New York City’s skyscrapers are built to withstand most earthquakes

NEW YORK — The ground rumbled Friday beneath New York City, home to famous skyscrapers like the Empire State Building and One World Trade Center. New York’s skyscrapers have been generally built to withstand winds and other impacts far greater than the earthquakes generally seen on the East Coast, said Elisabeth Malsch, a managing principal at Thornton Tomasetti, a New York engineering firm that’s done major work on the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building and the Brooklyn Bridge, among other major city landmarks. It’s a double check that they’re strong enough and flexible enough to handle earthquakes.” Even the oldest skyscrapers are, by necessity, made of high strength concrete and steel to withstand the gravitational load on the massive structures, added Ahmad Rahimian, an executive vice president at the engineering firm WSP Global who was involved in the construction of One World Trade Center, this hemisphere’s tallest building, and The Shard in London, which is Europe’s tallest building. More modern high-rises also have dampers located on their roofs that can balance the sway and help absorb any shock from extreme events, said Borys Hayda, a managing principal at DeSimone Consulting Engineering, a New York firm that’s been involved in renovating some of Manhattan’s major hotels, theaters and other landmark buildings.