Earthquakes (was Nervous Wreck)

[Guest guest]

<<Alison wrote:

Janet, has Athens had any really big quakes which have left damage? You hear of

the ones in Turkey, etc., but I've never heard of a big one which has actually

damaged Athens. Mind you, that might just be me skimming the newspapers rather

than reading them properly...>>

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Welcome back Alison - good to have you back!

Re. the 'big one' in Athens. It happened on 7 September 1999 at 3pm(ish) [date

stamped on memory]! It was about 3 weeks after the big quake which killed

thousands in Turkey.

The epicentre was in Parnitha, one of the mountains surrounding Athens, and it

was 5.9. IE: it was VERY close, about 25-30 miles from Athens city centre.

There were many buildings damaged and collapsed in the poorer areas of the city

suburbs and the death toll was around 150-200. There were also several

factories which collapsed.

The buildings are required by law to be built to resist earthquakes and they do.

Those that did collapse had not been built properly (obviously) and the

contractors were being sued. Greece, apparently, is the 3rd most active seismic

area after San s fault and Japan - so I've been told.

It did make the news, even on TV - my parents watched but then they have an

interest.

I guess it didn't make so much news impact because the deaths and the damage was

not as drastic as the earlier quake in Turkey. But it did show how good

architecture and construction make a difference. Unfortunately in Turkey many

buildings had not been built to resist quakes hence the huge destruction.

Thank you all for your hugs. Wish I'd known about you all two years ago.

Someone said I'm brave - definitely don't feel it. Everytime there's a tremor I

just want to pack my suitcase and get out of here.

But, again, thank you for your thoughts. I might from time to time, offload to

you - it does help.

What's really bugged me is that I still haven't picked up 'Captain Corelli's

Mandolin' knowing I'm about to read the earthquake chapter, which is near the

end of the book and I'm desperate to know how it ends. (Please DON'T tell me!!)

A couple more days, I hope!

Janet

Athens

SAHM to DD (20 months)

[Guest guest]

I think I remember that, Janet. Didn't they think some of your ancient

monuments had suffered severe damage as well? I recall some concern about

it, I'm sure.

My son is in the US atm, staying in his GF's parents house, which has just

been repaired after the Big One in LA a few years ago. They didn't discover

the damage until about two years ago, when they had some other work done and

the builders found a lot of previously hidden damage.

I'll be thinking good thoughts for all seismic activity areas. :-)

Lesley

SAHM to four

Chair, Deeside NCT

--------------

From: " Janet " <

>

>

> Re. the 'big one' in Athens. It happened on 7 September 1999 at 3pm(ish)

[date stamped on memory]! It was about 3 weeks after the big quake which

killed thousands in Turkey.

> The epicentre was in Parnitha, one of the mountains surrounding Athens,

and it was 5.9. IE: it was VERY close, about 25-30 miles from Athens city

centre. There were many buildings damaged and collapsed in the poorer areas

of the city suburbs and the death toll was around 150-200. There were also

several factories which collapsed.

[Guest guest]

When we finally move to the US (in about a million years,

at the rate things are going) DH wants to live in

California, as he’s a programmer. I have not yet been in an

earthquake before and don’t think I could handle it.

Phyllis

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

>. I have not yet been in an

>earthquake before and dont think I could handle it.

We had a tremor in Nottingham a few weeks ago - 3.5 apparently. We

thought it was a bomb blast as it rattled everything but didn't seem to

tilt the floor, as did the last one I was in about 18 years ago. I

suppose it depends on where the epicentre is.

Have to admit the idea of living in California doesn't appeal to me

although cos of the quake possibilities. We are still waiting for an

opportunity for DH to work in the US so we can spend a couple of years

there. TBH, when we found out the Richmond, VA, where his last US job

was based, was v high up on the numbers of murders per capita list, it

didn't put us off! I guess in the end, the appeal of being somewhere

different is too strong. Not planning to move to Tel Aviv with him if he

does go there.

--

Sue

Nottingham

[Guest guest]

I've been thinking about this for a bit and wonder if any of this might

help - if not I hope it doesn't make things any worse.

DH was in Taiwan for 5 months not long after their massive EQ of Sept 99.

Quite early on he sent me a web address for the Taiwan met office so I could

see what the weather was like for him - it also had the EQs listing on it

with date, location and magnitude, it was pretty worrying to see so many,

though they were mostly away from the places he was working.

Being a very logical sort of person he suggested I try and put the risk into

perspective - I was think about how many people in the city had been

seriously hurt / killed by the big EQ and then compare that with the

population of the city. Then to do the same with those hurt in traffic

accidents - being out and about on the roads was still more likely to result

in him getting badly hurt and I cope with that every day without being

overly concerned. (At least until I went there and saw the way the taxis

and scooters belt about the place!)

On the second trip the DK's and I made to Taiwan the hotel we stayed in had

fire and EQ instructions - I found reading them rather unnerving, wondering

just how I would manage to get 3DK's into the sort of safe places they

mentioned - there was a sturdy table but it was too small to get them all

under. They said the bigest danger was from falling objects rather than

from whole building collapse which is why they didn't want everyone running

outside. Knowing what sort of thing to do and what was the bigest danger

some how made it seem less daunting and helped put back some sense of

control how ever small that might be and that helped to reduce the fear.

Hugs

Liz Goudie