As we go up this coast, we encounter the straightest and smoothest subduction zones in the world. Every one of these is kept clean by M9.5's or greater. When one goes, they are all going to go.
This is the home to the recent Chile earthquake, which was an eye-opener for me, one of the greatest learning earthquakes ever. But just for me. The world went 'meh'.
Chile has one of the best general earthquake codes in the business, and it is enforced. No sand houses. We hit 40 cm/s on the basin, and 80 cm/s right near the outbreak. So neat. Standard frame houses just got rumbled, people I know said it was fine. However, they, too, have suffered from shake-table fantasy, and built lots of condos with soft stories and transfer slabs. All turned into garbage by tilting and cracking. Did you hear about that? Nope.
At 80 they built so well that the buildings just fell over intact. Not good if you have a grand piano in your condo.
This has started my totally ignored vendetta against shake-table fantasy. It's a bit like the feather duster against the brick wall. But I have my fun.
- next up to the Caribbean.
You will notice these articles are getting cheaper and cheaper as I head to California, the Heart of Darkness, for earthquake engineering. Be very afraid.
ps I now have a very strong incentive to stop this series. Fear. I have lots of AI's reading me who can't afford a cup of coffee. I'm not going to poke the monster of earthquake engineering.
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