Paramedicpete - That's my understanding too. Long Island is the moraine of iceage glaciers. In fact, it's the moraine of a glacier that advanced, retreated, and then advanced again, though not as far, hence the north and south forks of the island as you head out east.

KG2V - When talking about landfill, don't forget Battery Park City. If I'm not mistaken, the whole area was reclaimed from the Hudson with the debris from excavating the "bathtub" under the original Word Trade Center towers.

I, too, remember a handfull of earthquakes in NYC over the years. I even felt the M3.1 one that a few people have talked about. As long as they stay small, I'm OK with it. The 125th street fault in Manhattan is actually clearly visable on the west side as the land falls away from Morningside Heights and then rises again into West Harlem, necessitating the #1 Subway train to go above ground for about 3/4 of a mile.

I think, in the end, a major earthquake in NYC is one of the kind of things that I can say, "if I survive the initial impact, my preps will help me make it through the aftermath. If I don't survive the initial impact, it was probably because a building fell on or around me, and there's not much that can be done to prepare for that." It's not like a hurricane where we'd get some warning.

Now, if you survive the quake, and see New York Harbor receeding through the narrows, how do you decide which skyscraper is still sound enough to climb to get out of the way of the tsunami? ;^)

I'm (we) just south of Indian Point - about six miles. A very controversial power plant. This issue has been brought up by the pro-close-Indian-Point folks.

Have to agree with you there. Surviving the initial quake will be pretty much a matter of chance. Where you are when it hits. After that, I have my supplies separated between Brooklyn and a house in Sullivan County. Assuming I survive the initial quake, surviving the trip upstate could be the beggest problem. Anything big enough to sigiificantly damage the buildings will probably do a fair amount of damage to the bridges and tunnels you will have to cross to get off the islands.

One thing that has to be pointed out is that large buildings, particularly the high-rises, are not going to tip over like you see in the movies where Godzilla knocks over a bunch of cardboard skyscrapers. The foundation designs just doesn't allow that to happen.

Generally high rises are more resistant to earthquakes than smaller buildings. This has less to do with size than the fact that large buildings are highly engineered. Smaller buildings get less focused attention.

Well, except maybe for the Citicorp buidling. (Read about it here ). My girlfriend used to work in that building (after the structural problem was fixed, thank goodness) but it was an eery feeling to walk into the building knowing its history. I also saw an episode on the History Channel about it. According to those interviews, city engineers literally were afraid that a moderate-strength hurricane could topple the Citicorp building and start a domino effect in Midtown. Of course, it was all kept hush-hush at the time while they frantically made secret modifications to the building without even the occupants knowing what was going on.

And let's not forget that everyone "knew" that modern high rises didn't/couldn't collapse due to a fire, and yet both World Trade Towers and World Trade 7 collapsed after burning for hours. So, never say never since life is often stranger than fiction.

But, again, the newer NYC high rises are not the buildings that routinely collapsed or have their brick facades spontaneously shear off from time to time even without an earthquake. If there was a 5.0 in NYC, especially if it lasted for longer than just a quick jolt, I certainly wouldn't want to be in or near any of those kinds of buildings.

"Now, if you survive the quake, and see New York Harbor receeding through the narrows, how do you decide which skyscraper is still sound enough to climb to get out of the way of the tsunami?"

Do your research ahead of time and find the most modern building with the deepest basement. Access might be an issue, too.

Sue

Yes, Battery Park City is on fill, but the buildings are on pilings to bedrock

I am pretty much convinced that just about anyplace has some chance of major earthquakes and the potential for serious damage to infrastructure. We just do not know anywhere near as much as we like to think we do about volcanoes, earthquakes, and related phenomena.

And even if we could predict with some degree of certainty, there is no certainty that whatever precautions we might take would actually work. Earthquakes have taken down a lot of structures that were supposed to be resistant to them.

We know far more about earthquakes and their causes than we did just a few years ago. What we can't do is give any meaningful predictions of when and where earthquakes will occur other than "30% probability in the next forty years," which is a bit vague. There are reasonably decent probability maps which correctly show that the West Coast is far more likely that Chicago to experience a major event. For you guys, tornadoes and similar events are more of a concern.

The building codes here in my neck of the woods reflect this heightened probability. It does pay off.

There are no certainties in life anyway. I can reduce the likelihood of heart attack and lung cancer by not smoking, but I can't eliminate the possibility of either disease. I can take measures to improve my survivability and decrease property damage in the next big shaker, but I can't eliminate the risk.

After every major earthquake in SoCal, U-Haul shows an upward tic in rentals. Folks are moving to Kansas to avoid quakes. I guess they would rather deal with tornadoes and floods? I talked a year ago to a gentleman who had come to California from Florida because of hurricanes. To my mind, that was a very odd decision, since hurricanes are seasonal and predictable (now at least) and you can get out of their way. Try that with quakes.

Everywhere in the world has its own "bad events profile" and some sort of major calamity(ies) that can disrupt and end lives. What we can do is choose a profile that we can handle and then take the indicated steps for safety, remembering that life is all about probabilities