Kansans brace for a massive earthquake
6:04 p.m. Friday, May 2, 2008
The shakes that rippled through the Midwest a few weeks ago are not unheard of in our neck of the woods.
"In 1867, there was an earthquake that was probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 5.2 and 5.5 that occurred somewhere near Wamego. And, it toppled chimneys on houses in Manhattan. And it was strongly felt as far east as the Lawrence and the Kansas City area," KU Geophysics Professor Don Steeples said.
The biggest earthquake contributor in the state is a fault line that runs from Omaha to Oklahoma City.
Along I-70, a few miles from Manhattan, is evidence of that fault zone. While it might look innocent enough to passing motorist, it has the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers willing to spend millions of dollars to protect Tuttle Creek Reservoir.
When the dam was built starting in the 1950s, it was known that earthquakes had made a habit of striking Kansas.
"What they didn't know was there was the capacity of every thousand years the magnitude of a six or six and half. And, what we don't know is when the last one of those occurred and we have no clue when the next one of those will occur, but sooner or later it will happen," Steeples said.
At $150 million, this is an engineering feat unlike any other in the world. By digging a row of massive walls at the base of the dam and then filling them with concrete, the Corps is hoping to prevent such catastrophes. If there is an earthquake, it will be these walls that keep the dam in place.
"There are still people that say 'We are in Kansas, there are not earthquakes here. It is not gong to happen here.' I hope they are right, but I am not willing to take that risk and the organization is not willing to take the risk to jeopardize that many people downstream. Looking at that large a loss of life and that much property damage," Tuttle Creek Operations Manager Brian McNulty said.
The work at Tuttle Creek is expected to finish by the end of 2010. In the meantime, the Corps has placed six sirens downstream to warn residents to evacuate if an earthquake were to jeopardize the dam.
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