Haiti Earthquake was the "Big One"

[akuma_river]

I know some of other articles have touched on this but this is a q and a with a seimologist about the earthquake.

Haiti Earthquake Was the 'Big One' Says Top SeismologistBy EBEN HARRELL / LONDON Eben Harrell / London - Wed Jan 13, 4:00 pm ET

Comments

[danyjoncew]

Kinda OT but not really: I'm glad today's earthquake in Venezuela doesn't seem serious.

[loveberlinxo]

I'm just northeast of you, the New Madrid fault runs right between us. It scares the shit out of me, because we seriously would be fucked. Nothing is built to hold up like in California, and no one seems to be prepared or even worried about it. Reading about how the last big one made church bells ring as far away as Boston doesn't help.

[akuma_river]

Didn't it also make the Mississippi River FLOW BACKWARDS!

[loveberlinxo]

Yeah, freaky shit.

[randomneses]

As somebody from LA I hate the words "the big one" because it scares me shitless D:

[randomneses]

Yeah we've got a lot of different regulations but earthquakes are still scary :(

[jwaneeta]

Yeah, not to whistle in the graveyard but I was in the '89 quake and considering the size of the thing, SF's damage was really quite light.

Alas, now I live in the Midwest and they never heard from reinforced masonry, etc. around here. If the New Madrid fault ever blows we're all dead. :(

[kerrence]

I was woken up by a 4.0 here in Oklahoma. well, moreso woken up by people freaking out about said 4.0, I thought something else happened in Haiti the way people were carrying on :\

Seismology is so fascinating to me for the same reason meteorology is. All you can do is arm yourself with information about what to do when horrible things happen, because they're going to. I am so sick over these people's situation right now and I feel helpless.

[kekekekekekeke]

I felt it D: sorta my students (just arrived from china) were insistent that it was an earthquake and I was like DAMN Y'ALL THIS IS OKLAHOMA WE DON'T DO THAT HERE now I feel guilty ;-;

glad u survived bb

[akuma_river]

Well you do know that all those hills in Texas are made by drop slip and thrust faults.

It's incredible to drive by the Hill country on the highway where the road cuts into it and see the striations in the layers due to sediment changes through time and realize that the striations are at a 90 angle! The ground was thrust up and squished together.

[squeeful]

HA! Oh you so do.

[blackjedii]

Thoughts of earthquakes always freak me out because AFAIK, I'm in the only place in Virginia to have a fault line.

I'm just waiting for a mountain to like, come apart...

[blackjedii]

Nope! It should be in Southwest Virginia. I'm reading that they have happened around Richmond too.

[xerox78]

Norfolk here, too.