It's 2008 and 'the big one' slams Utah
It is 2 p.m. on Feb. 1, 2008, a freezing, snowy Friday. Most people are still at work or school which, unfortunately, is the worst-case scenario for what is about to happen.
What will long be called the great Utah earthquake of 2008 is hitting the Wasatch fault near Salt Lake City and will measure 7.0 on the Richter scale a bit smaller than the 7.1 Loma Prieta earthquake near San Francisco in 1989, or the 7.5 that hit Lake Hebgen, Mont., near Yellowstone in 1959.
The coming damage will closely match worst-case predictions made in 2006 (with the aid of a Federal Emergency Management Agency computer program) by Bob Carey, the earthquake director for the state's Office of Emergency Services.
Of course, 2006 was also when Carey and numerous other officials warned that government could not handle such a catastrophe and said that personal and family preparedness would be the key to how people fare.
Utahns now will find they will need to depend on such preparation for far longer than officials in previous decades had once warned and may need to survive with their "72-hour" emergency kits for five days or longer.
Police, fire and other emergency responders will be too busy to reach most people for days so individuals and families will have to rely on themselves and their neighbors for help.
Warnings were correct
Local geologists warned as early as the 1880s that a big earthquake striking the Wasatch Front was not a matter of "if" but "when."
After all, about 700 earthquakes hit Utah every year including about 13 that are magnitude 3.0 or larger and are felt by residents. University of Utah geologists had said recently that the chance of a large earthquake on the Wasatch Front during the next 50 years is about one in five.
Recent comments
Yeah Uhm the earthquake has not happened yet you realize that right....
.... | Feb. 4, 2009 at 8:41 p.m.
Mormons really are stupid. Build the temple and city right on a fault...
Anonymous | Nov. 22, 2008 at 1:41 a.m.
The Chinese were warned decades ago that they should build to...
Mike | July 24, 2008 at 12:54 a.m.
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