The Big One In Bright Colors
The big lesson from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake is that major cities can survive and rebuild after large-scale natural disasters (New Orleans, take note). The ongoing lesson though is just what destructive force the earth can unleash when one of these quakes strikes.
USGS has put together a new set of computer simulations of just what happened during that temblor. [via S.F. Gate] Watch the movie showing the shock waves traveling out at 13,000 miles per hour along a 300-mile faultline. Scroll down and watch the simulations of what the same quake would do to some modern structures, including the Golden Gate Bridge. Stand in awe… OK, unstopable destruction is working for me this morning. Probably time to try the decaf again.
