California's chances of having a magnitude-7 or greater earthquake in the next couple days just skyrocketed
1:18 p.m. ET
A cluster of more than 200 small earthquakes beneath the Salton Sea in Southern
California earlier this week has scientists waiting to see if the slumbering
San Andreas fault nearby could be the next to move. The U.S. Geological Survey
estimates that following the quake swarm at the Salton Sea
on Monday and Tuesday, the likelihood of a magnitude-7 or greater earthquake
being triggered is as high as 1 in 100 over the next seven days, though the
odds will lower as time goes on.
But for now, local
seismologists might feel their hearts racing. "When there's significant
seismicity in this area of the fault, we kind of wonder if [the San Andreas] is
somehow going to go active," Caltech seismologist Egill Hauksson told the Los Angeles Times.
"So maybe one of those small earthquakes that's happening in the
neighborhood of the fault is going to trigger it, and set off the big
event."
And by big event, they mean big:
A San Andreas earthquake
starting at the Salton Sea has long been a
major concern for scientists. In 2008, USGS researchers simulated what would
happen if a magnitude-7.8 earthquake started at the Salton Sea and then
barreled up the San Andreas fault , sending
shaking waves out in all directions.
By the time the San Andreas
fault becomes unhinged in San Bernardino
County 's Cajon Pass ,
Interstate 15 and rail lines could be severed. Historic downtowns in the Inland Empire could be awash in fallen brick, crushing
people under the weight of collapsed buildings that had never been retrofitted.
Scientists say major
earthquakes happen in Southern California about once every 150 or 200 years;
the last big quake at the Salton Sea-tip of the San
Andreas fault was 330 years ago. Read the full chilling report at the Los Angeles Times. Jeva Lange
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