiti Earthquake was within 20 miles (32km) away. Mexico City did suffer a lot damage regardless.

[nadinbrzezinski]

22. Yes it did, and I can tell you why

Richter scale, 1000 times stronger. And the characteristics of the quake (and liquification) that caused a lot of damage with resonance. I am getting very technical here.

It also did a lot less damage when you look at the whole picture. The transport infrastructure, including the Metro, was up and working within two hours. The airport was back on line in an hour.

Yes the city lost buildings, but it was less than 10% of the structures. And we are talking of 10K killed, and 50K homeless last time I checked at the numbers. Now as to the structures that were lost, well it is one of those inconvenient white papers that gather dust. A geologist predicted the damage in an eight pointer and above in those same areas with buildings over four flights in 1943, from the UNAM. Well you know where that one went to. Funny thing those recommendations are now followed.

I am hoping though that this quake has the same effect it did in Mexico... that one did a lot more damage to the political system... and it is one of the reasons the PRI finally lost power.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

24. Japan is the most seismically prepared nation

[livetohike]

3. I was working in L.A. during the Whittier quake which was

a 5.9 on the Richter scale.....that was enough. I watched I-beams move as if they were strands of spaghetti :scared:. I never want to experience that or anything like that again.

[Cleita]

4. Me too if I weren't in the vicinity of

a nuclear power plant that is sitting on two faults and built to withstand a quake of 7.5 on the Richter scale. The El Diablo nuclear power plant didn't sustain damage in the San Simeon earthquake (where Hearst Castle is) of December 23, 2003. This earthquake was 6.5 at the epicenter. Two people died in the collapse of a historic building in Paso Robles though. We had a lot of broken glass.

[dana_b]

5. Loma Prieta

showed us where we needed work but we were lucky or much better prepared than Haiti due to the money here. That was a 7.2 - I think? I just remember how long it seemed to take to stop shaking!

My work just went through a multi-multi million dollar seismic upgrade. It would still collapse if the earthquake was above an 8.5 or so but not much could withstand that.

Hopefully the international community can help Haiti rebuild with upgrades and without taking over their country!

[Cleita]

8. That worries me. How many entrepreneurs are going to arrive to rebuild

the country and take the money out. Their weak President needs to pass some emergency laws stating that all rebuilding be done by the Haitian people with outsiders being brought in only if they are needed for a particular skill like structural engineering for instance only if there are no Haitians with the knowledge.

[Codeine]

6. I am confident in our CA infrastructure.

I am less sanguine, however, about the ability of my fellow Californians to cope with the aftermath.

[Cleita]

9. How long have you lived here? I've been going through major earthquakes

here since the Tehachapi earthquake and have missed only the ones in the Bay Area and northern California. I have found that they bring out the best of my fellow Californians in pitching in to help out.

[Codeine]

13. Born here in 1970 in Loma Linda.

A truly big quake will diminish your faith in your fellow man, I'm sure.

On the other hand maybe you're right and I'm a cynical bastard. I hope for both our sakes that you are. :)

[Cleita]

14. Think about it. We go through a lot more in California than earthquakes.

We go through wildfires and floods too. There are really very few instances where people behave like pricks. Most do what is needed to keep the situation from getting worse and to help their neighbors and the animals get to safety. The only time I remember people behaving badly was in the Bel Air fire in the sixties. The fire fighters poured some goup from helicopters on the million dollar mansions to save them from being burned to the ground and they complained suing the fire fighting agencies that gooped their houses. Zsa Zsa Gabor, for one, was all over the news bitching about what they did to her house.

[dana_b]

16. I hope you're wrong

what I saw after Loma Prieta was people trying to help. Especially in the Marina District in the City. The place was on fire, collapsed and people who didn't live there were down there trying to help. Granted the aftermath was nothing like Haiti or on the scale of a truly devastating disaster. If chaos had ensued for days/week/month, who knows? People will become desperate. I just hope that Haiti can make it through this with little violence.

[xxqqqzme]

20. Well that is true.

Californians are unable to drive in the rain; The over populated state coping w/ the aftermath of a huge quake would be very ugly!

[Codeine]

21. We drive fine in the rain.

Every state has bad drivers, but I find that most Californians drive just fine, and not as agonizingly slowly as in other states.

[FreakinDJ]

7. In a single story wood frame with a "pool sized water supply"

been through a couple good ones

[timeforpeace]

10. "I rather go through a 7.0 here" I would rather go through it on the plains of Kansas.

[Cleita]

12. I lived in Kansas for two years and the threat of tornadoes scared me

much more than the threat of earthquakes. Even though you can usually hide from a tornado, because there is warning, they really are lethal when they hit.

[LWolf]

11. I lived in so cal for 38 years.

I experienced San Fernando, Whittier, Landers, Northridge...

Californians know it's coming.

[tularetom]

15. Nothing's certain of course but I feel fairly confident here

I'm 50 or 60 miles from any known active fault with some big ass mountains in between, and my house is 98 years old and sits on a rock outcropping.

When we bought this place in 1988 I went through and bolted the entire house framing to the basement walls and mud sills to resist the horizontal forces generated by earthquakes.

[XemaSab]

17. As long as the dam holds

I'm confident in the ability of this house to withstand a big one.

That being said, if there's a big one I'm getting the hell up the hill ASAP.

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[uppityperson]

25. Dr Bonner! You're alive!

You SURE like to "use" punctuation IN interesting W-A-Y-S!

[malaise]

23. I'd rather not face a 7.0 any where on the planet

Hopefully the big one for Jamaica will arrive decades after I depart and yes I know it's coming.