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Oklahoma Hit By Its Strongest-Ever Recorded Quake
First time accepted submitter Wheelie_boy writes "No word yet on hell freezing over, but Oklahoma experienced a 5.6 magnitude earthquake early Sunday morning. This is the largest quake ever recorded in the state. Only minor damage and no casualties have been reported."
This is a good reminder that earthquakes do eventually occur in many places that we like to think of as earthquake-proof, even if they're rare.
Having recently moved to the Chicago area from California, I find myself having to learn to live with the vague feeling of unease that's caused by the fact that the most popular building style here seems to be "big pile of bricks".
If an earthquake of substantial size ever does hit you in an area where they are rare enough that there's no pressure to make building codes stronger, then chances are your odds of dying will be a lot greater than if you lived in California where the new buildings are all very safe and the old buildings have at least been tested a few times.
So while living in the mid-west etc. greatly reduces your chance of experiencing a large earthquake, the reduction in risk for actually dying in an earthquake is probably not as large as people like to think.
G.
It's an earthquake. Geology nerds like that kind of stuff.
I'm sure the editors are sorry that you wasted your valuable time reading an article written for a different kind of nerd.
Because we don't get earthquakes in this part of the world. Ever. There was an earthquake just SE of San Antonio, Texas - the second ever recorded, and about 5 miles from an active fracking operation. Fracking is a really screwy operation that a lot of countries have banned because it causes a lot of problems and earthquakes.
moox. for a new generation.
Come now, nerds. All this talk and no science. How about something from the Oklahoma Geological Survey? They set out to disprove an earlier quake this year was the result of fracking. Instead, they found correlation:
http://www.eenews.net/assets/2011/11/02/document_pm_01.pdf
Here is some commentary on the report:
http://www.eenews.net/public/eenewspm/2011/11/02/1
Wrong. OK has a history of M5+ quakes about avery 60 years. 1887, 1952 and now 2011.
make imaginary.friends COUNT=100 VISIBLE=false
Not according to the USGS seismic hazard maps. Unlike most other states, Oklahoma even has a separate map dedicated to that state. See:
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/hazards/products/conterminous/2008/maps/
There are many states that are prone to periodic earthquakes. This includes many states that most people just assume do not have earthquakes because they are infrequent. I would be hesitant to assume attribution to a fracking that which can be adequately explained by previously known geological science.