[Sca-cooks] OT:Earthquakes, was Weather in Oertha

[Terry Decker]

> --- Terry Decker <t.d.decker at worldnet.att.net> wrote:
>
>
>>  The last big earthquake was a couple hundred years ago at New
>> Madrid.  I really don't want to see an earthquake like that.
>> I was in the '57 earthquake in California, which at the time
>> was the biggest since the '06 quake.  That was scary enough.
>

What was meant is the last big earthquake in this part of the country was 
the New Madrid earthquake.

> Actually the biggest earthquake of all in the Continental US
> is the Prince William Quake in Alaska in 1964, with the
> magnitude of 9.20.
>

Continental U.S. usually refers to the contiguious 48 states and the 
District of Columbia.  While the exclusion is literally incorrect, the usage 
predates Alaskan Statehood.


> The next largest was the Fort Tejon Quake, on the San Andreas
> Fault, on Jan. 9, 1857, with a magnitude of 7.92.  Then comes
> the 4th New Madric Quake on Feb. 7, 1812, with a magnitude of
> 7.88.  The Great Quake of San Francisco, on April 18, 1906 was
> a magnitude of 7.80.
>

As I recall all of these magnitudes are estimates based on recorded 
occurences during the earthquakes.  I don't recall whether or not the San 
Francisco Earthquake was recorded, but it is possible as John Milne invented 
the modern seismograph in 1880.  Magnitudes tend to be more questionable the 
further back you go.

> However, the Daly City Quake on March 22, 1957, was a moderate
> quake with a 5.3 magnitude.  Yes, it was the largest quake
> in _San Francisco_ since the big one in 1906, but it was not
> the biggest one in _California_ in between those dates.

It was big enough for me and I took my teachers at their word that it was 
the biggest in CA since '06.

> Be warned, Bear, that you are not safe from earthquakes in
> Oklahoma.  The Nemaha Fault produced a 5.5 magnitude quake
> on April 9, 1952 in El Reno, OK that did damage in El Reno,
> Oklahoma City and Ponca City.  According to one site, there
> have been 675 earthquakes in Oklahome since 1976.
>
> Huette, living happily in earthquake territory and would
> rather not live in Tornado Alley or the Snow Belt.

Which is why geology professors carry earthquake insurance in Oklahoma. 
It's cheap and it hedges the bet against a second New Madrid.

The latest big quake was a couple years ago and around magnitude 4.2 (AIVR).

In nearly 40 years around Oklahoma, I've never actually been in the 
immediate vicinity of a tornado.  I've been in the path, I've chased a few 
and I've cleared debris.  While they are dangerous and scary as hell to be 
around, they are very fast disasters, usually with limited damage.  I'll 
take a tornado to a hurricane any day (remembering the interminable wait for 
Camille to pass by).

My latest missed disaster was a fire last week that burned out most of the 
building where I have a storage unit.  Fortunately, the fire was stopped 
about 15 feet from where my stuff was stored.

Bear