Earthquake Hazards in Salt Lake County

 Potential Earthquake Hazards in Salt Lake County

Analysis:

1. The potential problems that exist with the spatial distribution of hospitals, police stations, and fire stations are many. A large portion of the emergency service facilites lie within moderate to high potential liquefaction locations. For hospitals, many of the major treatment centers for the area reside at the University of Utah. These hospitals are not in high risk liquefaction zones, but they are built right next to a section of the Wasatch Fault. Fortunately most of these facilities are constructed to withstand even severe tremors. Fire stations and police stations are well distributed throughout Salt Lake County. Fire and police services should be available to aid the area immediately around their station; however, it is likely that these services will be limited to the area they can assist because the main transportation freeways of I-15 and I-215 are both likely to experience significant damage from an earthquake.

2. My home fortunately lies within a low potential liquefaction zone but I live only half a mile from the closest fault line. My work however lies within a high potential liquefaction zone and is only one third of a mile from the nearest fault line. While my home is a much older building than my place of employment, I hope to find myself there in the event of an earthquake because of its distance from a fault line and better soils to avoid the hazards cuased by liquefaction. Though old, since my home was built after 1960 it is built with at least some resistant to earthquakes as required by code. Both areas are on fairly flat ground so landslides would not be a significant threat, also flooding that is often caused by water systems rerouting would not be an issue in either case. Finally, my home is much closer to fire and hospital facilties than my place of work.

 No matter where I am, I would expect to really feel the earth shake in the event of a large earthquake. According to the Modified Mercalli Intensity rating system, during a 7.0 magnitude earthquake I would experience severe to violent shaking at either home or work. That kind of shaking will cause severe damage to all but specially designed structures.