10-16-2006, 09:53 AM
Being firmly attached to the ground is better than having a building dance around.
There's only so much dancing a building can do and earthquake effect can be cumulative. That means that the effects of this quake may make the building less likely to handle the next one. Those wiggled and loosened nails usually stay wiggled.
The bad situation is like the one in the news where the chimney came down in Honolulu. Wood frame and masonry react differently to the seismic wave and end up beating each other to a pulp. When that stone chimney fell it only did so after whacking the heck out of the building frame.
I've been through enough earthquake recovery efforts to be fairly familiar with it all.
There's only so much dancing a building can do and earthquake effect can be cumulative. That means that the effects of this quake may make the building less likely to handle the next one. Those wiggled and loosened nails usually stay wiggled.
The bad situation is like the one in the news where the chimney came down in Honolulu. Wood frame and masonry react differently to the seismic wave and end up beating each other to a pulp. When that stone chimney fell it only did so after whacking the heck out of the building frame.
I've been through enough earthquake recovery efforts to be fairly familiar with it all.
Assume the best and ask questions.
Punaweb moderator
Punaweb moderator