Is New York City Ready for the Big One?

[N2NH]

Most geologists believe that New York is the city most at risk for a big earthquake. Numero Uno with a bullet. They usually pay lip service to strengthening the buildings there so it comes to mind, is New York City ready for the big one?

This story was written a few months before the Virginia earthquake hit last year...

Lynn Skyes, lead author of a recent study by seismologists at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory adds that a magnitude-6 quake hits the area about every 670 years and magnitude-7 every 3,400 years.



A 5.2-magnitude quake shook New York City in 1737 and another of the same severity hit in 1884. Tremors were felt from Maine to Virginia.
There are several fault lines in the metro area, including one along Manhattan's 125th St. - which may have generated two small tremors in 1981 and may have been the source of the major 1737 earthquake, says Armbruster. There's another fault line on Dyckman St. and one in Dobbs Ferry in nearby Westchester County...


"Will there be one in my lifetime or your lifetime? I don't know. But this is the longest period we've gone without one."

Unlike California quakes, Central and Eastern quakes are felt for hundreds of miles from the epicenter...

New York City Earthquake?



Map comparing a California earthquake and one in New Madrid, MO.

[N2NH]

Earthquakes near NYC.

Map of NE quakes from 1990 to 2003

[NQ6U]

Unlike California quakes, Central and Eastern quakes are felt for hundreds of miles from the epicenter...

Also unlike California, the eastern half of the U.S. doesn't have strict seismic safety standards included in their building codes. If a big quake hits NYC and environs, it's gonna be ugly.

[n2ize]

It depends. The fault in Dobbs Ferry acted up one night in the 1980's and rattled the whole area but fortunately caused little damage. If you look at geology we are potentially doomed. The west is way overdue for a supervolcano that would pretty much wipe us all out if it happens. NYC and surrounding areas are overdue for a major earthquake. People are calling for the end of the world in 28 days. NYC may be destroyed by a Category 4 or 5 hurricane. Terrorists may attack. Epidemics may cull the populous. Niburu may hit us or turn the earth upside down. Aliens may overtake the earth. Some crazy radical group may unleash some plan of death upon us. I have a friend who worries about this stuff constantly. I always tell him, "when you go to sleep tonight there is no guarantee you will wake up tomorrow... meanwhile I am not going to worry about it as there is nothing I can do to change it." Whatever will be will be.

[w0aew]

Whatever will be will be.

[KB2SFH]

Whatever happens I hope I am with my cat, I don't want her to be scared and alone, she's my whole life

[KA9MOT]

Your cat will know long before you do, hopefully she will not be alone, but she will be terrified regardless.

[kb2vxa]

This is one of those times I'm sorely tempted but remain silent for the sake of the cat.

[KB2SFH]

This is one of those times I'm sorely tempted but remain silent for the sake of the cat.

:::glaring at Warren:::

[N2NH]

Cats and Dogs have been known to run away a week or so before an earthquake. There used to be studies done to see if the number of ads for the recovery of runaway pets rose before a big shake. They found out that it did, but for some reason no more was said about it.

I know in 1987 I was in Montreal and a garbage dump that was in the St. Lawrence river started to churn about. There was also an awful smell in the old city that would make you sick. A few months later there was an earthquake a ways up in Quebec that was so large they felt it in New York.