My opinion on why there isn't a lot of money for research on earthquakes is simply because the BIG ones hit about every 10-20 years, cause an enormous amount of damage to buildings, yet not as much as would happen in other places like Armenia or China.... And, not that many people get killed...

Let's look at some of the more recent large quakes:
1989 10 18 7.1 Loma Prieta
1991 8 16 6.3 W. of Crescent City
1991 8 17 6.2 Punta Gorda
1991 8 17 7.1 W. of Crescent City

1992 4 23 6.1 Joshua Tree
1992 4 25 7.2 Cape Mendocino
1992 4 26 6.5 Cape Mendocino
1992 4 26 6.6 Cape Mendocino
1992 6 28 7.3 Landers
1992 6 28 6.2 Big Bear
1993 5 17 6.1 Big Pine
1994 1 17 6.7 Northridge
1994 9 01 6.9 Mendocino Fracture Zone
1994 9 12 6.0 Carter's Station, Nevada

1995 2 19 6.6 W. of Eureka
1995 9 20 5.5 Ridgecrest
1996 7 24 5.7 W. of Eureka
1997 1 22 5.7 Punta Gorda
1999 8 1 5.7 Scotty's Junction, Nevada
1999 10 16 7.1 Hector Mine

Some of these, though large, weren't even memorable... Hector Mine - no one killed, Northridge = 57 died, Loma Prieta =63, Landers = 3.

There just aren't that many lives at stake here in the US. There IS money at stake! 20-40 Billion when one of these big guys hits... The Insurance companies would have been the ones to be concerned - so they just quit working in california... or quit offering earthquake insurance.

The US Government will back the FEMA bill when the next one hits... Much less that it costs to rebuild Iraq...

There's just no good incentive there.... and we are building much better buildings all the time....

Canie

• Deaths from earthquakes in the US