East Coast Earthquake 8-23-2011

Wed Aug 24 21:15:56 UTC 2011

On Tue, Aug 23, 2011 at 2:48 PM, Owen DeLong <owen at delong.com> wrote:

> A 5.8 (or 5.9, I've seen conflicting numbers) really isn't likely to do all
> that much damage, even on the East Coast.
>

A 5.6 quake in Newcastle, Australia in 1989 caused, according to Wikipedia,
"13 fatalities, 160 people hospitalised, 300,000 people affected.  50,000
homes damaged, 300 buildings demolished.  Damage estimated at $4 billion".
I left Newcastle in 1997, and even then there were will houses that had not
been fully repaired from the damage caused.

A smaller 5.2 quake in 1994 "only" caused $35 million worth of damage.

So whilst it's not unusual for 5.x quakes to pass without causing any real
damage, there's a lot more to it than just the magnitude...

Even the 3.6 magnitude one in CA last night was enough to cause my mini-UPS
at home to jump onto battery for a few seconds.

  Scott.