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Do Now
What do you think would happen to your home if an earthquake similar to the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake hit? When was it built? Has it been retrofitted?
Intro
Saturday, November 12, 2011 marks the 75th anniversary of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. During its first year, 9 million vehicles crossed the bridge. Now, that number has increased to 102,200,000 vehicles per year. In 1989, the Loma Prieta earthquake caused a portion of the bridge to fail, resulting in a decision to retrofit the west span of the bridge and build a new self-anchored suspension bridge to replace the vulnerable east span. It is scheduled to open in 2013 and will be seismically and aesthetically revolutionary in its design.
Resource
QUEST's segment The New Bay Bridge: Earthquake Makeover
It's been more than two decades since part of the upper deck of the Bay Bridge collapsed in the Loma Prieta earthquake. The new self-anchored suspension bridge being built to replace the vulnerable eastern span of the Bay Bridge is scheduled to open in 2013 and will be seismically and aesthetically revolutionary in its design. QUEST explores the engineering features that will give the new bridge the strength and flexibility to withstand the next "big one."
To respond to the Do Now, you can comment below or tweet your response. Be sure to begin your tweet with @KQEDedspace and end it with #KQEDDoNow
For more info on how to use Twitter, click here.
More Resources for Follow-up Lessons
QUEST's segment Megathrust Earthquakes.
The recent Tōhoku quake that struck Japan on March 11th, is a devastating reminder of the sheer power and velocity of a magnitude 9 earthquake. Such reminders are very rare; in the 20th-century only three earthquakes reached or exceeded magnitude 9.0 worldwide. In the US, there are only two locations where a megathrust earthquake is possible—the Alaska-Aleutian subduction zone and the Cascadia Subduction Zone—the region west of the Cascade Range from southern British Columbia to northern California.
