Friends in Need When Nature Hiccups, Natural Disasters forum Options

[stevesliva]

I didn't see them for the next three weeks as I worked to make the house livable again.

Eek... terrifying. I hate to ask as it probably doesn't make anyone thrilled to recall, but was anything covered by insurance? I've heard that it is prohibitively expensive, so generally houses are uninsured against quake damage.

[elakdawalla]

Very few private insurance companies write earthquake coverage, but some do. You have to buy it separately from your regular homeowner's insurance policy. Also there is earthquake insurance underwritten by the state, but I think that has coverage limits, I'm not sure though. You can get insurance, you just have to pay extra for earthquake coverage, just as you have to look hard and pay extra for flood coverage in Louisiana. I would argue that if you can't afford to insure your California house against earthquakes, then you can't afford that house!

--Emily

[stevesliva]

I would argue that if you can't afford to insure your California house against earthquakes, then you can't afford that house!

Why do you hate America?

[Del Palmer]

Just out of curiosity ... does the JPL have backup mission control centers somewhere in the US?

I don't believe they do, but it sounds like all mission teams have a contingency plan for earthquakes. Here's the Cassini plan (extract taken from the Cassini website in 1999):

A Major Earthquake in California. Yes, we even have plans for this goblin! If a major earthquake were to strike, communication lines between JPL and the remote Deep Space Network, which we use to communicate to the spacecraft, might be broken for hours to possibly days. And with a probability of about 2 percent per year of a "major" earthquake, we'd better be ready for it if it happens. Our strength in this area is Cassini's distributed network, with scientists planning observations all over the country. The spacecraft sequence files, not to mention the science observations, will be stored in more than one location. Of course, after an earthquake we'd have to make sure our operations team can get somewhere secure to continue to plan spacecraft events, but with sequences being 28 days long, it's likely we'll have some time to recover and get a team to develop the next 28-day sequence before the current sequence ends.

[nprev]

Yesterday's quake wasn't a biggie. As long as they're not too big, they're more fascinating than terrifying

True. The frequency of earthquakes in Alaska is far higher then it is here in SCal, and I used to feel at least one little one per week; first thing I'd do is go check the quake info site for the juicy details.

This 7.9 beast in 2002 was scary, though. I was pulling AF Reserve duty, and all of a sudden I heard a corner-mounted heater banging against the wall of the shop. We all ran outside; the light poles for the flightline were swaying, vehicles rocking back & forth on their wheels...went on for at least two minutes, thought it'd never stop.

My house was just fine, though. You have to bolt them to a concrete foundation there with that in turn bonded to some deep anchors down to the bedrock. Even the water heater has to be strapped to a wall.

There are no extremely tall buildings in Anchorage for a very good reason!

[edstrick]

It's not a safe universe to live in.
I don't know anybody who's gotten out alive.

[nprev]

True enough...but I have a vision of myself at age 175 or thereabouts with at least one functional eye & arm, still able to surf & watch the latest news from the Moonbases, the Mars Colony, and of course the progress of the Titan Expedition...then I get hit in the head by an exceedingly rare meteor, which my descendants will subsequently sell for tickets offworld.

Not seeing any room at all for quakes & tornadoes there!

[dvandorn]

Gee, Nick, it sounds like you're a good candidate for "upgrade"!

Cybermen of the world, unite!

-the other Doug

[ilbasso]

Funny, was just re-reading Ray Kurzweil's paper on "The Singularity" the other night. I'm waiting for the internet experience enhanced with nanobots in my synapses to make me think I'm actually on Mars!

[nprev]

Gee, Nick, it sounds like you're a good candidate for "upgrade"!

<Sigh>...I got a laundry list now, and it's only gonna get longer. Amazing how your body's warranty seems to expire the moment you turn 40...

[belleraphon1]

To all our UMSF friends (and everyone else) in the Gulf Coast...

Best Speed to a safe land of call.... north and east my friends...

Craig

[CosmicRocker]

Luckily, Gustav's bark was worst than his bite, at least for those of us in SE Texas. As soon as I learned that Gustav made landfall in Louisiana, and not near our house, we hurried back to become some of the first to return to our neighborhood on Labor day. I was hoping to at least experience some tropical storm weather when we returned, but was disappointed as the passing fringes of the storm only gave us some long-lasting breezes and maybe 1/4" of rain. Currently Gustav's remnant is drenching the area we originally escaped to, so my plan to evacuate inland and sneak back in behind it worked perfectly.

Gee, Nick, it sounds like you're a good candidate for "upgrade"! ...

Perhaps, but remember what happened the last time he tried to upgrade?

[nprev]

Yeah...I'm old-fashioned. I haven't even installed a USB port in my head yet...

Glad to hear that all is well, CR! Gonna be a long hurricane season, it seems; sure hope that you guys stay dry throughout!

[imipak]

It sounds like it's going to get rather hairy in southern Texas over the next 48h or so.

Ike is [...] poised to become one of the most damaging hurricanes of all time.

Hope that's hyperbole. To the Houston-area umsf's - take care, y'all, wishing you dry heads (and feet!)

[belleraphon1]

For all in Ike's path... heart is with you.

Craig