The January 9 magnitude 6.5 earthquake offshore Eureka was the first substantial temblor to strike the North Coast in 16 years and ended the longest pause in damaging earthquakes here since the mid-1800s, according to Lori Dengler, chair of HSU’s Department of Geology. It caused more than $40 million in damage, but no deaths and few injuries.
Yet the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that devastated Haiti resulted in a death toll of more than 170,000 that is still rising and produced an impact that quickly elevated it to one of the greatest earthquake disasters of all times.
The public is invited to the free public forum to learn about the geologic setting and the past history of earthquakes in each region, whether they were unexpected and why the Haiti catastrophe did so much more damage than its North Coast counterpart. Experts will spell out lessons learned and what the events bode for future seismic risk in both regions.
Dengler, an expert on quake and tsunami hazards, will be joined by Mark Hemphill-Haley, associate professor of geology and an expert in neo-tectonics, which is the study of recent and prehistoric earthquakes and earthquake hazard assessment. Bob McPherson, research associate in geology, is a specialist in North Coast seismicity and the former seismologist in charge of the Humboldt Seismic Network, which operated from 1974 to 1986.
Information on earthquake and disaster preparedness from the American Red Cross and free copies of “Living on Shaky Ground” will be available at the February 8 forum.