As one looks at the twisted rubble on TV in Haiti, somewhere along the line, one starts taking personal stock. The what if??? That horrible moment when you move the tragedy in Haiti to Prince William County, or Washington. D.C. if you reach out. How would our building codes stand up to a 7.0 earthquake?
If an earthquake occurred in Washington, D.C. would we have buildings still standing? Many are older architecture. What would happen to our government? How about our archives? Would our skeleton government rush off to wherever they are set up for an emergency?
What if the epicenter were Lake Jackson? Would our homes be earthquake resistant or would we pretty much look like Haiti? Do you race outside or do you hunker down like for a tornado? Frankly, I have no idea. East coast girl here.
This topic came up with friends last night. All were smug. We all felt our homes and apartments would withstand an earthquake much better than the buildings in Haiti. How about that Imperial palace. That looked like a pretty fancy place before the earthquake. The ‘after the earthquake’ didn’t look so good. Pretty much rubble.
These are probably questions all of us should have an answer to, rather than just resting on our American building code laurels. I am not so sure my smug safety attitude is at all accurate. How would Prince William Building codes hold up to a moderate or severe earthquake? How would our national government and its buildings hold up?
United States Geological Survey Information regarding earthquakes
Moon, I worked at the Prince William Journal newspaper in their offices on Cockrell Road in Manassas in 1997 when a surprise tremor hit. Everyone in the office condos ran out to the parking lot and stared at us. So the reporters ran inside and called the U.S. Geological Survey in Reston to find out what was happening.
A tremor was felt in Culpeper a few months before that. In 1975, an earthquake in Blacksburg broke some windows.
I’d be more nervous living in Pearisburg — they had a 3.8 on the Richter scale in 1959 and a 5.8 in 1897. I’d be even more nervous living on the New Madrid fault (Illlinois – Missouri) or California.
Yes, I’d like to see building codes for all hazards and emergency planning for all hazards. Everyone should have water, food, batteries, flashlight, battery operated radio and first aid supplies for three days.
Shoot, you might as well have a survival room in your house. I sure don’t have all that. I have a hurricane bucket of stuff but it is about 5 year old….probably from Isabel.
I’m more set up for looters, but I’ve been curious about preparing a “bug-out” bag lately. I like your question, though, how safe are we? My thought is “we” are as safe as “we” make ourselves.
Are we at risk of having our houses fall down on top of us?
I agree that WE is a big part of this equation. I think that Katrina taught us we ultimately have to depend on ourselves. I guess I am not even sure where to begin if its something other than a hurricane that gets us.
The earthquakes on the New Madrid fault line in 1811-1812 caused the buildings in Washington, D.C., to shake and the church bells in Richmond to start ringing by themselves. All over southern Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee people fled their homes in terror. Many banks along the Mississippi collapsed, and the river changed its course in some places.
Wolverine, that comment wasn’t real reassuring. That was a long time ago though. Buildings were simpler…or were they? How do the tall buildings hold up to earthquakes or do we know? Is it all theory?
Moon, I’m not sure of all the details. The USGS says that the New Madrid earthquake effects in the Eastern U.S. were and would be more widespread than those in the Pacific Coast region. They also said that damage was indeed done in 1811-1812 in both Washington, D.C., and Charleston, South Carolina; but I have yet to come across the specifics. Did find out, however, that those earthquakes also set the church bells to ringing in Boston as well as Richmond. About all I can say is that, if you feel the shaking, do as they do iin California. If you cannot get out of the building , one of your better bets is to stand under a sturdy, reinforced interior archway and away from large pieces of furniture such as hutches, bookcases, and the like.
I am out of the house if that happens in to the yard so a tree can fall on me.
Has Haiti had other significant earthquakes?
How would our houses fair? You just need to look at Florida, and see how there houses fair during a hurricane. Not Good.
Having lived in So. CA for 10 years and been through a number of earthquakes, one gets a sort of “oh well, another one” attitude when one hits. My worst one was the Whittier quake which was around a 6 if I remember right. I was on the top floor of our building and most of us were just waiting it out since you pretty much know that if you are still okay after 45 seconds (seems like 45 minutes), you are pretty much going to be okay. Well, at the end of the rolling, another jolt hit even harder and then we were all thinking “this is it, the biggy.”
We had a secretary who had just moved from Ohio and she was holding on to the support column. I was busy trying to secure equipment. I yelled over to her, “what are you doing?” She said she had been told before the quake to hold on to a structural part of the building. My reply was, “we are on the top floor, our floor is going to collapse all the way down, and we are going to have your fingernail scratches all the way down. We don’t have to worry, the people below need to worry”. That was the last day she worked for us–I think she moved back to Ohio.
Anyway, buildings in CA are built on “rollers”. They sway with the earthquake since the worst thing that happens is the resistence steel has when trying to maintain itself against the force. So if the building moves with the quake, there isn’t as much force exerted on the structure. Brisges over raodways also have a kind of shock absorber system built in to them so they also move with the earth. I don’t think houses have much design to them but they usually are okay since they have a low profile and not much is swaying at the top.
Rez, thanks for the live report. You made it seem very real. I would be moving back to Ohio too I expect. How many stories was the building?
How does your home compare to where you lived in California? Do you feel more or less secure if an earthquake were to hit?
I have never felt an earthquake. I have been places where many happen daily, small ones at least. I never felt them. So earthquake virgin here. I can’t imagine the earth rolling.
Are our earthquakes deeper or more shallow than in California?
I saw a video once of a field in California during an earthquake and you could see the rolling effect – it looked like big ripples or waves in the ground – and was really unusual looking. Can’t imagine what that’s like to actually see it coming toward you.
Wolfie, the quakes in CA can be both shallow or deep. They can also be rolling or sharp. We got them by the hundreds but most of them you only hear like a sonic boom. Animals go crazy before hand since they can feel the slightest vibration and they know what it is.
I was once watching my 5-year old’s (he just turned 30 btw) soccer game and we were sitting on the ground. You saw it coming at you and it felt like you were on a mild roller coaster. You can also be in your house and watch the other houses rolling but you feel nothing at all.
Our building was 6 stories so it was kind of a medium building. In the Whittier quake, my wife reported that my young son at the time was watching cartoons and the barstools were falling over. My younger daughter came running into the room screaming–she was awakened by it. My son calmly said, “its only an earthquake, be quiet. Oh, the tv cable is out now. No more cartoons. I hate earthquakes because the cable always goes out.” 🙂
I find PW County Resident’s experiences very interesting. I spent considerable time in Los Angeles and San Diego in the mid-1960’s and never experienced a quake. It must be that they run in cycles. I was also up in the Bay area and crossed the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. After seeing what happened to that bridge and its Oakland approaches in a quake some years ago, I think next time I might consider taking the long way around through San Jose and Palo Alto.
I find them interesting also. I never felt anything while in Yellowstone or at the volcanoes in Washington State and Oregon. I was there a while too. Maybe I just wouldn’t recognize a mini quake.
After seeing Haiti, I am not sure I want to go back. It is pretty bad when one has to look closely to see the difference in Kabul and Port-au-Prince.