Earlier this year, there was a great deal of noise over commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the San Francisco earthquake. It’s worth remembering that the threat from earthquakes isn’t confined to the west coast. For example, consider this Insurance Journal article:
The magnitude 7.3 earthquake on Aug. 31, 1886, killed more than 100 people and destroyed about $5 million worth of property – worth $103 million when adjusted to 2005 figures for inflation. It was as powerful as the quake that rattled San Francisco and interrupted the World Series in 1989.
The article caught my eye not only because I spend a fair amount of time thinking about non-West Coast earthquakes these days, but also because just a few days ago I encountered a USGS report describing how widely the New Madrid and Charleston quakes were felt. Apparently the Charleston quake was felt as far away as Northfield, Minnesota.
