It
has now been over 110 years since a major earthquake struck the East
Coast. This was in 1886, the location was Charleston, SC, and it
covered the widest area of any US quake in memory, extending some
250,000 square miles and breaking windows as far away as Fort Wayne,
Indiana. There are those, Pantech engineers among them, who believe
that the time is ripe for another such disturbance. The reason for
this belief is that, while the tectonic plate on which the West Coast
rests is brittle and fragmented and relieves its stresses in many small
quakes, the East Coast plate is amorphous, absorbing energy until it
reaches its compressive limit, at which point it releases an enormous
force. There are indications that this limit is being reached and that
an eight- plus Richter could occur within the next ten years. Building
foundations can and should be protected against such an occurrence.
The building's systems, i.e., electrical, gas, water, etc., displaced
by the quake's energy, can cause a significant percentage of overall
damage by igniting fires and creating other hazards. These, too, can
be so installed as to protect against all but the most violent
disruptions. We at Pantech have, in-house, the necessary disciplines
and experience to provide you with such protective designs, including
upfit
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