Geologists say earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 to 3.0 are generally the smallest that are felt by humans and damage is not likely from earthquakes below magnitude 4.0.
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Alaska, Hawaii and U.S. territories were not included in the study, but when those populations are added, the overall percentage of threatened U.S. citizens rises even closer to 50 percent.
When looking at the highest populations exposed to the strongest shaking California leads the way followed by Washington, Utah, Tennessee, Oregon, South Carolina, Nevada, Arkansas, Missouri and Illinois. While the findings should prompt officials to consider ground shaking in their community planning, he added, “it’s also important that people who live in these areas understand they live in natural disaster country and they need to understand that they should maybe prepare themselves”.
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Two people in Columbia were among those submitting information about their quake experiences over the weekend. The difference between those areas at risk from moderate versus strong shaking depends on a variety of factors, including the location of fault lines and the seismicity rates of the area. This time-frame is considered affordable for life-safety issues when designing buildings and different buildings. Although this level of shaking is estimated to occur relatively infrequently, it could cause significant damage and causalities. However maps reflecting these induced earthquakes usually are not prepared. Researchers analyzed high-resolution inhabitants knowledge and infrastructure knowledge to find out populations uncovered to particular ranges of quake hazard.
