Information Analysis
Question 1: What potential problems do you see in terms of the spatial distribution of hospitals, police stations, and fire stations in Salt Lake County, Utah compared to the fault lines and potential liquefation zones? How about transportation networks? How would that affect emergency response crews?
After analyzing and studying the data, the largest potentials for problems i can see for us will be especially with the distribution of hospitals in the Salt Lake valley. The majority of the hospitals in the valley are located on the east side, and they are clustered together in certain areas, as opposed to being equally spread out. One reason that this might not turn out to be as bad as it appears, is because the contractors were very strategic in the placement of the hospitals, they were sure to place them in areas effected minimally by liquefaction factors. This would be beneficial in a time of emergency because the major concerns of rescue officials would not be fully focused in the worry of operational facilities to take care of the victims of whatever the disaster might be, due to their planning ahead. As previously stated, the one major issue however, would be getting people on the one side of the valley to the areas that would be able to help them. One concern that could prove catastrophic to the hospitals could be the fact that several major fault lines run right through the bases of some of the hospitals along the north-east side of the valley. This is the area where the hospitals are clustered about 3 different ones near eachother wiping out about half of what the city has to offer. The police stations seem to be spread out sufficiently; i do think that there could be more added, especially more put on the west side, in the West Valley vicinity. A lot of the police stations were not as strategically placed when analyzed, a lot of them are located in the heart of the high potential liquefaction areas, this would also rid the valley of half of it's police force stations in the most populated neighborhoods. Chaos and crime are known to run ramparnt during times of disaster, so police forces need to be present in all parts of the city in strong numbers so gangs and mobs do not overpower the weakened establishment.
One thing that does not seem to be lacking is the presence of fire stations, being the most numerous of all the government enforcement services. they are dotted in every corner of the valley. The only place that they seem to be lacking is in the north-western corner of Salt Lake, this is probably because during an earthquake disaster, this area would be most heavily hit by damages rendering the services of that fire house disabled. All of the major transportation networks will be jeopradized if the data stays true. Much of the I-15 interstate and I-215 Belt route, especially on the east side, will be destroyed for the most part, the first being destroyed from liquefaction for the majority of it's route through the middle of the valley, and the latter because of its close association to the fault lines are the east side bench. I-80, near parley's canyon could also recieve some high damage because of the fault lines that run right across it, all in all, Salt Lake City could potentially be cut off from the rest of the state because many of the major roads should recieve damage of some type, not to mention the traffic that will be on them and stuck when this earthquake occurs. This will make it very difficult for response crews to arrive to various areas, the east and west side of the valley could essentially be split in two as far as going back and forth between the two. The downtown area will recieve the brute of the damage and all of the obstruction and liquefaction, could make it impossible to get anything but ground troops to the scene. This means that supplies need to be available in each of the four corners of the valley, so they can be called upon wherever the emergency may demand it.
Question 2: How close (in miles) do you live, work, or go to school near a fault line and what liquefaction zone are you in? What potential hazards might you expect during or following an earthquake along the Wasatch Front.
At the location that my family lives at now, we are closer to more fault lines than to the danger of any liquefaction zones. There are several fault lines located about three miles east of us, up on Wasatch Drive, where as opposed to being one continuous fault line, it is branched out all along the north-south direction of the mountains. This could cause some major problems because the neighborhood to the east of us, is raised up on a mere glorified dirt mound, that I'm sure will crumble and dissintegrate to our neighborhood below. There is a stream up there which also could cause some significant damage if the water turbine's became disfunctional. I live about 3 miles south east from the nearest liquefaction upgraded zone, the area we live in is deemed as a 'low potential liquefaction' location. The area in which i work is about 5 miles to the south west of my home and is in a higher danger liquefaction zone, some of it touching the "high potential liquefaction'. This could cause much damage because of the street that it is on, which is 10600 S. because the probability that structures and property could go sliding down the road is very high. For the most part, a lot of the different SLCC campuses that I am attending right now are not classified as being in immediate danger, except for the Taylorsville-Redwood campus. Although it is not in the highest rated zone, the geography of the area is very flat and dips down so everything could go sliding towards it, which would make this location a sink hole if anything were to happen.
I could see several potential problems being associated within a post-earthquake period. Some of these include the possibility of aftershock from the earthquake, finally letting the plates and fault lines which have recently shifted, get comforatable and in a stable placement. This can go on for a days after the initial epicenter has gone off, making things difficult for rescue crews to fulfill their responsibility. This could also add to the number of breaks in lines of the valley, such as gas lines, water mains, and sewer lines. All of these could add to danger of explosions, poisons being shot into the air, as well as disease having the capability to run rampant in a situation such as this. Honestly, I believe that if the transportation issue could be solved, and other means of getting into-and out of Salt Lake City were implimented, much of the hazards which could be lethal, might have room to be avoided in the end.