A little fact about east coast vs west coast earthquakes.

[Stinky The Clown]

Point for point, the earthquakes on the east coast are significantly more powerful - perhaps as much as 10 times more powerful - than those on the west coast. The west is a far younger geology. As such, it is softer and dampens the effect of the event. East coast geology is far older and much harder. The bedrock is more monolithic, causing the effect to be undampened and far more capable of traveling far greater distances.

This is not to say that east coast quakes are worse. Clearly the west coast is the worse ate for them. But it IS to say that east coast quakes are not insignificant.








Source, Robert Bazell, NBC science reporter.

[truedelphi]

1. One other important point - you can't construct a kid's tree house in calif.

Without some official insisting you have a geologist site the bit of construction for its earthquake safety.

Many half million dollar, California homes have at least 100K of their value there on account of mandated foundational structures.

So when a big quake hits, people in California are indeed safer than they would be on the East Coast.

It has cost us a lot, but the safety is there.

[kick-ass-bob]

2. No, point for point, the distance felt will be greater.

The amount of energy released is the same, just spread over a bigger area.

Also, are people supposed to crowd outside buildings after an earthquake? This just seems a little odd to me...

[uppityperson]

5. Yes. Because all those people crowded together will hold the damaged buildings up.

Until they are sure it's safe to go inside, outside seems reasonable. Esp places that aren't prepared for things like quakes.

[woodsprite]

6. They'll cushion the parts of buildings that will fall.

Then those parts can be used to rebuild.

Truthfully, my first thought was "Oh, look at everything shaking.", with my very quick second thought being "I have to call home, I bet my daughter is scared." Never even thought of evacuating. Besides, I think I would have dove under my desk before I ran outside. Now that I think about it, that might be a bad choice since we are a building of nothing but cubbies. Very few walls go all the way to the ceiling. Outside might be safer.

[itsrobert]

8. You are correct

A 5.9 releases the same amount of energy in VA as in CA.

[Donnachaidh]

11. NO. They need to stay in the buildings in a safe place

Many times people get hurt because of falling debris from the fronts of those buildings. Not to mention the many crazed people who may just mow you down in their frenzy to get out of those buildings.

[uppityperson]

3. W coast the underlying stuff is broken up, E coast not so much

The quakes affect the chunk of bedrock they are in. It spreads until it hits a crack, which are much closer on W coast. Yes, we have a lot of cracks out here, meaning could get a quake along/any. But E coast one the impact is spread much more widely.

Says my CA born/lived Mr. Repeatedly. Not to repeat. But does. Again.

Not to say either are worse, just indeed the underlying bits are different, leading to them feeling and spreading differently.

Hey, we've agreed a couple times today. Cool.

[elleng]

4. Heard from friend in Canada, felt in Toronto!

[Tesha]

14. The Montreal Gazette also reported it being felt there. (NT)

[Dawson Leery]

7. kick

[JDPriestly]

9. I have lived through a number of S. Cal. quakes.

We barely felt the Northridge quake although it damaged the walls of our house and the foundation.

It's the way we build -- in part. In general, Southern Californians are as prepared for earthquakes as you can be. Although I suspect that some of our bridges and public buildings will crumble in the next one.

On the East Coast, people live in brick houses -- very unsafe in earthquakes -- and buildings are less likely to be earthquake-proof.

[Stinky The Clown]

10. Very true about building codes

They're now reporting more and more damage to buildings here, particularly in DC. The Smithsonian Castle seems to have suffered damage as has the National Cathedral.

My partner's neighbor, in Alexandria, VA, has a window fall out of an upper story of her house.

Further, we have no clue how to act in an earthquake.

[JDPriestly]

12. Well, this will be a stimulus to the construction industry.

God's job program.

[jeff47]

13. To be fair, a large number of those "brick" buildings just have a brick facade.

All brick construction stopped being common around 1900 when bricks started getting more expensive. A facade just needs one layer of brick, a real brick wall needs at least two.