Seismic security

Nearly half of Americans threatened by earthquakes, study finds

Nearly half of all Americans -- 150 million people -- are threatened by possibly damaging shaking from earthquakes, scientists said Wednesday at a meeting of the Seismological Society of America. That figure, from all 50 states and Puerto Rico, is a sharp jump from the figure in 1994, when the Federal Emergency Management Agency estimated just 75 million Americans in 39 states were at risk from earthquakes.