I am no expert on temblors so I would like to know WHY and for how long. Someday, the DR will face a similar catastrophe and then what?
Last edited:
One thing I am observing through the wide variety of photoes of this sad catastrophe is that most of the Haitian structures lacked rebars, I've been trying to find one in every picture but still haven't seen any.
The strongest earthquake to have ever hit the island since records have been kept was in the mid-1940s in the DR. That earthquake was over 8.0 in the Ritcher scale.In this particular instance, the location of the epicenter.
Now that such a big one has hit, is it more than wishful thinking to suppose that the tension building up in the tectonic plates was released and it will be a long time before the next?
I am no expert on temblors so I would like to know WHY and for how long. Someday, the DR will face a similar catastrophe and then what?
You ask a question that can not be answered. You ask a question that does not help the Dominican Republic. You ask a question that would not help any part of the World and can not be answerd. It only scares people for the effect of ... a reaction to scare them?
OK... my answer. The Big One has hit our area on our Island and it will be another 200 years before the next. Not true. Again, earthquakes are an unknown and just about every part of the World has them. Some more then others and some don't even notice them.
Being that we lived in the San Franciso Bay area, Ca. for many years and still have family their I have a little background on these things. We were their in 89.
I don't know what math or science you are using when you say 200 years, but I'd like to see it.
Roark, if you reread Ringo's post again, you will see that he made the statement re 200 years, then immediately followed that with a "Not true."
It was a tongue in cheek response to an unanswerable question.
The Dominican often say, si Dios quiere, meaning, if God wills. That is probably as good as answer as any to the question.
I have seen reinforcing steel in most of the major downed [concrete] structures. The mass-housing (Earthen-type material and tin roof) obviously does not have this.
Rebar is only as good as the quality of the concrete blocks, mortar and its placement within the concrete structure. If the earth shifts under 2 sections of a home [like at a T], it will most like "tear at the seams".
The strongest earthquake to have ever hit the island since records have been kept was in the mid-1940s in the DR. That earthquake was over 8.0 in the Ritcher scale.
I'm going trough photos and photos of ruins and still haven't seen the first rebar.
Obviously some of the buildings downed may have some rebars, but not in the quantity I've seen them in the DR for example.
Chip, does a rebar enforced structure hold well in a similar quake? It is feasible for a rebar enforced structure to fall down completely to one side in a quake? Or it will be just cracks in the wall and maybe roof failure?
I'm going trough photos and photos of ruins and still haven't seen the first rebar.
Obviously some of the buildings downed may have some rebars, but not in the quantity I've seen them in the DR for example.
Chip, does a rebar enforced structure hold well in a similar quake? It is feasible for a rebar enforced structure to fall down completely to one side in a quake? Or it will be just cracks in the wall and maybe roof failure?
multiple fault lines run through or near DR. there are regular quakes of magnitude 3 or less that most people don't feel. less frequent (but not infrequent) quakes of higher magnitude are felt and fairly often reported in the local news.
You can see the fault line where pressure was released this week near Port au Prince in green at the lower left.
The green line running through the mountains to the north is where the Sept 22, 2003 6.4 magnitude quake occurred. (centered near Pto Plata)
The purple fault line off the north coast hasn't had a recent significant quake that I'm aware of.