We ain't fakin' a whole lotta shakin' goin' on

[Dave Grubb]

The 4.8 quake centered in NW NJ was more than a nonevent here because they are so rare. In a historical sense this was stronger than most and felt over a wide range due to the rock strata. I am not sure how these two previously higher quakes were determined:

Two 5.1 magnitude temblors are the only stronger quakes in the state — one in 1755 and another in 1783. Both happened before New Jersey became a state in December 1787, but happened in the geographic area that now comprises the state's boundaries.

The good news is that little damage was recorded and there were no injuries.

That pales to the 7.4 quake in Taiwan. The death toll is at 10 now but may rise. That number is a credit to the changes they have made in building codes and developing methods to reduce both loss of life and damages. The pictures are remarkable.

For a building to suffer that kind of damage to foundational support and remain intact is remarkable---and life saving

This was the second worst quake in Taiwan, the worst was in 1999 at 7.8.

[UTAH]

Takes preparedness along with plenty of money to earthquake proof structures.

We spent millions of dollars to redo our Capitol Building and our SL County Building. It took about two years for each. Right now, the LDS Church is doing a seismic refit of the original Temple on Temple Square.

When I take people on tours of our Capitol Building, I love to show them the huge seismic "bumpers" in the basement that support the building. It's an incredible feat of engineering to be able to lift a building, that weighs millions of lbs., to install such a simple, yet effective, system.

Hunter

[Truckman]

When I take people on tours of our Capitol Building, I love to show them the huge seismic "bumpers" in the basement that support the building.

It's been since yesterday, so my memory is a little fuzzy...Did I get to see that on my guided tour?...I remember the marble staircases, and the Governor's desk, and the walk-in Coors cooler in your office......Ben

[Dave Grubb]

In my power plant days I dealt with seismic codes constantly and the required design criteria has continued to "harden". Every element, down to pipe hangers had to be analyzed.
In my Utah years the requirements were also stringent---even for a benign manufacturing facility. Anything that rose 7' above the floor (or more) needed to be analyzed and calculations submitted to the city (West Jordan) for permitting. I had 40' storage racks that had to be free standing from the structure---no bracing to the walls or structural steel.

[FredK]

Try telling that strapping down of wine storage tanks to their owners. Part of the service I had to do when doing plan review.

Wasn't until a few years later (mid 90's) that they finally admitted there was a fault running through Yakima County. After that it was getting architects, engineers and builders on the same page. Heck Simpson Strong tie wasn't even doing much testing back in those days.

Hate to see what going on in some of the You Tube channels without any idea of why they need anything.