324 TECTONICS/Earthquakes compensated by a Mansion House Fund that paid out £9000 (equivalent to £500 000 today) The Roermond earthquake in the Netherlands in 1998 (magnitude 5.8) caused £30–40 million of damage, despite the single fatality It is predicted that a magnitude 5.7 earthquake focused at a depth of km directly under Manchester would cause havoc The increasing size of conurbations and cities increases their vulnerability: the Colchester area would suffer much more nowadays from a comparable earthquake to the 1884 event, because the population and industry are now much denser than at that time Earthquakes can occur in areas that are not considered to be at risk The Spitak earthquake in Armenia in 1988 is such a case The region was not considered to be at high risk, and a nuclear power station was planned for the Spitak area This earthquake caused the whole process of earthquake risk assessment in the Soviet Union to be revised The New Madrid, Missouri, earthquakes of 1811– 1812 are even more surprising There is a reliable historical record of three earthquakes spaced over two months with magnitudes 8.2, 8.1, and 8.3 They rang the bells of Boston and rattled Quebec and provide a remarkable example of major interplate seismicity Figure A railway track in the western USA twisted and shortened by lateral motion during an earthquake Secondary effects The secondary effects of earthquakes can be as destructive and lethal as the primary effects, or more so Figure High rise buildings in Kobe after the 1995 earthquake, showing the sixth floor pancaked by vertical motion Reproduced from Esper P and Tachibana E (1998) The Kobe earthquake In: Maund JG and Eddleston M (eds.) Geohazards in Engineering Geology, pp 105 116 Engineering Geology Special Publication 15 London: Geological Society