On 2005-07-08, Karls Vladimir Peña > wrote:
> 229 years actually. Nevertheless, they should know by now. That is the
> general behaviour for americans.


Up in Anchorage, Alaska there is a residential district fairly near to
the airport, along the shoreline of the cook inlet. In the 1964 earthquake,
pretty much the entire area slid into the water, it's almost entirely
resting on clay/silt deposits. There's a park there now, called earthquake
park. It's rumored if you dig a little bit you can still find wreckage from
the ruined homes.

You think that'd be a good hint to not build there, right? Wrong. People
rebuilt, and it's one of the two main middle class housing areas in the
city. Still with almost no foundation to speak of, it's a big jello mold
waiting for another earthquake to break free.

In their defense (sort of), construction code has been updated and homes
up thataway are much less likely to collapse in on themselves during an
earthquake, but I fail to see how that will help as the entire area heads
down to the beach to play in the surf.

When I lived up there, I was in the nice safe foothills of the mountains
with nice thick rock under my home.