Posted on 09/08/2005 12:18:27 PM PDT by NYer
U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Lucy Jones remembers attending an emergency training session in August 2001 with the Federal Emergency Management Agency that discussed the three most likely catastrophes to strike the United States.
First on the list was a terrorist attack in New York. Second was a super-strength hurricane hitting New Orleans. Third was a major earthquake on the San Andreas fault.
Now that the first two have come to pass, she and other earthquake experts are using the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as an opportunity to reassess how California would handle a major temblor.
Jones, scientist-in-charge for the geological survey's Southern California Earthquake Hazards Team, and other experts generally agree that California has come a long way in the last two decades in seismic safety.
In Los Angeles, all but one of 8,700 unreinforced masonry buildings — considered the most likely to collapse in a major quake — have been retrofitted or demolished. The state spent billions after the 1994 Northridge quake to retrofit more than 2,100 freeway overpasses, reporting this week that only a handful remain unreinforced.
Despite these improvements, however, officials believe that a major temblor could cause the level of destruction and disruption seen over the last week on the Gulf Coast.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
(steely)
That's why those of us in California need to pre-register with FEMA. A prepared victim is a happy victim. ;^)
P.S. Got ammo?
And we have the possibility of a 9.0 Earthquake off the coast of Washington State. A chance of a Cat 3 Hurricane hitting New York City, closing bridges and flooding tunnels and subways. Can't forget that Charleston, SC has to worry about both hurricanes AND earthquakes.
And the grandpappy of them all, an 8.4 on the New Madrid Fault affecting Memphis and St. Louis and many other towns ill-prepared to deal with such - and promulgating over a very large area because it is surrounded by solid bedrock that transmits energy much more efficiently that the jumbled and shattered formations along the West Coast.
And don't even talk about what would happen if Yellowstone erupts.
In other words, we've got potential disasters all over. Providence, RI got whaled by the same hurricane that drilled Long Island in 1938. Who ever thinks of Providence as having hurricane dangers?
The point is, it takes planning, from the individual level up to the federal government, to deal with a major disaster. The lesson of Katrina is that certain aspects are beyond planning, such as a 30 foot surge over 100 miles of coastline. But some should have been worked out, such as housing 20,000 people in the Superdome - or, better yet, figuring out how to get them out of town in the first place.
Bring it on! I will drive directly to Best Buy to loot my essentials.
And that will be President Bush's fault too, I suppose.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
The San Andreas has been on my mind lately too.
Shiver.
Meanwhile back at the Whitehouse, Karl Rove sits hunched at the controls of his terrible machine, howls of bone chilling laughter coming from his mouth.
"Should I, or Should I not". Rove keeps repeating the words, faster and louder the words come.
For all Dems reading, the above is satire. It is not the truth.
How about the Oregon bulge? A major new volcano in the making?
ROTFLOL! Indeed, PRE-register.
Oh yes, we have ammo.
Steely Dan
This song automatically plays in my head whenever anyone mentions the San Andreas Fault.
question:
If a earthquake/tsunami wiped out So Cal. would the impact on the rest of the US be positive or negative?
That bulge is where the Democrats are hiding the local school buses from satellite cameras. Gotta get those Greyhounds, don't you know?
Or are they just glad to see Ida ho?...........;-)
We rotated in fresh 72 hour food/water/flashilight supplies over the holiday weekend.
In my teen years we lived in Henderson, NV and we waited for the next big earthquake....thinking California would fall into the ocean and we would have the beach instead of nasty Lake Mead.
Well if not we always have the Canary Islands Super Tsunami.
da ho Ida
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