[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 20 (Tuesday, March 1, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 1, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                      NATURAL DISASTER LEGISLATION

                                 ______


                      HON. WILLIAM F. CLINGER, JR.

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, March 1, 1994

  Mr. CLINGER. Mr. Speaker, yesterday I introduced a resolution to 
express the sense of the Congress that information on how to prepare 
for and react to a natural disaster should be made more readily 
available to people living in the Central and Eastern States, namely 
through guides placed in telephone books and through informational 
booklets prepared and distributed by the Federal Government.
  I first introduced this resolution in the months following the Loma 
Prieta earthquake, in the 101st Congress. At that time I had been 
surprised to learn that there is a high probability an earthquake of at 
least the same magnitude as the Loma Prieta earthquake will strike the 
Eastern United States in the next few decades.
  Perhaps the most devastating earthquake in recorded history occurred 
not in California, but in eastern Missouri. The New Madrid earthquake 
of 1811, and each of the two biggest aftershocks of 1812, have been 
estimated at over 8.0 on the Richter scale. That means the initial 
earthquake and the two aftershocks each carried 30 times the 
destructive force of the Loma Prieta quake, which registered 7.1 on the 
Richter scale.
  Not only can big earthquakes occur east of the Rockies, but the 
geographic area impacted would be much wider than that of the Pacific 
coast earthquake. This is so because the solid bedrock underlying the 
Central and Eastern States would actually transmit the shock wave, 
rather than absorb it. The New Madrid earthquake, for example, cracked 
sidewalks in Washington, DC.
  Finally, the older buildings in the country are concentrated in the 
East. Made of unreinforced brick or stone, these buildings would not 
withstand the stress of an earthquake. California's building codes have 
reflected the dangers of earthquakes since the 1930's. Massachusetts 
adopted seismic building codes in the 1970's and a few Central and 
Eastern States have followed suit, but the region remains 
underprepared.
  The perception that an earthquake or some other type of natural 
disaster won't occur is a major obstacle to achieving even a minimal 
level of preparedness, even in California. The head of San Diego's 
Office of Emergency Management was recently quoted in a Reuters news 
story as saying, ``Our No. 1 problem is public apathy.''
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to view natural disasters as not 
simply an event to which we react, but as an event for which we must 
prepare. The resolution, which I have introduced, calls upon the 
private sector and the Federal Government to place information in the 
hands of people which they can use to help themselves, and I ask for 
the support of my colleagues.

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