In the past three hundred and fourteen years there have been
about eighty earthquakes in the United States that have registered over a 3.8
magnitude. These quakes don’t just happen in California. They have been
recorded in Alaska, Wyoming, Maine, Oklahoma, Virginia, Indiana, Illinois,
Alabama, Florida, Pennsylvania, Washington, Texas, Oregon, Hawaii, Wisconsin,
Nevada, South Carolina, Kansas, Missouri, Massachusetts, and others. Clearly,
no one is immune.
Cascadia Earthquake
 |
| From
Flickr: Paul Wilkinson License |
Over the past history of the United States we have had some
big quakes. One of the most ancient earthquakes that we know happened in the
United States is the Cascadia Earthquake of 1700.
There were not written records back then but we know it happened
because of Japanese tsunami records, Native American lore, and Dendrochronology
or the study of tree wrings. The scientist have found that there was a large
population of red cedar trees that died because the coastal forest that they
called home was lowered into the tidal zone where they could not sustain life. The rings
have also shown that one of these “great quakes” happens in the Cascadia
Subduction Zone about every five hundred years. Currently we are at year three
hundred and fourteen. With our modern technology many coastal cities in this
zone are aware of the tsunami danger and earthquake danger and have prepared
well. The major threat turns to the inland cities of Seattle, Portland,
Vancouver, Victoria and Tacoma that have not been build to sustain an
earthquake of this magnitude and have many vulnerable buildings and bridges.
The New Madrid Earthquake
 |
| From
Flickr: Towne Post Network License |
The New Madrid Earthquake was a massive quake on the east
coast of the United States. The quake that started out the series of events
happened on December 16
th of 1811. This initial shaking was felt
over fifty thousand square miles away (130,000 sq km). There were four main
quakes. The first of which took place in Arkansas. The following three happened
in Missouri. The destruction involved the ground being grossly contorted, fissures
splaying the landscape, stream banks caving in and areas being flooded. The
last quake absolutely demolished the town of New Madrid, did severe damage to
St. Louis, and reversed the flow of the Mississippi River for a time. Luckily the area was much
more sparsely populated than it is today. In 2008 the Federal Emergency
Management Agency looked into the effect that an event of this magnitude would
have on the much more populated region of today. They concluded that a similar
event would cause severe damage to the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois,
Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee, resulting in the
highest economic loss due to natural disaster ever. Building codes in these
states were not designed to withstand earthquakes. The loss of property and
life would be devastating.
1906 San Francisco Earthquake
Probably the most famous earthquake of all that happened in
the United States was the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. Over three thousand
people died in the event, mostly due to the catastrophic fires that ensued
after the quake. Fifty five percent of the people in the ninth largest city in
the United
States were left homeless. Eighty percent of largest city on the
West Coast at the time and the center of financial, cultural and trade
activities was demolished. The economic
results of this event were an overwhelming four hundred million in 1906 or
eight point two billion today. Geologists found the culprit
of the disaster, the San Andreas Fault. Architects designed “earthquake proof”
structures for the city. San Francisco has tried to prepare for the inevitable
next time.
Earthquakes in Day After Disaster
There have been many more earthquakes over the history of
the United States and the world. They accompany most other types of natural
disasters as well. If a volcano erupts, there are earthquakes. If you build a
reservoir, there are earthquakes. If the earth plates shift, there are
earthquakes. The list goes on and on.
In the novel Day After Disaster the main antagonistic natural
disaster was a series of earthquakes for that reason, they accompany most other
disasters. The book was written on more of a micro-view of a mega disaster. You
see the event as it is unfolding from the point of view of one character trying
to survive the event. The character does not know what happened in the big
picture of the world to cause these quakes. All she knows is they are happening
and she must survive and find out if her family is still alive. In the novel,
the characters are not receiving any kind of assistance from the outside world,
which tips them off that the problem must be very widespread. The true cause of
the earthquakes will be revealed in the sequel to the novel and the next book in The
Changing Earth Series.
Current Earthquake Activity
All this discussion about mega-earthquakes might cause
you to wonder if there is an increase in activity lately. The media seems to
always have a story on an earthquake occurring somewhere in the world. Ricard
Mankiewicz examines this question in his http://www.Science20.com
blog post why so many earthquakes this decade. He found that the reason
people think there is an increase going on is because they are receiving more
media information on occurrences. Scientifically, there is no evidence that
there is an increase over the past decade and the quakes worldwide are fairly
consistent. One interesting place to check out to see if an earthquake is
calculated to happen near you anytime soon is http://www.world-earthquakes.com/.
They use a mathematical algorithm to predict the future earthquakes that will
happen world wide between now and 2042. They have made many correct predictions
so it is worth taking a look at.
Current News Regarding the Possiblity of a Mega Quake in the Central United States
TheDailySheeple.com
My References:
Similar Articles:
Sara F. Hathaway
Sara F. Hathaway is the author of
the The Changing Earth Series:
Day After Disaster and
Without Land. She also
hosts
The Changing Earth Podcast which blends her fictional stories with
educational survival tips. Sara grew up in the country where she developed a
profound interest in the natural world around her. After graduating with honors
from The California State University of Sacramento with a Bachelor of Science
in Business Administration, she launched into a career in business management. In
her fictional novels her research and experience with survival techniques and
forgotten life-sustaining methods of the generations past come to the forefront
in a action packed adventures. She has used her background in business
management to pave new roads for fictional authors to follow and she delights
in helping other achieve the same success. She currently lives with her husband
and two sons in California where she is at work on the sequel to her first two novels.
For more information and a free copy of “The Go-Bag Essentials” featuring
everything you need to have to leave your home in a disaster visit:
www.authorsarafhathaway.com
