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<br />Colorado Earthquake Hazard <br /> <br />. railways <br />. water lines. <br /> <br />Special and critical facilities at risk: <br /> <br />. hospitals and health care facilities <br />. schools and universities <br />. state, local, and federal government facilities and op' <br />erational capabilities <br />. high rise, high occupancy buildings <br />. telecommunication facilities <br />. sports stadiums <br />. nuclear power plants <br />. toxic waste sites. <br /> <br />Secondary Hazard Events <br /> <br />When earthquakes occur, a variety of secondary and <br />related hazards can happen simultaneously. The <br />ground shaking from earthquakes can cause land. <br />slides, rockfall, debris flow, subsidence, soilliquefac- <br />tion, or even snow avalanches. These ground <br />failure-related hazards triggered by the ground <br />shaking from earthquakes can contribute to addi. <br />tional loss of life and property losses. For example, <br />when soil liquefies it loses its bearing capacity and is <br />unable to support buildings. The buildings tilt or col- <br />lapse, causing additional losses. <br /> <br />Colorado has the potential for many secondary haz- <br />ards. For example, the Colorado Geological Survey <br />has located high hazard landslides which could be <br />triggered by earthquakes in Colorado. Landslides <br />also could occur in these zones without earthquakes. <br />Therefore, the Colorado Earthquake Hazard Reduc. <br />tion Program focuses on secondary hazards that are <br />caused by earthquakes or can happen independently <br />of earthquake occurrence. <br /> <br />Earthquake ground shaking and related ground fail. <br />ure hazards can contribute to damage or failure of <br />dams, bridges, utilities, and other structures. The <br />earthquake damage to these facilities can cause <br />even further loss of life and damagEl. For instance, <br />"'- <br />flooding can occur after a dam failure and fire can <br />result from damage to a natural gas pipeline. Haz- <br />ardous toxic substances can be released after earth. <br /> <br />quakes causing damage to buildings <l1' other facili- <br />ties. These are direct losses. <br /> <br />Indirect losses, which are estimated to exceed direct <br />losses tenfold, can include the following: <br /> <br />. deaths or injuries that affect the viability of the <br />work force <br /> <br />. business disruption and resulting economic fail. <br />ure of businesses <br /> <br />. decreased ability of local government to under- <br />take daily activities due to the burden on hu- <br />man and economic resources from disaster <br />relief duties, reconstruction, and recovery. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />32 <br />