Earthquakes (Seattle, Sammamish, Mercer Island: houses, construction, tornado)

[Derk]

Hi, its me again. I also read that you guys have a high earthquake risk. Almost as high as California. That isn't exactly true is it? I mean, I did read that you guys had a earthquake in 2001 or 2002- i can't remember. anyway, i hope this isn't true because I'd rather take a hurricane than a earthquake any day.

[jwb123]

It IS true.

The seattle area is at risk "for the big one" ... sometime...

I lived there for that earthquake you mentioned. It was a really weird experience.

I am also originally from the east coast (NoVa - DC). It's definitely a new "worry" that you didn't ever have to think about in the east.

[compltlyme]

Originally Posted by Derk

Hi, its me again. I also read that you guys have a high earthquake risk. Almost as high as California. That isn't exactly true is it? I mean, I did read that you guys had a earthquake in 2001 or 2002- i can't remember. anyway, i hope this isn't true because I'd rather take a hurricane than a earthquake any day.

Have you ever experienced and earthquake? I ask because I have been through both several times, and give me an earthquake anyday of the week over a hurricane. And most people I know that have experienced both say the same.

The earth shakes, rolls or jolts. maybe somethings fall, you get a rush of adreneline. And it is over...maybe some after shocks that are smaller.

Winds up over 100mph..rips through your town... window that aren't boarded up shatter, trees are ripped from the ground, cars are moved and if you aren't in a safe spot...bye bye you... houses and buildings completely removed from the foundation and land in the church yard across town. Pets go missing...

Yeah...gimme and earthquake over a hurricane anytime.

[scirocco22]

Hmmmm. I always thought I'd rather be in a hurricane than an earthquake but after reading what compltlyme has written, I think I've changed my mind.

Although earthquakes scare the sh** out of me, I've always thought a hurricane would be tolerable. Now I don't know.

But I agree with Jenbar that Seattle is due for the "big one." And it could happen any day ...a shallow, near-the-surface shift in the earth that will produce a horrendous earthquake will be devasting to the majority of downtown Seattle. The old buildings will crumble. The Alaskan Way viaduct will pancake upon itself as it collapses. The ground will liquify on the western edge of the CBD as it's all fill. Most houses built before 1980 will be knocked off their foundations as none were bolted to their foundations that were built before then. The SR-520 bridge will probably collapse at its approaches to the highrises as they weren't engineered to withstand any major quake.

I cringe at the thought. I just hope that enough retrofitting can take place before the "big one" happens. It's just a matter of time ...it could be tomorrow or it could be years from now. It's not "if" it's going to happen, it's "when."

--'rocco

[jwb123]

I don't know about being in a hurricane vs an earthquake. Most people have experience with pretty small quakes... ask the people in the Bay area who were around for that really bad one years ago, what they think...

You can drive away from a hurricane - and have warning they are coming. An earthquake, you have no clue and no escape.

[compltlyme]

That one in the bay area was really bad. And certainly the structures were not made to withstand that kind of jolt. The biggest I have been in is the 7.1 down in So Ca in the 90's. It got us out of bed and our hearts were racing. But we had a single pane of a double paned slider, spider. It was really cool looking. Also a crack in the driveway and along the stucco of the house. We had a 6.0 that was more of the jolting ones that knocked some stuff off the top of the fridge. Other than that...never had much of anything fall.

[Seattletony]

If the mythical "big one" hits it won't just hit Seattle it will be along the whole west coast with tremors being sent to the desert states of Nevada and Arizona.

[LMB]

A few years ago, we had so many hurricanes aiming for us in central Florida, we thought there was a bullseye painted over Disney World. When we first moved here we were glad to be inland because hurricanes lose their strength once they get over land, right? Um, not this time. We personally had a lot of damage from Charlie, Frances and Jeanne that summer. We were happy to see Ivan miss us, but felt sorry for those in the path of that monster storm. For days after the shrill, screaming winds and torrents of rain stopped (slow moving, huge Frances lasted for nearly 3 days!) there was no power, no water, no ice, contents of the fridge and freezer were rotting, it was hot, humid, streets were impassable from downed trees, and plastic tarps were the norm for most of the roofs in the area. Miserable conditions. That summer, it seemed like we'd no sooner cleaned up from one hurricane when another one was building off the coast of Africa and heading for central Florida. I had friends who opted to get out of the way of Hurricane Frances by driving north--they spent over 30 hours in their car with a baby in traffic gridlock, with the hurricane heading their way. They said they'd never do that again.

Central Florida is also the lightning capital of the country--or so we're told on the local news. Such an honor! Every summer many people around here are struck and killed or injured by lightning, on the beach, the golf courses, working in the yard, construction sites, etc. Sometimes it's not even storming, and barely cloudy outside. I've known a few people who were struck by lightning and survived, but their injuries and internal burns were severe.

I've had way too many encounters with hurricanes while living in Florida, and hope I'll never go through another one. Thank goodness, I can't give a firsthand opinion on which is worse, hurricanes or earthquakes. Both can be terrible. I have only experienced minor earthquakes in the Midwest (nothing over a 4.5), although the New Madrid earthquake there is supposed to be a doozy when it happens. I've lived through a house being flattened by a tornado in the Midwest too--and that was sheer terror in the short time it lasted. Is there any place in this country without some kind of horrible natural disaster possibility?

Lynn

[scirocco22]

Originally Posted by Seattletony

If the mythical "big one" hits it won't just hit Seattle it will be along the whole west coast with tremors being sent to the desert states of Nevada and Arizona.

Don't want to vigorously dispute what you're saying, tony, but I think you're wrong. I beg to differ.

The Seattle fault runs over Puget Sound, right through Seattle and across Mercer Island to the eastside and across Lake Sammamish.

A shallow quake involving this fault will devastate the Seattle area. It WILL be "the big one" and will only pertain to the Seattle area and with possible triggering of other local faults within a hundred miles or so ...not the entire west coast.

From the UW:




And as Tom Paulson of the Seattle PI has reported:

"Seattle is at the hub of this frenzy of seismic sleuthing, largely because researchers in the mid-1990s confirmed that a fault zone running through downtown appears capable of producing the same kind of shallow quake that in 1995 killed 6,500 people in Kobe, Japan."

Read this article and then get ready:

http://www.washington.edu/alumni/col...p10/fault.html



I don't think I agree with tony when he describes it as "mythical." As I've said in a previous post ...it's not IF, it's WHEN.




--'rocco

[AZ_singlemother]

Originally Posted by Derk

Hi, its me again. I also read that you guys have a high earthquake risk. Almost as high as California. That isn't exactly true is it? I mean, I did read that you guys had a earthquake in 2001 or 2002- i can't remember. anyway, i hope this isn't true because I'd rather take a hurricane than a earthquake any day.

We did have a nice earthquake in early 01. Lasted a very long time for earthquake standards. We were lucky it did not destroy as much but it was an eye opener - especially as I was in a high rise building in DT Seattle.

Earthquakes are very real in this area. If you prefer not to experience, I would avoid living anywhere in earthquake zone. There's no warning system available and can come an any moment.