In the western usa where we get most of our quakes that is the case due to the shallow bedrock (mountains). However, the Great Madrid shake near the Mississippi in Missouri knocked some brick chimneys down in Boston in the late 1800’s!
When that one goes again it will be bad for us, as not a lot of our infrastructure in the midwest or east was designed for large quakes. I think they have done a lot of work on upgraded bridges across the Mississippi - but oil and gas pipelines that supply the east will be hard hit.
The New Madrid quake(s) were in 1812. You might be confusing it with the Charleston, SC quake of 1886. They both had very widespread effects due to the nature of east coast geology compared to the west coast as you note, though.
Yes, that’s a very good point, and a real good example of the differences in more local vs long distance damage.
There is a fault line that runs from Missouri up near Boston.
It rang church bells in Boston and made the Mississippi run backwards temporarily in at least one area, and changed the course of the river.
Sparsely populated regions in 1812 are now more densely populated. That’s the real kicker right there. That coupled with less earthquake required infrastructure could be two very bad omens.
Some earthquake retrofitting isn’t that costly or hard to do. It’s mostly cabling framing so that it is much less likely to collapse, and shoring up masonry, bricks, chimneys, and the like.