Hi Canie. This is the biggest problem the East Coast faces here in the US. They haven’t built with large quakes in mind. Of course they don’t get large quakes at the frequency of occurrence that we do here on the West Coast, but then again you only need one to center in the wrong area, or at the wrong time to have a catastrophe on your hands.

A M>7.2 shock on November 18, 1929, fractured 12 submarine cables in the Grand Banks area of the Atlantic Ocean. The tremor was felt in all of the New England States. Many people in southeastern Maine were alarmed by the shock, which knocked articles from shelves. Reports of cracked plaster were received from Hartford, Vermont. At numerous other places in the State, slight rattling of doors and windows was reported. Had this quake centered closer to shore, or on shore the damage could and would have been much higher.

On November 1, 1935, a M>6.2 earthquake near Timiskaming, Quebec, Canada, and was felt over an area of 2,600,000 square kilometers in the United States and Canada. The strongest intensities observed in Vermont were from Bennington, Brattleboro, St. Johnsbury, and White River Junction. Some cracks in walls were noted; also, beds shook and windows and dishes rattled.

The sad truth about China is that they have people to spare. A few deaths here or there mean very little to the Government. They have a large labor force which to draw from. As you noted on your recent trip there they use manual labor as opposed to using modern machinery to build with. In direct contrast Japan wants to build as strong as they can in that they can ill afford to rebuild all the time. Take Care…Don in creepy town

• East Coast Quakes