Houston Earthquake Essay

Houston, Seattle, and San Francisco have all experienced a fault shift. In the case of Houston, the likelihood of an earthquake is extremely low. The instances of a fault shift on that area of the North American Plate don't occur often. Earthquakes that occur are not by normal means of plates shifting but from the process of fluid extraction (Fehling 19). Seattle on the other hand has a very high probability of an earthquake occurring. There are three different types of quakes that the city experiences crustal quakes, they are the most common on the fault of Seattle. Intraplate quakes which go farther into the continental crust. Finally there are earthquakes that occur at the subduction zone of the converging North American and San Juan de
Fuca plates (Seattle Government). These are the largest kinds of earthquakes found (“Earthquake” 13). An earthquake on the fault of Seattle is very risky. San Francisco has many earthquakes year round mostly of small magnitude, but there are probabilities above 63% that the event of a high magnitude earthquake will strike the area in the next 20-30 years (Prado 4-6). The city of San Francisco is on the San Andreas Fault, a transform boundary where the Pacific plate and North American plate slide past one another. The cause of most of the earthquakes are when the two plates slide past one another. In comparison Seattle has less but more devastating earthquakes than San Francisco. While San Francisco has thousands per year, with smaller seismic numbers but has had a number of high magnitude quakes in the past.

San Francisco lays on the famous San Andreas transform Fault.
Although San Francisco is just a transform boundary, it's still capable of producing a large and dangerous earthquake. Although the city has taken precautions to help protect them from the dangers of earthquakes, if a large earthquake were to hit, the results could be devastating. Seattle lies near the Cascadian subduction zone, putting it at risk of a very powerful earthquake. Scientists say that the Cascadia has the potential to create an earthquake as high as a 9 on the Richter scale. These quakes are not as common as the ones you would get in San Francisco but it has the potential to be far more dangerous. Despite the incredible power of this earthquake, many experts believe that the distance and natural barriers like the Puget Sound would protect Seattle from taking the brunt of the earthquake. Unlike San Francisco, Seattle’s infrastructure is not designed to withstand earthquakes. Houston does not lie on a fault line, the only real risk of earthquakes comes from the frequent hydraulic fracking occurs in the area. These earthquakes are minor and usually unnoticeable so there's no real threat of
danger.

All three cities experience different ranges of earthquake magnitudes.
To understand which city would most likely experience the greatest magnitude in earthquakes, it is best to look back at history for evidence of past earthquakes. As stated above, Seattle can suffer earthquakes from the Seattle fault line as well as the Cascadia subduction zone. In 2001, the Nisqually earthquake hit eastern Washington with a magnitude of 6.8, although Seattle was just on the border of the earthquakes reach. Recently, geologists have discovered that an earthquake with a magnitude as high as 7 occurred at the Seattle fault line over a thousand years ago. Houston lies on multiple faults known together as the Long Point Eureka Heights fault system. Houston however has no recorded history of earthquakes appearing within its borders, so it’s safe to predict that no high magnitude earthquakes will occur in this city. San Francisco lies on the San Andreas Fault, where high intensity earthquakes have frequently occurred. In the past two hundred years, multiple earthquakes with a magnitude 6 or higher have occurred within or very near the city of San Francisco. The most notable of these was in 1906, when the city experience an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8. Based on past history as evidence, San Francisco can be expected to experience an earthquake of the highest magnitude in comparison to Houston and
Seattle.

Other than earthquakes, many natural disasters threaten the sanctity of Seattle, San Francisco, and Houston. San Francisco suffers from risk of fire caused from the aftermath of earthquakes such as the one that destroyed close to 5 miles of city after the earthquake of 1906, severe storming and flooding, and a low risk of tsunami effects (San Francisco Government). These natural disasters make San Francisco a dangerous city, however not quite as dangerous as Seattle. Seattle suffers from risk of volcano eruption due to its proximity with 5 major volcanoes in the state of Washington, tsunamis, floods and severe storms (Kendle). These natural disasters pose threats to the citizens of Seattle and their very own safety. The city of Houston suffers from risk of hurricane, flooding, severe storms, tornadoes, and fire. Hurricanes pose the greatest threat to Houston due to its proximity to the ocean (Baddour). After reviewing these cities and addressing their potential natural disasters, we decided we would feel safest living in Houston. Although Houston has a high threat of hurricanes, we decided we would feel safest in this city because it was the least likely to experience earthquakes and the after effects of earthquakes, not to mention, it is nowhere near a volcano.