CompuServe Messages

Yes, I'd like to hear any new theory by scientists. The idea of earthquake waves "backwashing" against the mountains sounds pretty funky to me, but who knows what we'll learn from this quake? About ten years ago, I hired a geologist to look at a house and some property I was planning to buy on a Santa Cruz, CA ridgetop. He assured me that ridgetops were the safest place to be in an earthquake, since it was solid granite. The epicenter of the Loma Prieta quake a few years later was five miles from my house, and structures on hilltops experienced more shaking than buildings elsewhere. Afterwards, the geologists decided that ridgetops "focus" earthquake waves. Gosh. Thanks a bunch. Glad I was able to help the cause of science! (Of course, a magnitude 7 quake is going to shake up a lot of buildings, no matter what kind of ground they're built on.)