Earthquakes (San Jose, San Francisco, Hayward: how much, to live, safe)

[fizbin]

Originally Posted by DMenscha

The steeper parts. (sorry I couldn't resist)

Especially when they are wet!!

(Actually the wife is a soils engineer, and steepness is really only one factor, and usually not the most important one.)

[HIGH!Lonesome]

Originally Posted by mj88

Hello all, I am considering a move to the SF, but am absolutely terrified of the thought of "the big one." Being from the midwest I have never experienced a quake, but according to some internet research it appears SF may be due for another big one within the next 30 years? Would love if someone could shed some light on the subject. Is my fear legitimate? I am ready for a change and SF seems perfect, beautiful (other than the quake threat)!! But the thought of being violently shaken/seriously injured in a huge quake is literally making me sick (and moving is only an idea still!). I just read numerous internet stories of the 1906 quake and it is absolutely the most terrifying thing I have read.. survivors' accounts of witnessing people being crushed and falling here and there. If I'm understanding it correctly, this is due to happen to SF again soon?? Thanks to all who could fill me in.

After your first experiance with one you tend to get use to them, but always be prepared for one have plenty of none parishable or long shelf food items in store water and a first aid kit on hand a radio, flashlights and plenty of working batteries.

Just be smart and know how to react when there is an earthquake, one is coming sooner than later but we never know when the big one will hit till it does.

[tennis368fan]

Here's a link to another post I made about earthquakes: //www.city-data.com/forum/2713012-post7.html .

[elizabeth139]

we don't have an evacuation plan anymore, it was the Army and Navy, and they are long gone. Our fire department and police department are far too small to be of any use. Keep in mind that all the National Guard, Reserves, and their equipment are in Iraq. If you are here when it hits, you will die, and you will hope to be one of the first casualties. Hirises are the stupidest thing to put on landfill, when the ocean is rising . . .but Senate[mod]Inappropriate language[/mod] FineSwine and her pals don't have to clean it up, they have their profits and won't be held accountable.

[fizbin]

Originally Posted by elizabeth139

If you are here when it hits, you will die . . .

Thanks for the warning - I'll try not to stand next to you . . .

[mj88]

So if I were to decide to move to SF, how would I locate an apartment building that has the appropriate codes to (hopefully) withstand THE BIG ONE? Any suggestions? I'm looking for a safe neighborhood where I could hopefully either walk to work, or take a bus perhaps - I'm very afraid of this underground BART system I keep hearing about. How on earth would you get out of there alive during a large earthquake?

[MaggieZ]

Personally, I wouldn't live in fear of an earthquake or a hurricane or any other natural disaster, that's how you ruin your life worrying about something you can't change anyway. If earthquakes worry a person that much, then maybe the Bay area is not for you, I don't mean that as an insult or anything... You can die in a fire anywhere at any time or crossing the street anyplace in the world. If it's your time to go, you won't be able to prevent it.
Building codes won't matter when the real big one hits...I don't think nature cares to save certain buildings.

[Tony from Europe]

I'm from Croatia and here are earthquakes not rare,but in CA are stronger.
I'm not scared of quakes.
Hurricane is more dangerous then quake.

[HIGH!Lonesome]

In San Francisco an earthquake is more dangerous than a hurricane because we dont have hurricanes, "at least not yet" I would'nt want to live in a high rise I think escaping from one during a big earthquake is the same fate as those poor folks that got traped atop the World Trade Center towers during 9/11.

The real problem with a major earthquake in San Francisco, is not only falling buildings but the big fires that come with them while the ground is shaking all over and the gas main lines start to rupture and explode, then we have fires out of control, and about 99% of all residential structures other than high rises are built out of wood.

[NorthernCalifornia]

The best way to pick an earthquake safe building is age. If it's been standing solid since 1912 it is time-tested.

There are decent-sized earthquakes every 10-20 years all along the California coast. Post-1906 there were major improvements in building standards and ongoing paranoia led to some "over-building." Another factor is that much of SF was built out of redwood and redwood withstands shaking very well, bending and stretching as needed.

Tall buildings are almost all safe places to be in an earthquake but possibly scarier than in a smaller one.

The most frightening place to be in an earthquake is outside, where you can *see* the earth waving and moving, telephone poles pointing in different directions, etc. It'll amaze you.

1989 did the Bay Area a favor by shaking out the rust. Brick-facades and unreinforced masonry are a thing of the past or have warning sings on them, as per law. Anything particularly susceptible went down in 1989. Many, many structures have been retrofitted in response over the last 20 years. The Bay Bridge is the slowest possible project in the history of the universe for this matter and it's on its way, too. I figure that the gods of karma and irony will trigger our next big earthquake shortly before they take the wrapper off the new east-span.

Oh, and stay out of landfill areas like the Marina. All those pictures you saw of bay-windowed houses collapsed onto themselves were in that area of SF. Most of the hills in SF are bedrock and substantial. Shaking will be reduced. That said, in an 8.0 earthquake all bets are off.

Standard tips from CA native: don't run outside, stand in a doorway, have a wrench handy and turn off your gas after a quake. This means stoves, water heaters and the like. Lastly, there will be aftershocks. Act accordingly.