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to be truly accurate, in terms of danger, would be to superimpose a map of seismic building codes.  A 5.2 in most of Germany (a sneeze in Frisco) would have some damage, and a 5.8 would begin to be significant.  But the real issue in this discussion is the time scale, thousands of years.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin
by Crazy Horse on Thu Jan 14th, 2010 at 06:33:09 AM EST
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You also need to know something about enforcement of these codes. With L'Aquila in mind, I assumed that Messina would have very strong building codes, but that enforcement of them would be lax. But maybe not: it turns out that in the 1975 earthquake in Messina (strength 5.4)
The most significant of these earthquakes was the January 16, 1975 event, measuring M5.4 and causing heavy damage to just three buildings in Messina.
Maybe two 7.5 earthquakes really does focus peoples minds, even in Southern Italy.
by gk (g k quattro due due sette "at" gmail.com) on Thu Jan 14th, 2010 at 03:13:21 PM EST
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