I noted somewhere the other day that the Ring of Fire was getting sparky, but wasn’t expecting an 8.8 off Kamchatka. Fact is, there are many small earthquakes every day, some in areas that people don’t think get earthquakes. Most are either deep enough or small enough that only seismologists notice them. Some faults, like the New Madrid, only seem to have a major event every few hundred years. Others, well, go off quite frequently, at least in geological terms.
When talking preparedness, I don’t focus on the almost infinite number of things that can happen, but in the types of damage they can do. Other than following earthquake building codes and suggestions when building structures, there’s not a lot you can do. I will note that some of the same things that help houses and other structures deal with high winds and tornadoes can help with mitigating structural damage from an earthquake, as they help a bit with flexibility and holding things together against unusual stresses.
My understanding is that you need a combination of flexibility and stability to avoid major structural damage. Of course, in some cases, there is not a lot you can do. Soil geology at the surface plays a large roll on how the seismic waves “act” on things. In the New Madrid quake some areas had the soil essentially “liquify” resulting in things in the ground shooting up (such as caskets) and things on the surface (like houses and other structures, going down almost without a trace.
Unlike weather phenomena, earthquake prediction is far more art than science. It’s being worked on, but we’re not there yet. So, it’s going to hit with little or no warning — which means your preparations have to be on reaction rather than being pro-active. It’s a different bit of planning, and if near the coast you should have a bug-out plan not only made but ready to go on zero notice for tsunami events, and elsewhere the same given that widespread fires can break out, dams fail, etc. Figure routes are likely to be clogged, and plan accordingly.
One of the more novel, and potentially very effective for the actual quake itself, was the tethered hot air balloon Daryl Dragon (the Captain of Captain and Tennille) allegedly had behind their house. If things were bad, launch and wait for things to settle down before coming down. Not sure if it was true or not, but seem to recall he talked about it in an interview or two. Fact is, if you could go up (or were up) when it hits, and stay up a while, it would allow you to miss the worst of things. At least initially.
On a more serious note, I am going to be interested to see what comes out in regards Petropavlovsk in the next few days. Between the earthquake and tsunami waves, it will be interesting to see what can be seen in regards the Russian Pacific Fleet, other bases, and the nuclear storage facilities. In particular, you do have to wonder how the subs tied up alongside — especially the boomers — fared. So far, not hearing of much damage but it’s well worth keeping an eye on.
Finally, in terms of preparedness, earthquakes are one of the reason to keep digging and demolition tools handy. There are a number of things that could leave one’s safe space covered in debris. Always be prepared to dig out, pry things up and over, or if possible jack or brace things so they don’t come down any further. Shovels, axes, pry bars, saws, jacks, rope, etc. are good to have around anytime, but may be even more appreciated after a quake.
Keep in mind that the Midwest really isn’t that well prepared for the New Madrid to pop off again. Building codes most places really don’t include earthquakes, and other mitigation actions aren’t there. The last time the New Madrid really kicked off, it was felt as far east as New York, a massive lake was formed in Tennessee, and portions of the Mississippi ran backwards for a time as plates were forced up. I may have to look for something I wrote about this years ago, as the area has built up so much now that a major event will devastate a good part of the center of the country.
Nor are the San Andreas and the New Madrid all we have to worry about. So, don’t think that because you are not in California you have nothing to worry about from a quake or quakes. As always, preparedness pays.
As always, keep your family and friends close, and your things where you can find them in the dark — even if the earth is moving (and not from a happy thing).
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We run an earthquake scenario about every other year using the Central US Earthquake Consortium CUSEC estimates for damage as the basis. Good practice.
Good! Hate to say it, but most of the central and eastern US is unprepared for what can hit. When I worked at AEDC, our first goal was to keep us up and running, then help local, and then try to help Nashville and such. My thoughts on Nashville, Indy, and a lot of other cities in the NM zone is that people are going to be running out into the street, and those glass curtain buildings are not set for earthquake, and the best descriptor I can come up with is hamburger.
Also, the volcanoes a hundred or so klicks north of there concealing Vlad’s secret underground lairs are erupting.
Heh
Something that I noticed from a lot of the coverage is that the weather people covering the quake haven’t really talked to Geologists and Geophysicists in the 14 years since the Japan quake in 2011. They don’t even really ask the right questions.
I see them downplaying the threat of tsunamis from strike-slip earthquakes (like the faults off Washington & Oregon, and down into California where the faults go ashore – technically most of LA is not on the North American plate, but is on the Pacific plate). However, one of the things that the earth and ocean scientists have discovered in recent decades is that small earthquakes can trigger tsunamis from submarine landslides – regardless of whether the fault movement displaces enough water by itself to cause a tsunami. This was best typified by a tsunami generated by a quake in New Guinea in 1998. One area got hit by a massive wave when the wave in all other directions was negligible. Similarly, as one expert noted, the chance of a tsunami from an aftershock is much reduced, but not zero (and the unspoken reason being that the main shock could have ALMOST caused a massive landslide, and a strong aftershock could tip it over the edge – literally). There’s massive landslides that have been found off east Africa and the NE coasts of Hawaii that are of sizes that scare the bejusus out of some scientists (chunks of Maui, IIRC, slid 50+ miles offshore, almost as big as Rhode Island – when that went a few million years ago, the resultant tsunami probably overtopped the coastal range in California)
It spurred a lot of research into underwater slopes in earthquake zones that’s still underway and a hot field in terms of study. There’s a few places off the Cascade region where cores (mostly from past oil exploration, as the universities would rather spend money on social projects than on hard science) where the cores taken have shown a succession of Landslides, turbidity currents (think landslide, but the material turns into a cold aquatic equivalent of a pyroclastic flow, less prone to make a big tsunami), tsunami deposits created by waves generated all over the Pacific, and flood deposits, all of which can stretch dozens of miles off the coast. The cores have provided a record of tsunamis from all over, major movements of both the Cascadia area AND San Andreas/Hayward families of faults, volcanic eruptions (you can trace the ash layers to specific volcanoes), and some of the glacial floods that carved the coulees of western Washington. But, the record is spotty, because there not being a pattern conducive to actual study of the cores for anything other than petro prospecting. (similarly, the area east of the Cascades has really poor understanding of the landforms under the flood basalts (several miles thick, from 12-16 million years ago) because the only cores were from the exploratory wells, some of which never even reached the bottom of the basalt (but at least could differentiate different flood basalt eruptions).
Geology REALLY needs more research cash.
I fear you are right, and it is clear that the weather (and news) people have not talked with or listened to the geologists/seismologists. A lot more serious study is indeed needed, and I’m not sure modern academia is up to it.
Also, news media needs some real science background. Subsunk and I did a series of posts at Blackfive after Fukushima that got deep into the science and the reality of what happened there. To call most of the reporting then, and now, as sensationalistic is a huge bit of understatement. Most reporters are ignorant bigots when it comes to nuclear anything, and the reporting then and now in regards nuclear is hysterical nonsense. /end-rant
“…..Most reporters are ignorant bigots when it comes to nuclear anything…..”
The word nuclear is superfluous.
Iggy
True my friend, true! 🙂
IN 2011 the Washington Monument was cracked by an earthquake. Being the tallest structure in town ain’t all bad. No skyscrapers too close. Maybe we can divert some Ethnic and Womens studies moneys to programs to protect Ethnic and Women People?
I have only felt a few quakes and find it extremely disconcerting to be reminded that the terra may not be that firma.
Reference to the Russian Pacific Fleet at Petropavlovsk brings to mind “The Wreck of the Memphis” (Edward L. Beach) detailing the destruction in 1916 of our most advanced cruiser by a tsunami hitting the shallows off the port of Santo Domingo.