Cathryn

Two different issues here:

Dynamic stresses are the ones that vibrate, then damp out afterward, AKA seismic waves.
These did travel through the crust to focus on the Marina District a hundred km from the ground breakage in Loma Prieta.

Static stresses are the loads that are redistributed, like the increased weight on a table from dumping a sack of potatoes there. The weight stays there as long as the potatoes do, although the shaking table will stop vibrating after a while.

Don is talking about the static stresses, which don't tunnel under the mountains and concentrate far from the earthquake.

John