Quake Near Oklahoma Oil Hub Prompts Infrastructure Concerns

[Egnever]

Source: ABC

A magnitude 5.0 earthquake centered near one of the world's key oil hubs brought down building facades and shattered windows, triggering fears the temblor may have damaged key infrastructure and rendered century-old buildings unsafe in the latest Oklahoma town rattled by increasingly strong quakes.

Cushing Assistant City Manager Jeremy Frazier told a news conference late Sunday that a few minor injuries were reported. He said the damage appeared to be contained to downtown, where piles of debris sat at the base of some commercial buildings.

Oklahoma has had thousands of earthquakes in recent years, with nearly all traced to the underground injection of wastewater left over from oil and gas production. Sunday's quake was centered one mile west of Cushing — and about 25 miles south of where a magnitude 4.3 quake forced a shutdown of several wells last week.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/quake-oklahoma-oil-hub-prompts-infrastructure-concerns-43351330

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[Foggyhill]

1. 5.0!is a really small quake

Have trouble believing oil infrastructure would be damaged unless they're already falling apart

[freebrew]

6. Not in this strata...

the limestone here doesn't absorb the shock like the sandstone in CA.
The quakes also do more damage because the infrastructure isn't built for it.

I can feel a 3.5 quake over 100 miles away.
These are man-made quakes. I'm hoping they don't set up the New Madrid fault for a big one..

[nitpicker]

2. Link to BBC

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-37892501

[allan01]

3. buildings that are in oaklahoma are not to current earthquake code

i hear whiny developrs complaining about building codes . this is why we have them in california , starting in the 1930s with legislation called the field act. this was due to a large earthquake in long beach ca. all the shool buildings collapsed . had the quake occured whilst the schools were in session,,

[Kelt_Gyrl]

5. They were warned about effects of fracking

Since fracking has come online, USGS has documented earthquakes in states where there were none previously. when you pump pressurized water into the ground and start fracturing bedrock it can set off a chain reaction. The amount of oil that they will get from fracking efforts is not worth the damage that will be caused by the geological issues and the aquifers that will be contaminated. We seriously need to call a halt to fracking. Go to:https://www.fractracker.org/map/ to see where fracking is occurring.