New York, NY – In a Quake, Brooklyn Would Shake More Than Manhattan
By Brooklyn Eagle
New
York, NY – The last big earthquake in the New York City area, centered
in New York Harbor just south of Rockaway, took place in 1884 and
registered 5.2 on the Richter Scale.Another
earthquake of this size can be expected and could be quite damaging,
says Dr. Won-Young Kim, senior research scientist at the Lamont-Doherty
Earth Observatory of Columbia University.
And Brooklyn, resting on sediment, would shake more than Manhattan, built on solid rock. “There would be more shaking and more damage,” Dr. Kim told the Brooklyn Eagle on Wednesday.
If
an earthquake of a similar magnitude were to happen today near
Brooklyn, “Many chimneys would topple. Poorly maintained buildings would
fall down – some buildings are falling down now even without any
shaking. People would not be hit by collapsing buildings, but they would
be hit by falling debris. We need to get some of these buildings
fixed,” he said.
But a 5.2 is “not comparable to Haiti,” he said. “That was huge.” Haiti’s devastating earthquake measured 7.0.
Brooklyn
has a different environment than Haiti, and that makes all the
difference, he said. Haiti is situated near tectonic plate.
“The
Caribbean plate is moving to the east, while the North American plate
is moving towards the west. They move about 20 mm – slightly less than
an inch – every year.” The plates are sliding past each other, and the movement is not smooth, leading to jolts, he said.
While
we don’t have the opportunity for a large jolt in Brooklyn, we do have
small, frequent quakes of a magnitude of 2 or 3 on the Richter Scale. In
2001 alone the city experienced two quakes: one in January, measuring
2.4, and one in October, measuring 2.6. The October quake, occurring
soon after Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, “caused a lot of panic,” Dr. Kim
said.
“People
ask me, ‘Should I get earthquake insurance?’ I tell them no, earthquake
insurance is expensive. Instead, use that money to fix chimneys and
other things. Rather than panicky preparations, use common sense to make
things better.”
Secure
bookcases to the wall and make sure hanging furniture does not fall
down, Dr. Kim said. “If you have antique porcelains or dishes, make sure
they’re safely stored. In California, everything is anchored to the
ground.”
While a small earthquake in Brooklyn may cause panic, “In California, a quake of magnitude 2 is called a micro-quake,” he added.
No comments:
Post a Comment