An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.5 has hit Sierra Nevada today, around 360 kilometres northwest of Las Vegas -- the popular casino destination near the California border.?
It was first reported by the USGS (US Geological Survey) just a few hours ago, and how California's unique geology means the state and its surrounding area is virtually sitting on a time bomb waiting to explode.
The quake occurred at 4:03 AM local time, and according to the USGS report, it was 7.56 kilometres deep. Reports also indicate that people experienced at least four aftershocks.?
The earthquake was felt around 56 kilometres west to the town of Tonopah, situated to the east of the Sierra Nevada range. Earthquakes over the magnitude of 4 are known to cause catastrophic damage.
Moreover, the USGS report revealed in the style of faulting (formation of rock) in the earthquake which showed striking in the east-west or north-south.? The report also revealed that the earthquake has occurred within the Walker Lane, which is an active zone of seismic activity on the California-Nevada border.?
USGS also highlights the Walker Lane actually takes up to 25 percent of the North American: Pacific Plate motion, while the rest is accommodated in the San Andreas Fault system.?
The San Andreas fault is a continental transform fault that stretches for around 1,200 kilometres through the state of California. It makes a tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate.?
The reason that this is a cause for concern, is because California sits at the border between two major tectonic plates—the Pacific plate, which is moving northwest, and the North American plate, which is sliding past it to the southeast.?
The state is crisscrossed with several earthquake faults. The San Andreas is the most worrisome, as it is know to generate the quakes that can severely affect citizens of California.?
According to a report in Smithsonian Mag, in 1906 the northern San Andreas levelled San Francisco, but it’s been a really long time since the southern region of the fault has ruptured.?
Previous records have revealed that Southern California has seen massive quakes every 110 to 140 years, and the last one with a magnitude of 7.9 struck Fort Tejon in 1857. Going farther south, near Palm Springs, the fault hasn’t ruptured in over 300 years.?
This basically means that California sits on a ticking time bomb ready to explode.?
Researchers anticipate an earthquake of magnitude 8 and higher wreaking havoc in cities in California, but that’s not all. The damage would result in fire, and with phone lines, water supply networks damaged, gaining control on fires would become impossible. The damage to life and property would be catastrophic.
A magnitude 8.2 earthquake would stretch from the Salton Sea which is near the Mexican border, all the way to Monterey County in the north.?
The fault would rupture through counties including Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino, basically detaching a chunk from the US mainland, according to expert predictions.?
Just because we know a catastrophe such as this is going to occur doesn’t mean authorities won’t do anything about it. From strengthening structures to creating fail-safes for telephone, network and electricity lines in case primary ones get damaged, they’re doing it all.?
Every year, people participate in ShakeOut drills to know the process of evacuation and safety during an earthquake.?