Earthquake Engineer: Seattle Not Prepared for Mega-quake
April 16, 2010
By Deborah Feldman
King 5 News
SEATTLE -- An earthquake engineer is sounding the alarm that he does not believe buildings in Seattle will fare well when Seattle experiences the much anticipated "mega-quake."
Peter Yanev wrote an op-ed article for the New York Times titled "Shake, Rattle, Seattle," warning and expressing concerns from his recent visit to Chile which experienced a nearly 9 magnitude quake in February.
Yanev says Chile is an important laboratory since it is the first developed country with strict building codes to experience a "mega-quake". Based on what he saw there, he has grave concerns about how Seattle will fare when we are hit with a massive earthquake, which experts say is inevitable.
"We need to go back, review our code, learn the lessons from Chile and apply them before we have a problem with collapsing buildings," he said.
Yanev believes Seattle buildings are not as earthquake resistant as those in California. Earthquakes there are more frequent, but there is a far lower likelihood of a mega-quake like the one anticipated in the Pacific Northwest. He is most concerned about buildings built between the 1920'S and 1970'S.
"They were not designed anywhere near the standards we design today," said Yanev. "So the worst risks are the older buildings. But, for the newer buildings, we need to re-examine what we are doing because there's a very good possibility that what we are doing is not enough based on what we see in Chile."
Seattle-based engineer John Hooper, the director of Earthquake Engineering at Magnusson Klemencic Associates, is more confident.
"I think if his alarm was a 10, mine is probably a 6 or a 7," said Hooper.
Hooper explains many of Seattle's older buildings have been reinforced over the years, and he is confident in the strength of the newer ones.
"We don't make buildings earthquake proof, we make them earthquake resistant," he said. "So that we would anticipate damage, but what we don't want to see is to have buildings collapsing."
Two experts with differing opinions, that will inevitably be put to the test - some time.
http://www.king5.com/news/Mega-Earthquake-Concerns-91019119.html