Earthquake on East Coast Va.

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Originally Posted by Geesus

So I researched REALLY quick and found this for east coast building codes.

"A current example, it might be argued, are the most recent requirements for seismic design in new construction in some parts of the country. As a direct result of FEMA efforts under the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP), seismic design is now required in regions of the country that ignored this until recently."

"The requirements are not as severe as in California, but they represent significant increases when compared to earlier codes."

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i am familiar with some of the seismic design we use on east coast, but it is nothing compared to california codes. A building in California can cost 4 times as much to build as here because of their EQ codes(which are needed).like i said, i can only speak of where i live and our buildings are not designed to withstand real ground breaking earth quakes. Maybe some of the new bigger buildings can idk, but that's not my point. My point is as a whole our city can not withstand an earthquake like California can so the two should no be compared. Like I said before when Texas got all that snow last year(i think it was last year) i wasn't like, oh its just 10 feet of snow its ok guys, cause i know their gov does not invest in plows like the north does and snow can cripple a southern region.

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Originally Posted by syntaxlies

California building codes adhere to earthquake standards, east coast does not. the slightest movements in our ground could be deadly fyi.

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The Earth is moving all the time, so no the slightest movements in your ground couldn't be deadly. It was felt up and down the coast because the area isn't prone to quakes, the rocks are different then the west coast, but that doesn't make it more severe then a 5.8 quake out in California or ANYWHERE else in the world. The only differences from the East coast and the West is because of what someone already pointed out: building codes, structural design, etc. That's the only difference. Other then that, people are freaking out because they've never experienced such a thing.

/waits for everyone on the East to freak out about the Hurricane next. At least that might bring some legitimate concerns.

Just wanted to clear up that the power plant that was located 10 miles from the epicenter had 1 of it's 4 backup generators fail and it was only built to withstand a 5.9-6.1 quake and that they were given a start about how "unnervingly close" it came to the maximum.

Looking at the quake maps it appears the Appalachians experienced quakes all over, including a 2.2 near Albany, NY the same day.

As for that weather comment before about Canada... YOUZ CRAZY! I live in Vermont and two summers in a row now we've been flooded with smoke from your forest fires! Never happened before. Had a couple of tornadoes here too as well as horizontal winds upwards of 75mph. Been experiencing unusual extremes for both heat and cold, seasonally, as well. We even had a bit of an earthquake/tremor thing a couple of weeks ago - knocked my fan out of my window and my psp off of my desk (even cracked the L shoulder button /cry). Though strange weather has happened at other times, too: in ...1998 I think it was we had a half inch of snow in July. This whole thing is nothing to be afraid of in my opinion.

Edit @Keftenk: The ground composition greatly impacts the severity of an earthquake. A town built on bedrock will suffer much less damage than a town built on a soft soil. The range of destruction will vary greatly in the east coast alone as there are many different types of soils as well as hidden sinkholes because of the topography. As said the building codes come into effect as well. If a 7.0 were to hit San Diego they wouldn't receive as much damage as Boston would. You also have to take into consideration the types of earthquakes each coast experiences: the west coast experiences earthquakes due to a subduction zone (potential for great earthquakes, many small-mid earthquakes but in a localized region) and the east coast experiences them due to old, leftover fault lines that are converging and thus leading to few earthquakes but felt over a much larger area.

"These observations suggest that for an equal-size earthquake, the east is likely to experience a wider extent of damage than coastal California. " - http://eqseis.geosc.psu.edu/~cammon/...intensity.html

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Originally Posted by Keftenk

The only differences from the East coast and the West is because of what someone already pointed out: building codes, structural design, etc. That's the only difference. Other then that, people are freaking out because they've never experienced such a thing.

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LOL Keftenk...did you get the link I posted in reply to your earlier post? Because building codes are not the ONLY reason it's different on the East vs West coast. ;)

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Originally Posted by Geesus

LOL Keftenk...did you get the link I posted in reply to your earlier post? Because building codes are not the ONLY reason it's different on the East vs West coast. ;)

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Hopefully he checks out the link in my post! :D

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Originally Posted by Keftenk

The Earth is moving all the time, so no the slightest movements in your ground couldn't be deadly. It was felt up and down the coast because the area isn't prone to quakes, the rocks are different then the west coast, but that doesn't make it more severe then a 5.8 quake out in California or ANYWHERE else in the world. The only differences from the East coast and the West is because of what someone already pointed out: building codes, structural design, etc. That's the only difference. Other then that, people are freaking out because they've never experienced such a thing.

/waits for everyone on the East to freak out about the Hurricane next. At least that might bring some legitimate concerns.

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You my friend are an idiot. Are you referring to the half an inch a year the continents mov. Way to take things a little to literal.

I live in Charles Co. Maryland and was at work when it hit. I work in a retail store and we had $300 worth of damage.
Never thought I would ever experience a quake. It was like I was in a movie with the whole store moving and the lights swaying. No one was hurt so all was good.

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Originally Posted by Keftenk

The Earth is moving all the time, so no the slightest movements in your ground couldn't be deadly. It was felt up and down the coast because the area isn't prone to quakes, the rocks are different then the west coast, but that doesn't make it more severe then a 5.8 quake out in California or ANYWHERE else in the world. The only differences from the East coast and the West is because of what someone already pointed out: building codes, structural design, etc. That's the only difference. Other then that, people are freaking out because they've never experienced such a thing.

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So wrong on so many levels.

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Originally Posted by lynex

I live in Charles Co. Maryland and was at work when it hit. I work in a retail store and we had $300 worth of damage.
Never thought I would ever experience a quake. It was like I was in a movie with the whole store moving and the lights swaying. No one was hurt so all was good.

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Glad you guys weren't injured by falling merch, lights or what have you. :D Now you get to have fun preparing for a possibly really strong hurricane! YAY US'es! <sarcasm> Be safe Lynex.