Roughly half of the US is at risk of earthquake with more than 143 million lives inhabiting in earth-quake prone region in the lower 48 states, according to the research presented at the annual meeting of the Seismological Society of America on Wednesday.
Lead researcher of the study Kishor Jaiswal, a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) contractor said that number of lives under threat rises up to 150 million if Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico are included. The Federal Emergency Agency (FEMA) has reported 1991 that 75 million people in 35 states were prone to risks of earthquakes.
According to Jaiswal, more people reside in quake-prone areas than they did 25 years ago while the USGS has also gained more knowledge on the earthquake hazards with the most recent national seismic hazard maps being much more detailed in comparison to the 1996 version.
He also adds that almost 28 million people in the 48 states could feel strong shaking in their lifetimes. Strong shaking refers to heavy furniture moving across the floors and incidents of fallen plaster, according to the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale.
Jaiswal and his associates from the USGS, FEMA and the California Geological Survey has analyzed the nation’s earthquake risks by combining the 2014 National Seismic Hazard Maps with LandScan, a global population database. The research team has also made calculations of the potential financial losses from earthquakes using 2010 Census data and the 2012 replacement-cost values for buildings. The financial damages in the 48 states combined to $4.5 billion with 80% of the losses to be incurred in California, Oregon and Washington. The researchers have also discovered regions vulnerable to loss of buildings in the East Coast.
“The bottom line is that there are a significant number of structures located amongst higher-hazard levels,” Jaiswal said.
This research has led to find out about 6,000 fire stations, more than 800 hospitals and almost 20,000 both public and private school which have been constructed on shaky grounds, but doesn’t for the epidemic of induced earthquakes which are man-made quakes linked with wastewater injection wells and hydraulic fracturing. Jaiswal also said, “There are 140 million people exposed to earth-shaking hazards, but that number could be even higher if you include induced seismicity.”
The USGS has issued new hazard maps focusing on man-made earthquakes which will help people assess their risks of shakes from them.
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Republican Oklahoma Senator Jumpin Jim Inhofe says he ain’t puttin up with no screwy scientific talk, especially anything science having to do with Oklahoma. And he would drive right back there to Oklahoma tonight and tell those scientist morons himself, if he weren’t afraid of driving over the horizon and falling off the edge of the earth.