East Coast Earthquake? You Bet!

8/23/2011

When seeing on Twitter and Facebook that a 5.9-magnitude earthquake had rattled the East Coast this afternoon, I immediately thought of a couple stories I wrote for The Philadelphia Inquirer 18 years ago.

A native of Camden, N.J., I had just started as a reporter in the newspaper's South Jersey bureau a couple of months earlier. I really enjoyed writing an in-depth article about the Burlington County Bridge Commission considering spending nearly $2 million to protect the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge from an earthquake. Here's an excerpt:

Although a quake rarely strikes this area, it could happen, experts say. To them, the $1.9 million that the commissioners have tentatively put aside to retrofit the Tacony-Palmyra would be money well spent. They say the project is basically a matter of driving nails through the bridge's feet to increase its chance of staying put if shaken.

Transportation officials nationwide say thousands of older bridges could collapse from a moderate earthquake. Designs for new bridges built with state or federal funds must meet updated earthquake -proofing standards. Older taxpayer-supported bridges get retrofitted during overhauls.

Because the Burlington County Bridge Commission is essentially a private bridge owner – its money comes from commuter tolls – neither the Federal Highway Administration nor the state Department of Transportation will order an earthquake retrofit for the Tacony-Palmyra. That leaves the commission, even though it's already put the $1.9 million aside, still wrestling over what to do. "That really threw us. That $2 million pricetag was a bit staggering," said commission spokesman Robert Stears. "The bridge has stood since 1929 without any kind of earthquake affecting it. It's not as if earthquakes really happen very much in this region."

Click here to read the entire story. Hoping everyone back home and across the East Coast is OK.

11 Comments

Kyle

8/31/2011 06:14:23 am

I like the simplicity of this post -- it gives a glimpse into your history and it isn't loaded with too much information that readers may find overwhelming. The link at the end of the post is great for people who are already intrigued by what they just read. I was in R.I. when the earthquake hit and I didn't feel anything...but my neighbor did.

Andrea Anderson

8/31/2011 06:28:48 am

This post shows just how much we take things for granted and do not expect things to happen. Thank you for sharing this article. Providing the link was great, my thoughts go out to all those on the East Coast.

Alec Brooks

8/31/2011 06:54:35 am

I like how you opened with a picture, but the image is somewhat crowded—in particular, the ads are distracting.
I agree with Kyle about the simplicity of the post. The opening paragraphs introduce and explain without dragging down the reader with detail.

Allison Kruschke

8/31/2011 06:54:37 am

Hindsight is 20/20 - I'm sure that many on the east coast are realizing that while unlikely, natural disasters can happen to them, and precautions must be taken. My thoughts are with those picking up the pieces after the earthquake and Hurricane Irene.

Ben Sheehan

8/31/2011 07:20:34 am

This post reminds me of that bridge collapse in Minnsota a few years back that unfortunately resulted in lost lives. While that was caused by human error, you never know when or where earthquakes and other naturnal disasters will strike next, and like Allison said precautions must be taken to ensure peoples' safety.

Eric

8/31/2011 07:41:00 am

I like the post itself, and as Kyle said its simplistic sense is quite refreshing. As for the comment Ben said he couldn't be more right about the anguish that bridge collapse brought upon the families that had relatives that died upon its collapse.

Tessa Fox

8/31/2011 12:10:35 pm

I was immediately shocked when I first heard about the earthquake on the East Coast. I have a large amount of friends that live in the affected areas that had no knowledge of what to do during an earthquake. On top of that, Hurricane Irene just hit the East Coast. This just illustrates the fact that people need to be prepared and educated about anything, even if they're not expecting it. You can never be too prepared.

Sarah Hauer

8/31/2011 12:21:03 pm

I really enjoyed how you incorporated something from your past into a current event. In this age where information is so readily available journalists don't need to tell what happened over and over again. Readers already know what happened and now they want a new spin on what happened.

Erin Caughey

8/31/2011 01:33:44 pm

I think this post brings into view the connection of past media coverage to present media importance. Recently, the public is more concerned about the amount of natural disasters occurring around the country, when the same amount of incidents have happened hundreds or thousands of times in previous years. The reason for all the attention now is from the advanced media impact on everyday life.

Ben Stanley

8/31/2011 03:03:47 pm

Your blogs feel like a mixture between a column, a news story and a personal journal. Enough news to enlighten the uninformed, enough color to keep it interesting and a personal touch to make it yours.

Katie Doherty

9/1/2011 04:30:40 am

Did you experience Deja Vu recently? All buildings and cities should prepare for all possible disasters, no matter how rare the case may seem. One reason the earthquake in Haiti was so disastrous was because the country was not designed to handle the quake. Areas such as Los Angeles have the money to build infrastructure to withstand disasters.

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East Coast Earthquake? You Bet!

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