Don't worry about cities. If a big quake hits the east coast virtually the entire coast will be impacted. The ground here is vastly different fro Ca. We sit on very hard, very cold rock which will allow for a significant amount of energy to be transferred vast differences. The good news is the ground doesn't liquefy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you see as the worst case scenario for earthquake destruction in the U.S.

A magnitude 6 earthquake in an east coast city.

Any east coast cities more at risk for this than the others?

Not really. It is unlikely to happen, but if it does, it could be bad. Historically, there has been large earthquakes in Charleston and possibly the Boston area (before it was really a city).

Let me make it clear: the likelihood of a magnitude 6 earthquake is low for all cities east of the rockies. It is almost a certainty for LA, Bay Area, Anchorage, Seattle....

It is probably less than 5% in the next 100 years in any specific major city. Or, in the last 100 years...no earthquakes have hit a major city (though Louisa was close).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you see as the worst case scenario for earthquake destruction in the U.S.

A magnitude 6 earthquake in an east coast city.

Any east coast cities more at risk for this than the others?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you see as the worst case scenario for earthquake destruction in the U.S.

A magnitude 6 earthquake in an east coast city.

More so than a big quake hitting L.A., Portland, or Seattle? Or another San Madrid quake?

If the Louisa Earthquake hit Richmond or DC, casualties could easily be in the 1000's to 10,000's.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you see as the worst case scenario for earthquake destruction in the U.S.

A magnitude 6 earthquake in an east coast city.

More so than a big quake hitting L.A., Portland, or Seattle? Or another San Madrid quake?

Probably. LA can handle it. It will be bad. New Madrid will be bad, but the nearest cities are more than 50 km away, which would limit the effect. A 6.0 in NYC could be really bad. Dense, non-earthquake resisent structures.

Just compare the damage from the Haiti EQ to that from Tohuku (excluding the Tsunami).

Anonymous wrote:I'm actually more interested in these type of postings-career oriented-so i can learn something about another field that is much more interested than the I am a SAHM or SAHD. Or I am rich, AMA.

I wish the job prospects were better. People do this for the love of science, not for the money. With that said, I sold out and make more than most seismologists.

The primary industry for geophysics is Oil: Oil exploration largely depends on geophysics to identify potential reservoirs. But, with the low price of oil, they are laying people off, not hiring.

Other than Oil, the employers are USGS, Universities, National Labs, DoD & Contractors. There is some work funded by over companies (Nuclear) and the NRC. But, overall, not great. The total number of non-oil seismologists is probably on the order of 500 in the US.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you see as the worst case scenario for earthquake destruction in the U.S.

A magnitude 6 earthquake in an east coast city.

More so than a big quake hitting L.A., Portland, or Seattle? Or another San Madrid quake?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you see as the worst case scenario for earthquake destruction in the U.S.

A magnitude 6 earthquake in an east coast city.

Virtually nothing except panicked urban moms (not the OP). More damage will be caused by traffic accidents as moms rush with abandon to save their snowflakes who are then yelling "Cool" and the teacher was just handed a lesson plan.

Anonymous wrote:What do you see as the worst case scenario for earthquake destruction in the U.S.

A magnitude 6 earthquake in an east coast city.

Anonymous wrote:Which land areas along the East Coast are particularly vulnerable to tsunamis?

The nature of the coastline is such that the energy will dissipate on the long throw of the continental shelf, with 100's of km of shallow water. There may be a slight risk as you go south only because it is possible to have earthquakes that will generate tsunamis in the Caribbean. But, I can not find any records of runups more than 1 m from a distant earthquake.

There is another Tsunami hazard: A meteorologically induced tsunami. If a line of thunderstorms blows over the water at the tsunami speed, it can excite a tsunami. This actually happened when a derecho (not the big 2012 derecho) came across the morning of June 13, 2013. As the storm went off shore, the squall line, extending a few 100 km n-s, left the coastline. By the time the storm hit the edge of the continental shelf, a noticeable wave was present. At the shelf break, the forcing of the wave was lost (water was too deep for the velocity of the storm), and the wave was released. It was observed from Rhode Island through North Carolina, and in Puerto Rico and Bermuda, though the wave heights were mostly on the order of 10-20 cm. There was one location which recorded a 1.8 m wave: BARNEGAT INLET, NJ. There was no problems, because it was not high tide, and the weather was bad.

A similar phenomena swamps many cars at Daytona Beach in 1992.

What do you see as the worst case scenario for earthquake destruction in the U.S.

Anonymous wrote:May have already been asked. Did fracking contribute to the Louisa quake? Is there a relationship between today's Italian and Myanmar quakes?

Fracking had nothing to do with Louisa; those earthquakes will occur near the deep water injection sites, and the nearest one was 100's of km from Louisa; the rock type in Louisa is metophorphic rocks and will not contain any hydrocarbons, so there will be no Fracking.

I do not think there is any relationship between today's two earthquakes. Earthquakes of that size occur somewhere on the earth about 150 times per year, which means two on a day will not be unusual.

Which land areas along the East Coast are particularly vulnerable to tsunamis?

May have already been asked. Did fracking contribute to the Louisa quake? Is there a relationship between today's Italian and Myanmar quakes?

I'm actually more interested in these type of postings-career oriented-so i can learn something about another field that is much more interested than the I am a SAHM or SAHD. Or I am rich, AMA.