If Ireland was Hit by an Earthquake?

JupiterKid · 13-01-2011 01:23AM #1

If Ireland was hit by a powerful earthquake, say about 7.0 or 7.2 on the Richter scale, would most of the built fabric of the country collapse?

Would most modern buildings hold up in such a catastrophe? Would bridges fall down and rivers burst their banks?

What about newly built houses and apartments?

Would it jolt this country out of the gloom and doom and sense of misery and negativity gripping it currently? Could the earthquake be a wake up call?

Dunjohn · 13-01-2011 01:25AM

Or, or Godzilla. Would a Godzilla attack unite us?

Holybejaysus · 13-01-2011 01:25AM

Yes it would, Kent.

bonerm · 13-01-2011 01:27AM

Yes I'm sure all those top quality houses & apartments built during the construction boom are earthquake-proof.

JayEnnis · 13-01-2011 01:27AM

Relax, there's barely anything over two story's in the country.

RichieC · 13-01-2011 01:29AM

JupiterKid wrote: »

If Ireland was hit by a powerful earthquake, say about 7.0 or 7.2 on the Richter scale, would most of the built fabric of the country collapse?

Would most modern buildings hold up in such a catastrophe? Would bridges fall down and rivers burst their banks?

What about newly built houses and apartments?

Would it jolt this country out of the gloom and doom and sense of misery and negativity gripping it currently? Could the earthquake be a wake up call?

Due to our placement on the Eurasia tectonic plate, I'd imagine if Ireland was hit with a 7- 7.2 earth quake the entire planets fabric would likely be collapsing.

But don't quote me, I'm not a scientician.

Bob the Builder · 13-01-2011 01:31AM

I can't see it doing any more damage than the economic earthquake that we've being the victims of lately.

orourkeda · 13-01-2011 01:33AM

We can't build a road without having to dig it up and start again (M50), a light rail system (LUAS) or supply drinking water after a thaw from two weeks of snow.

What do you really think an earthquake measuring 7.2 on the richter scale would do to the country

Insect Overlord · 13-01-2011 01:33AM

I, for one, welcome our new earthquake overlords!

Laisurg · 13-01-2011 01:34AM

JupiterKid wrote: »

Would it jolt this country out of the gloom and doom and sense of misery and negativity gripping it currently? Could the earthquake be a wake up call?

Na we'd be well and truely ****ed.

JupiterKid · 13-01-2011 01:36AM

RichieC wrote: »

Due to our placement on the Eurasia tectonic plate, I'd imagine if Ireland was hit with a 7- 7.2 earth quake the entire planets fabric would likely be collapsing.

But don't quote me, I'm not a scientician.

Ah, you see that's where you might be wrong. Portugal and Lisbon suffered a devastating earthquake 250 years ago and it's nowhere near a tectonic plate boundary. Same happened in Norway about 120 years ago.

Ireland sits halfway along Europe's Atlantic fringe between Portugal and Norway.

And Dublin felt a 5.4 tremor in 1984. There are faults running under the Irish Sea that are just dormant, not extinct. The possibility of a big earthquake hitting Hibernia is remote, but not zero.

I'm gonna stock up of food supplies...

orourkeda · 13-01-2011 01:39AM

RichieC wrote: »

Due to our placement on the Eurasia tectonic plate, I'd imagine if Ireland was hit with a 7- 7.2 earth quake the entire planets fabric would likely be collapsing.

But don't quote me, I'm not a scientician.

You're not a scientologist by any chance are you?

starlit · 13-01-2011 01:39AM

JupiterKid wrote: »

If Ireland was hit by a powerful earthquake, say about 7.0 or 7.2 on the Richter scale, would most of the built fabric of the country collapse?

Would most modern buildings hold up in such a catastrophe? Would bridges fall down and rivers burst their banks?

What about newly built houses and apartments?

Would it jolt this country out of the gloom and doom and sense of misery and negativity gripping it currently? Could the earthquake be a wake up call?

When and where? Didn't feel a thing if It did occur then I must have been asleep!

Oops thought you said an earthquake happend. To be honest the whole country would fall apart and collapse I think the recent natural disasters Ireland has faced due to severe weather conditions would answer your question OP!

bc dub · 13-01-2011 01:39AM

we could actually be hit by a tsunami. again.

Tchaikovsky · 13-01-2011 01:40AM

Most importantly Joe, how much would an earthquake cost the tax-payer?

By the way, you'd barely notice a 5.4 earthquake.

Badgermonkey · 13-01-2011 01:41AM

Like architectural cockroaches, I bet vomit coloured bungalows in the countryside would remain standing.

starbelgrade · 13-01-2011 01:41AM

I just had a poo.

starlit · 13-01-2011 01:42AM

^
|
Do we really need to know that?:rolleyes:

irishgeo · 13-01-2011 01:43AM

JupiterKid wrote: »

Ah, you see that's where you might be wrong. Portugal and Lisbon suffered a devastating earthquake 250 years ago and it's nowhere near a tectonic plate boundary. Same happened in Norway about 120 years ago.

And Dublin felt a 5.4 tremor in 1984. There are faults running under the Irish Sea that are just dormant, not extinct. The possibility of a big earthquake hitting Hibernia is remote, but not zero.

I'm gonna stock up of food supplies...

the Lisbon lasted for approx 6 min and generated a tsunami that managed to travel as far as galway.

In 1755, the earthquake struck on the morning of 1 November, the Catholic holiday of All Saints' Day. Contemporary reports state that the earthquake lasted between three-and-a-half and six minutes, causing gigantic fissures five metres (15 ft) wide to appear in the city centre. Survivors rushed to the open space of the docks for safety and watched as the water receded, revealing a sea floor littered by lost cargo and old shipwrecks. Approximately forty minutes after the earthquake, an enormous tsunami engulfed the harbour and downtown, rushing up the Tagus river[3], "so fast that several people riding on horseback ... were forced to gallop as fast as possible to the upper grounds for fear of being carried away". It was followed by two more waves. In the areas unaffected by the tsunami, fire quickly broke out, and flames raged for five days.
Lisbon was not the only Portuguese city affected by the catastrophe. Throughout the south of the country, in particular the Algarve, destruction was rampant. A tsunami destroyed some coastal fortresses in the Algarve and, in the lower levels, razed several houses. Almost all the coastal towns and villages of the Algarve were heavily damaged, except Faro, which was protected by the sandy banks of Ria Formosa. In Lagos, the waves reached the top of the city walls. Other towns of different Portuguese regions, like Peniche, Cascais, and even Covilhã which is located near the Serra da Estrela mountain range in central inland Portugal, were affected. The shock waves of the earthquake destroyed part of Covilhã's castle walls and its large towers. On the island of Madeira, Funchal and many smaller settlements suffered significant damage. Almost all of the ports in the Azores archipelago suffered most of their destruction from the tsunami, with the sea penetrating about 150 m inland.

Calculated travel times for the tsunami waves of 1 November 1755
Shocks from the earthquake were felt throughout Europe[4] as far as Finland and North Africa, and according to some sources even in Greenland[5] and in the Caribbean.[6] Tsunamis as tall as 20 metres (66 ft) swept the coast of North Africa, and struck Martinique and Barbados across the Atlantic. A three-metre (ten-foot) tsunami hit Cornwall on the southern English coast. Galway, on the west coast of Ireland, was also hit, resulting in partial destruction of the "Spanish Arch" section of the city wall.

orourkeda · 13-01-2011 01:44AM

bc dub wrote: »

we could actually be hit by a tsunami. again.

We should be ok as long as we dont let biffo go fishing with seanie

FTGFOP · 13-01-2011 01:47AM

JupiterKid wrote: »

If Ireland was hit by a powerful earthquake...

*recollects the icy times*

*hopes against earthquakes*

starlit · 13-01-2011 01:47AM

bc dub wrote: »

we could actually be hit by a tsunami. again.

Its quiet possible it could happen. We are an Island after all! Then again the iceage could be upon us again!

irishgeo · 13-01-2011 01:49AM

bc dub wrote: »

we could actually be hit by a tsunami. again.

are they not expecting to part of the canaries to fall into the sea and generate a huge tsunami.

http://www.rense.com/general56/tsu.htm

dubtom · 13-01-2011 01:54AM

I remember the Earth Quake of the 80's, I was standing at the kitchen window and felt a slight vibration, not unlike standing beside the washing machine that's on a spin cycle, but not as intense and messy, anyway, it only lasted for several seconds,unlike the spin cycle which continues for ages

So get yourself prepared,stand facing the washer on a spin for that earth quake sensation, do it now,so you'll recognize the quake when it happens.

rossie1977 · 13-01-2011 01:56AM

a 7.2 would still do great damage but it would depend on numerous things, how long the tremor lasted, the depth of the quake, the epicenter, if you had a 7.2 close to the surface centreing on say leixlip lasting 1 minute then dublin would be in huge trouble

FTGFOP · 13-01-2011 01:57AM

starbelgrade wrote: »

I just had a poo.

snuggles285 wrote: »

Do we really need to know that?:rolleyes:

The finger-sniffer's right. If we learned anything from the Icy Times it's that the bad thing that happens always has a thing that goes on top of it to make it not bad anymore.

Icy times - Salt.
Quakey times? - well, we gotta fill in the cracks with something.

bc dub · 13-01-2011 01:57AM

starbelgrade wrote: »

I just had a poo.

pics or it didn't happen

RichieC · 13-01-2011 01:59AM

orourkeda wrote: »

You're not a scientologist by any chance are you?

What a ridiculous question.

Of course I am.

starlit · 13-01-2011 02:03AM

FTGFOP wrote: »

The finger-sniffer's right. If we learned anything from the Icy Times it's that the bad thing that happens always has a thing that goes on top of it to make it not bad anymore.

Icy times - Salt.
Quakey times? - well, we gotta fill in the cracks with something.

RMD · 13-01-2011 02:05AM

It wont happen, simple as. What few people seem to realise or take into account that it's a log base-10 scale. Ie a 7 on the richter scale is 100 times stronger than a 5, a 7.1 is twice as strong as a 7 etc.

The largest recorded earthquake on the Island of Ireland was 2.3, the largest off-coast being 5.4. So basically OP the largest off-shore earthquake recorded was nearly a 100 times weaker than what you're mentioning, the largest Irish island earthquake was 100,000 times weaker. Not to mention Ireland doesn't sit anywhere near a major fault line associated with large-scale earthquakes.

(I'm shít at maths so could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that's how a base 10 logarithm works out?)

starlit · 13-01-2011 02:08AM

It explains how mountains and the giant causeway was created! There was once volcanoes and earth quakes here in Ireland I'm sure when we were once close to plate tectonics which in fact we are a bit far from so don't expect we get much of an earth quake anytime soon if we do it be very very minor we may not feel anything and wouldn't affect us.

If Ireland was Hit by an Earthquake?

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