Posted on 03/16/2011 8:53:58 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
When the seismic "big one" hits California, scientists doubt it will be quite as powerful as the earthquake that struck Japan last week although it could do plenty of damage.
The colossal California quake considered inevitable and long overdue is most likely to strike along the southern end of the famed San Andreas Fault and register a magnitude of 7.5 or greater, many times less powerful than the 9.0 temblor that rocked Japan on Friday, geologists say.
Still, an earthquake damage forecast prepared in 2008 for the U.S. Geological Survey by geophysicists and engineers envisions a calamity that would leave 2,000 people dead, 50,000 injured and 250,000 homeless.
That scenario is based on the premise of a magnitude 7.8 quake rupturing the San Andreas in the desert east of Los Angeles and radiating with catastrophic fury into the nation's second-largest metropolitan area.
Such a quake could be expected to topple 1,500 buildings, badly damage another 300,000 and sever highways, power lines, pipelines, railroads, communications networks and aqueducts. Property losses of more than $200 billion are projected.
The hypothetical quake also would ignite about 1,600 fires, some growing into conflagrations that would engulf hundreds of city blocks.
Experts predict the biggest long-term economic disruption would come from damage to water-distribution systems that would leave some homes and businesses without running water for months.
"The lesson is you don't need a magnitude 9 to cause extensive damage," said USGS spokeswoman Leslie Gordon.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
LOL
You are so not worried as am I.
Everyone’s looking at Cali. But, what about New Madrid? If that went it could be a real doozy. People there are not prepared for a huge earthquake. The homes and buildings are not up to the same code that Cali’s are.
Well, the 9.0 to 10.0 quake for the Pacific Northwest will put them all to shame ... hoo-boy! ... that’s the Cascadia Subduction Zone quake ... get ready folks!
Where will you get the extra power to shut it down? The problem is that there is very little excess generating capacity, and even less transmission capacity.
Reminds me of an old song from some 1969 TV show..
“Where can you go,
When there’s no san Francisco?
Better get ready,
To tie up the boat in Idaho”.
So California might not break off and fall into the Pacific like I heard a lot when I was a kid? ;-)
I don’t wanna be anywhere near 75% of that city when anything larger than 7 hits. There’s simply nowhere to run.
California has a very different plate boundary than does Japan, Sumatra or Chili. Additionally, small and medium quakes occur daily along the length of the faults. Perhaps this lessens the risk of a 9.0 quake. However, I don’t think anyone really knows for sure. Scientists can make educated guesses but don’t take them as guarantees.
I wouldn’t want to either. But living in San Jose and my work taking me from Hollister to Marin, when it happens I’ll be in it.
On another note, the quake in October that was 4.7 that had a fit, start and then just stopped had me and my friend who is 100 laughing.
For some reason we thought it was funny and we kept on doing what we were doing.
Long as the buildings fall on Illegals, then no damage done.
They’ve been predicting “The BIG ONE” since the sixties.
Its not the quake I would worry about but the super volcano known as Yellowstone would likely go at the same time, the entire region could be gone in less than a day.
Boy that is nice. Orange Co is one of the most conservative counties in the USA and you are killing all those people, including me and my family.
Wishing mass death is kinda sick don’t you think?
Looking at that picture in post 10 most of the area around the Salton Sea is below sea level. So that means the Pacific Ocean would rush in a fill everything below sea level down to around the Mexican border. That would make for a lot of sea front property in the desert areas.
Japan’s “big one” would have been a lot better without the tsunami.
What could possibly be worse than those modern day Sodom and Gomorrah
Sacramento, the seat of loony left coast political power.
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