MISGUIDED SHRUGS MAJOR EASTERN QUAKE IN THE CARDS.(Main)

Byline: Craig Brandon Staff writer

New Yorkers who think they are immune from the catastrophic earthquakes that strike Japan, California and Mexico may be taking the threat too lightly. Geologists who attended a conference in New York last week said the possibility of a major earthquake in the eastern United States has been underestimated and suggested that building codes be revised to help protect the East. A major quake in the highly populated East, they said, would cause much more damage over a much wider area than a California quake. Dr. Robert L. Ketter, director of the National Center for Earthquake Engineering Research in Buffalo, said that while research on earthquakes has concentrated on the highly active faults in California, scientists know much less about quakes in the East. They only know for certain that major quakes have …