Earthquake security


A section of the San Andreas fault close to L.A. could be overdue for a major earthquake

A Southern California could be overdue for a major earthquake along the Grapevine north of Los Angeles, according to a sobering new study by the U.S. Geological Survey.

The research found earthquakes happen there on average every 100 years. The last major temblor occurred 160 years ago, a catastrophic geological event that ruptured an astonishing 185 miles of the San Andreas fault.

The land on either side of the fault has been pushing against the other at a rate of more than 1 inch a year since 1857, the researchers said, accumulating energy that will be suddenly released in a major earthquake, when the land along the fault would move by many feet.

“So you expect that amount of accumulation of energy will be released in the future in a large-magnitude rupture, somewhere along the San Andreas,” said the lead author of the study, USGS research geologist Kate Scharer.

Earthquake security

Magnitude 5.3 earthquake shakes Oklahoma, felt in St. Louis

A 5.3 magnitude earthquake struck Sunday evening near Cushing, Oklahoma. It rattled several surrounding states in the US heartland, according to the US Geological Survey. The quake occurred at 7:44pm CST.

A 5.6 magnitude earthquake struck Pawnee, Oklahoma in September. People in at least six surrounding states felt that tremor.

A recent report released by the USGS showed that people in parts of Texas and Oklahoma now face similar ground-shaking risks from human-induced activity, such as fluid injection or extraction, as residents face from natural earthquakes in California.

The agency outlined the risk of these so-called “induced” earthquakes, noting that Oklahoma City and the surrounding region face a 5 to 12% chance of damage from an earthquake in 2016.