Students experience "Quake Cottage" earthquakes

From IDS Reports

Indiana Geological Survey employees drove a truck outfitted with an earthquake simulator, nicknamed the “Quake Cottage,” on Thursday to the Indiana Memorial Union to help raise awareness about the dangers of earthquakes.

Walter Gray, IGS educational outreach coordinator, estimated that more than 40 students willingly stepped into the vehicle and experienced a simulated earthquake.

“What the simulation does is provide an educational tool for people to safely experience a high-magnitude earthquake,” he said.

The simulator has the potential to replicate a quake with a magnitude of 8 on the Richter Scale.

Gray said when individuals first enter the vehicle, which is set up to look like a living room typical of a Midwestern home, the simulator is set to reach about a 3, the magnitude at which individuals first detect an earthquake.

The vehicle then shakes to a magnitude of 6, when cleaning supplies and books would start falling off the shelves.

Since 1817, there have been 43 earthquakes in Indiana, all magnitude 5 or lower.

Because none of the earthquakes have been technically classified as risks, Gray said this had led to complacency in earthquake preparedness by Indiana residents.

“When you enter it it’s an eye-opener,” Gray said. “It makes you rethink your attitudes about earthquakes in Indiana.”

Although Indiana has not recently experienced a high-magnitude earthquake, the state does have the potential for such a natural disaster.

The most recent large earthquake occurred in 1909 on Indiana’s border with Illinois, between Vincennes and Terre Haute, and had a magnitude of 5.1.

Rocks and chimneys reportedly were destroyed, and individuals who lived up to 30,000 square miles from the border felt the shock.

Gray said that because many of Indiana’s rocks have high densities, a similar earthquake could occur again.

“People go in interested in feeling, ‘what does a high magnitude earthquake feel,’” Gray said. “Hopefully that experience will inspire them to take action to obtain an earthquake-preparedness kit and take precautions.”

— Nona Tepper