Sunday, June 27, 2010

Grim Earthquake Scenario for New Madrid

Article

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The New Madrid seismic zone is capable of producing a massive earthquake that could devastate parts of the central United States, according to a study publicly released this week by the University of Illinois.

A 7.7-magnitude temblor, the study said, could leave 3,500 people dead, more than 80,000 injured and more than 7 million homeless. In all, the study commissioned by the Federal Emergency Management Agency said the immediate economic impact would be $300 million.

Now everybody is coming out with these earthquake scenarios! :) I didn't make my story grim, it was only grim if you thought about what it meant to be without power and gas in the winter!

This study uses an M7.7, which has a 200 km fault rupture. Firm ground PGV would be around 20 cm/s. The area of devastation would be much larger than our Great Toronto Earthquake. At least these people are thinking about it! As we well know, nobody around Toronto will lift a finger....

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Harold

I think you would be interested in this analysis ----
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6641?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+theoildrum+%28The+Oil+Drum%29&utm_content=FaceBook

Peter
Peter, of the singing Hydro one lines here. Anyone else have vibrations from Hydro One, email me ham at i-zoom.net.