What would a 8+ earthquake do to the area? (Seattle, Sammamish: houses, new construction)

[crystalblue]

You see things on shows like It Could Happen Tomorrow, but they usually focus on skyscrapers and bridges.

What would be the effects on the more human level? Would most houses still be standing? Would utilities (electric,water,phone) still be working?

Say the quake hit at the worst possible location.

[movingwiththewind]

I guess, we'll only know when it happens.

[eskercurve]

Originally Posted by crystalblue

You see things on shows like It Could Happen Tomorrow, but they usually focus on skyscrapers and bridges.

What would be the effects on the more human level? Would most houses still be standing? Would utilities (electric,water,phone) still be working?

Say the quake hit at the worst possible location.

Depends.

We live in a unique area where there's West Seattle, Magnolia, SODO, and downtown creating a bowl-like shape which would cause any earthquake that generates a tsunami actually make it worse. The waves would ricochet off the edges and continually cause waves for a long time. There was a simulation done by WSDOT back sometime, like 2005, which showed this. Most of downtown would be flooded, basically up to Capitol Hill, and the lakefront would be totally devastated. SODO would take a major hit too because of the Duwamish, making life a hell because of all the toxic stuff that would get into the water.

If an earthquake happened that didn't cause a tsunami, things wouldn't be too terribly bad I suppose. A lot of houses out here are not made of brick (older buildings notwithstanding). The reason is exactly for earthquakes. Yes wooden houses fall more easily but when they do fall they're less likely to kill you outright unlike falling bricks.

We'd likely see the I-5 and Aurora bridges collapse because I think they're rickety old vestiges of a prior era and should be replaced but the state can't because its broke. That would make getting aid more difficult.

The Aurora viaduct downtown would likely collapse, as would the seawall, which would be an eco-mentalists dream come true, bringing that area more in line with nature.

But that'd be about it. Most skyscrapers are safe against this becaues of building codes.

[Seacove]

Dogs and cats, living together, mass hysteria! But the viaduct's toast.

[Vinylly]

Since our last big earthquake building requirements have been inforced. All older public buildings and new construction, including homes, have been required to put in structural re-inforcement for such an earthquake, -not should it happen, but when it happens. It's the older homes that have not been earthquake proofed that are in dire danger, -and that's most of them. We don't know what will happen to the I-5 freeway going through downtown as it is elevated. The Alaska Way viaduct was built at about the sametime and has the same design as the viaduct that callapsed in San Francisco's big earthquake. The Alaska Way viaduct already has cracks in it from the previous earthquake and that's why there is such a hassel about closing it down and putting something else in it's place. The next question is, how will a tunnel under the sound hold up under a suvere earthquake.
My quess is that there will be suvere damage but not as much as in Indonesia or Chile.
Are you prepared? Do you have your survival gear made up? Remember, it's not a matter of 'if' but it's a matter of 'when' and the experts are saying the 'when' is coming very soon.

[AddyLaddy]

Yes I wonder what would happen to all those tall buildings in DT Seattle. Most were built before the new building guidelines (e.g. Columbia Center 1985). I guess they're not in the liquefaction zone but I doubt the engineers of the time took the earthquake risk seriously enough. I work in a 40 story building built in 1975 and I really hope I'm not in it when a big one hits!
But then again my home in Sammamish is probably less than a mile from the Seattle fault line ...

[tsmw47]

What kind of earthquake damage would there be for the places like Port Townsend or Bainbridge Island? I saw that Tsunami level in Port Townsend would be about 10 feet.

[prairiestate]

Devastate it. Seems pretty straightforward to me.

[E Roy Slade]

some say mt Rainer has erupted 500 years ago and could again

[E Roy Slade]

wikipedia says mud could flow downtown