NANCY K
I have read stuff about what happened in 1811 till 1812, and it wasn't just one big quake, it was over and over, almost daily!! It sounds like the San Andreas fault would be a tea party compared to going through what happened to them. There just wasn't the dense population to react to it like there was in San Francisco, etc. It was in Missouri and rang church bells in Boston! It created Realfoot Lake. What would happen now ?
Answer
It could be a major disaster. The USGS rates the hazard in this area as high as that of the San Andreas fault zone on the west coast.
http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs-131-02/fs-131...
The current probability of a seismic event the magnitude of the 1811 quake is 7-10% within 50 years, and for a smaller quake of 6.0 is 25-40%.
I know firsthand that much of the construction in this region is un-reinforced or partially reinforced masonry. Larger cites such as Memphis and St. Louis have lots of older multistory masonry buildings that are vulnerable in a large quake. Many of the grade schools and high schools are also concrete-block construction and were built before it was common to pour reinforcing concrete and steel into the buildings. As far as I know there have been no significant efforts to force buildings to be retrofitted as Los Angeles did in the 1980's.
I can only hope that the nearby states have made efforts to retrofit bridges, and that the Federal DOT has retrofitted the I-55 bridge, as well as those in St. Louis and Memphis.
I do know that at one time school districts in Illinois were required to practice earth quake drills and put in outside storage of emergency supplies and water. I have heard that since then they have abandoned this effort.
If you live in the area (or any other earthquake prone area) there are some easy things you can do to make your home more earthquake proof:
1. Find out if your homeowner's insurance covers earthquakes.
2. Be familiar with how to turn off your natural gas, water, and electric utilities. Consider installing an "earthquake valve" on your natural gas line. This type of valve shuts off automatically if there is shaking. It could prevent your house from burning down. Here are a few:
http://www.earthquakestore.com/gas_shut_...
3. Brace your water heater with at least two metal straps tied to a major wood stud or anchored to a concrete wall. The straps should be anchored with a wide angle extending laterally about two feet on each side of the water heater, if possible.
4. Install child-proof type latches on your overhead kitchen cabinets and other cabinets where things might fall out.
5. Anchor the top of tall furniture to a wall using a strap and anchor, or an angle bracket secured to a stud in the wall. Hanging pictures should be hung from hooks secured into studs.
Move chandeliers, tall bookshelves, and large mirrors away from beds. By the time a sleeping occupant has realized the earthquake is happening the hazard may have already fallen on the bed.
6. If you have an antenna attached to a masonry chimney, move it. Masonry chimneys should be checked and tuck-pointed if the mortar has begun to deteriorate. Be aware that masonry chimneys are very likely to shake apart in an earthquake.
Preparedness:
1. Be prepared to live without power and water for at least 72 hours. The water heater and toilet tank will supply up to 45 gallons of water if they are not damaged. Having a water purifying filter on hand is always a good idea. These camping type filters are the ones I recommend but either water purification tablets or those household water filtering kits are suitable:
http://www.rei.com/online/store/search?n...
2. Have a battery operated radio on hand, or even one of those self-powering crank units.
3. Flashlights and batteries are essential.
4. Don't expect the telephone, either land or cellular to work. If they are working, avoid using them except for emergencies as they will be overloaded.
5. Be prepared to live outdoors, preferably in a tent while there is risk of an aftershock. If your house is damaged seriously it may not be safe to re-enter.
6. Have a fire extinguisher and a first aid kit on hand.
7. Have a family plan, and plan ahead who will be responsible for helping elderly or children out of the house and the route. Know your neighborhood and the skills of your neighbors. If there are doctors or other emergency personnel in the area know how to contact them. If your family is spread out, have someone out of the area for everyone to check in with. Long distance calls will be easier than local calls.
8. Make some plans for your pets. Many pets get confused during earthquakes and get lost.
9. Keep a small camp stove handy, or at least some canned food and a manual can opener. Eat the food in your refrigerator first, then the food in the freezer. An unopened freezer will last about 3 days.
10. Apply the same concepts to your workplace. Know how you will contact the rest of your family if at work. Many emergency personnel have their entire family carry a small CB-radio because they realize they would not be able to function properly if they were uncertain about the status of their family.
11. Stay off the roads unless it is an emergency. Try to leave roads open for emergency services like ambulances and fire trucks.
If you want to read more about earthquake preparation buy or check out a copy of this book:
Yanev, Peter I. , 1991, Peace of Mind in Earthquake Country: How to Save Your Home and Life. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. 218 pp. ISBN: 0877017719
(at this moment there are 18 copies available used on Amazon.com starting at $4.25. I am sure other booksellers will have this book as well)
It could be a major disaster. The USGS rates the hazard in this area as high as that of the San Andreas fault zone on the west coast.
http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs-131-02/fs-131...
The current probability of a seismic event the magnitude of the 1811 quake is 7-10% within 50 years, and for a smaller quake of 6.0 is 25-40%.
I know firsthand that much of the construction in this region is un-reinforced or partially reinforced masonry. Larger cites such as Memphis and St. Louis have lots of older multistory masonry buildings that are vulnerable in a large quake. Many of the grade schools and high schools are also concrete-block construction and were built before it was common to pour reinforcing concrete and steel into the buildings. As far as I know there have been no significant efforts to force buildings to be retrofitted as Los Angeles did in the 1980's.
I can only hope that the nearby states have made efforts to retrofit bridges, and that the Federal DOT has retrofitted the I-55 bridge, as well as those in St. Louis and Memphis.
I do know that at one time school districts in Illinois were required to practice earth quake drills and put in outside storage of emergency supplies and water. I have heard that since then they have abandoned this effort.
If you live in the area (or any other earthquake prone area) there are some easy things you can do to make your home more earthquake proof:
1. Find out if your homeowner's insurance covers earthquakes.
2. Be familiar with how to turn off your natural gas, water, and electric utilities. Consider installing an "earthquake valve" on your natural gas line. This type of valve shuts off automatically if there is shaking. It could prevent your house from burning down. Here are a few:
http://www.earthquakestore.com/gas_shut_...
3. Brace your water heater with at least two metal straps tied to a major wood stud or anchored to a concrete wall. The straps should be anchored with a wide angle extending laterally about two feet on each side of the water heater, if possible.
4. Install child-proof type latches on your overhead kitchen cabinets and other cabinets where things might fall out.
5. Anchor the top of tall furniture to a wall using a strap and anchor, or an angle bracket secured to a stud in the wall. Hanging pictures should be hung from hooks secured into studs.
Move chandeliers, tall bookshelves, and large mirrors away from beds. By the time a sleeping occupant has realized the earthquake is happening the hazard may have already fallen on the bed.
6. If you have an antenna attached to a masonry chimney, move it. Masonry chimneys should be checked and tuck-pointed if the mortar has begun to deteriorate. Be aware that masonry chimneys are very likely to shake apart in an earthquake.
Preparedness:
1. Be prepared to live without power and water for at least 72 hours. The water heater and toilet tank will supply up to 45 gallons of water if they are not damaged. Having a water purifying filter on hand is always a good idea. These camping type filters are the ones I recommend but either water purification tablets or those household water filtering kits are suitable:
http://www.rei.com/online/store/search?n...
2. Have a battery operated radio on hand, or even one of those self-powering crank units.
3. Flashlights and batteries are essential.
4. Don't expect the telephone, either land or cellular to work. If they are working, avoid using them except for emergencies as they will be overloaded.
5. Be prepared to live outdoors, preferably in a tent while there is risk of an aftershock. If your house is damaged seriously it may not be safe to re-enter.
6. Have a fire extinguisher and a first aid kit on hand.
7. Have a family plan, and plan ahead who will be responsible for helping elderly or children out of the house and the route. Know your neighborhood and the skills of your neighbors. If there are doctors or other emergency personnel in the area know how to contact them. If your family is spread out, have someone out of the area for everyone to check in with. Long distance calls will be easier than local calls.
8. Make some plans for your pets. Many pets get confused during earthquakes and get lost.
9. Keep a small camp stove handy, or at least some canned food and a manual can opener. Eat the food in your refrigerator first, then the food in the freezer. An unopened freezer will last about 3 days.
10. Apply the same concepts to your workplace. Know how you will contact the rest of your family if at work. Many emergency personnel have their entire family carry a small CB-radio because they realize they would not be able to function properly if they were uncertain about the status of their family.
11. Stay off the roads unless it is an emergency. Try to leave roads open for emergency services like ambulances and fire trucks.
If you want to read more about earthquake preparation buy or check out a copy of this book:
Yanev, Peter I. , 1991, Peace of Mind in Earthquake Country: How to Save Your Home and Life. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. 218 pp. ISBN: 0877017719
(at this moment there are 18 copies available used on Amazon.com starting at $4.25. I am sure other booksellers will have this book as well)
How did women make a difference during the civil war?
AntoineL
American civil war
Answer
In the north, women's relief efforts soon became a national organization, the united States Sanitary Commission, which performed a critical role in providing food and medical services for the soldiers. Although men still occupied the top jobs in the commission, women had a great many managerial dutires. The necessary supplies "were almost universally collected, assorted, and dispatched, and re-collected, re-assorted, and re-dispatched, by women, representing with great impartiality, every grade of society in the Republic." saild Alfred Bloor of the Sanitary Commission. The women had taken over, he said, after the men were discouraged when it became clear the war was not going to be short-lived after all.
About 3000 women served in paid positions as nurses in the Civil War, and many more thousands worked as volunteers. "The war is certainly ours a well as men's" said Kate Cummings of Mobile, Alabama, who became the matron of a large Confederate hospital. At first people were shocked by the idea of women serving in field hospitals. The American Medical Times was disturbed by the image of "a delicate reinfed woman assisting a rough soldier to the close-stool or supplying him with a bedpan." But a Confederate congressional investigation found that the mortality rate among soldiers cared for by women was only half that of those tended by men. "I will not agree to limit the class of persons who can affect such a saving of life as this." said a senator from Louisiana.
Clara Barton, a former schoolteacher who went to work for the Patent office in Washington, began to be approached by mothers of her former pupils, asking her to act as a go-between sending food and clothing to their sons. Soon her house was so crammed with boxes she had to move. She realised that the soap, fruit and other presents were not just special treats but dire necessities for the men serving at the front. She began actively soliciting donations and supplies. Within six months Barton had filled three warehouses. She bought bread and othr perissahbles with her own scanty funds and distributed them at military hospitals. Once the hospitals were better organissed and flooded with female volunteers, Barton began to meet the ships and trains carrying wounded soldiers back from the front. after months of beuraucratic wrangling she got permssion to pass through the lines with her wagons of supplies.
Once on the battlefield, she helped with nursing soldiers and assisted at operations.Her skirts got so heavy with blood that she had to wring them out before she could walk under their weight.
Another woman who helped soldiers on the battlefield was Mary Ann (Mother) Bickerdyke. She firsst arrived at an army camp in Cairo, Illinois, to deliver a relief fund. Seeing the filthy, overcrowded hospital tents, sshe simply got to work cleaning and nursing, without asking anyone's permission. In her Quaker bonnet, she trotted across nineteenteen battlefields in four years, lantern in hand, searching for the wounded. An army surgeon who challenged one of her orderss was told "Mother Bickerdyke outranks everyone, even Lincoln."
Southern women began to fill government clerical jobs, particularly in the Treasury Department where each Confederate banknote had to be signed individually. The job required good handwriting and good political connections. Most of the women came from elite families. Some of them regarded it as a great adventure. "I am rarely ill now even with a headache" said Adelaide Stuart. Being forced to take ajob wass, she decided "the best thing that could have taken place for me - it is bringing into active service and strengthening all the best parts of my character and enabling me to root out all that was objectionable."
Women from less influential backgrounds got jobs too. Thousands took in piecework for the Confederate Clothing Bureau sewing shirts for $1 apiece and coats for $4. Others packed cartridges at the arsenal for $1 a day. It was dangerous work - in 1863 in Richmond, fifty of the ordnance workers were killed in an explosion at Richmond.
About 400 women disguised themselves as men to figh tin the civil war. Many women also became spies, the most famous confederate spy was Belle Boyd. Harriet Tubman, the former slave who had helped hundreds of other slaves escape to freedom, sserved as a spy and scout with the Union Army. "Col. Montgomery and his gallant band of 300 black solderis, under the guidance of a black woman, dashed into the enemy's country, struck a bold and effective blow, destroying commisssary, stores, cotton and lordly dwellings" stated a report at the time.
In the north, women's relief efforts soon became a national organization, the united States Sanitary Commission, which performed a critical role in providing food and medical services for the soldiers. Although men still occupied the top jobs in the commission, women had a great many managerial dutires. The necessary supplies "were almost universally collected, assorted, and dispatched, and re-collected, re-assorted, and re-dispatched, by women, representing with great impartiality, every grade of society in the Republic." saild Alfred Bloor of the Sanitary Commission. The women had taken over, he said, after the men were discouraged when it became clear the war was not going to be short-lived after all.
About 3000 women served in paid positions as nurses in the Civil War, and many more thousands worked as volunteers. "The war is certainly ours a well as men's" said Kate Cummings of Mobile, Alabama, who became the matron of a large Confederate hospital. At first people were shocked by the idea of women serving in field hospitals. The American Medical Times was disturbed by the image of "a delicate reinfed woman assisting a rough soldier to the close-stool or supplying him with a bedpan." But a Confederate congressional investigation found that the mortality rate among soldiers cared for by women was only half that of those tended by men. "I will not agree to limit the class of persons who can affect such a saving of life as this." said a senator from Louisiana.
Clara Barton, a former schoolteacher who went to work for the Patent office in Washington, began to be approached by mothers of her former pupils, asking her to act as a go-between sending food and clothing to their sons. Soon her house was so crammed with boxes she had to move. She realised that the soap, fruit and other presents were not just special treats but dire necessities for the men serving at the front. She began actively soliciting donations and supplies. Within six months Barton had filled three warehouses. She bought bread and othr perissahbles with her own scanty funds and distributed them at military hospitals. Once the hospitals were better organissed and flooded with female volunteers, Barton began to meet the ships and trains carrying wounded soldiers back from the front. after months of beuraucratic wrangling she got permssion to pass through the lines with her wagons of supplies.
Once on the battlefield, she helped with nursing soldiers and assisted at operations.Her skirts got so heavy with blood that she had to wring them out before she could walk under their weight.
Another woman who helped soldiers on the battlefield was Mary Ann (Mother) Bickerdyke. She firsst arrived at an army camp in Cairo, Illinois, to deliver a relief fund. Seeing the filthy, overcrowded hospital tents, sshe simply got to work cleaning and nursing, without asking anyone's permission. In her Quaker bonnet, she trotted across nineteenteen battlefields in four years, lantern in hand, searching for the wounded. An army surgeon who challenged one of her orderss was told "Mother Bickerdyke outranks everyone, even Lincoln."
Southern women began to fill government clerical jobs, particularly in the Treasury Department where each Confederate banknote had to be signed individually. The job required good handwriting and good political connections. Most of the women came from elite families. Some of them regarded it as a great adventure. "I am rarely ill now even with a headache" said Adelaide Stuart. Being forced to take ajob wass, she decided "the best thing that could have taken place for me - it is bringing into active service and strengthening all the best parts of my character and enabling me to root out all that was objectionable."
Women from less influential backgrounds got jobs too. Thousands took in piecework for the Confederate Clothing Bureau sewing shirts for $1 apiece and coats for $4. Others packed cartridges at the arsenal for $1 a day. It was dangerous work - in 1863 in Richmond, fifty of the ordnance workers were killed in an explosion at Richmond.
About 400 women disguised themselves as men to figh tin the civil war. Many women also became spies, the most famous confederate spy was Belle Boyd. Harriet Tubman, the former slave who had helped hundreds of other slaves escape to freedom, sserved as a spy and scout with the Union Army. "Col. Montgomery and his gallant band of 300 black solderis, under the guidance of a black woman, dashed into the enemy's country, struck a bold and effective blow, destroying commisssary, stores, cotton and lordly dwellings" stated a report at the time.
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